Hi all, we have decided to move back to our home town in england but there are no places in local high school, so we have to put in an appeal. I wondered if anyone else has done this and were they successful. I have checked out the other 2 schools which have vacancies (6 miles away)incase we are unsuccessful and they are very poor. One is classed as failing and the other has a very poor report. We have not got a permanent address when we return but will be staying with friends although we will def be buying in that area. Thought maybe I should lie as thats what everyone else has done, thats why the school is full cos kids come from out of area.
Just wondered if I would need proof of address?
Also do we appeal while still in Oz or wait until sept when we get back. If we do appeal now at least we will have an answer by July and can look at other options.But if panel want to ask questions to clarify stuff we are not there to tell them.
I am so stressed our son is due to start yr 10 and I feel we are making his life very difficult. I have even looked at home tutoring as an option in case we fail.
God why did we move in the first place!!!!! If anyone has any thoughts on all this please let me know,my head is in a spin!!!

Hi we are moving back soon and are hoping to get the kids into their old primary school. At the moment the school is over subscribed, there are nine on the waiting list already for my 6 year olds class. We spoke to the school who told us that we cannot put ther names on the list until we have a rental contract or council tax bill as proof of address. We contacted a letting agent in the uk who said it would be no problem signing up for a rental from here if we are prepared to pay 3 months up front. The house we are interested in is opposite the school so as soon as its open for viewings my friend is going to look at it for us. All being well, we can take it on and put the kids names down, so hopefully we can use our locality to the school and the fact that my kids are not at another uk school, to jump the queue and get a place.

I think it has been the most worrying thing for me about moving back, if the kids are happy everything else falls into place.

Hope thing turn out ok for you.

TTx

Hi we are moving back soon and are hoping to get the kids into their old primary school. At the moment the school is over subscribed, there are nine on the waiting list already for my 6 year olds class. We spoke to the school who told us that we cannot put ther names on the list until we have a rental contract or council tax bill as proof of address. We contacted a letting agent in the uk who said it would be no problem signing up for a rental from here if we are prepared to pay 3 months up front. The house we are interested in is opposite the school so as soon as its open for viewings my friend is going to look at it for us. All being well, we can take it on and put the kids names down, so hopefully we can use our locality to the school and the fact that my kids are not at another uk school, to jump the queue and get a place.

I think it has been the most worrying thing for me about moving back, if the kids are happy everything else falls into place.

Hope thing turn out ok for you.

TTx

Sorry I have posted that twice, this effin' pc is playing games today!

get a lawyer involved then you don't need to be there and it all goes through them....that's what my mother did to get me in to the high school that I went to, different situation, but back then, the area we lived in wasn't on most maps at the time, and the school placed us miles from where we were, in hollow way, rather than harlow way, so they wanted me in other of 3 other schools on the other end of the city.

didn't really need a lawyer, but it was handy for my mother, anyway, just involved a letter saying what the facts were, with a statement that people we knew who lived further away than us had gotten in....and that was that...different situation to you, but a lawyer might well know how best to handle it, or at least advice you one someone who could without you having to be involved.

Thanks for the replies. I agree if we had the schools sorted I would be less stressed especially as its our eldest and these are now important years for him with exams etc. He doesn't seem bothered about it at all. I may look at getting a rental just for proof of address but wanted to save as we have plenty folk willing to put us up or put up with us more likely!!
Don't know whether a lawyer could help with putting a letter together as the school admissions are not actually doing anything wrong they are just saying they are full and what they weigh up is the benefits/disadvantages of admitting another child to the school and the effect that will have on it.

Hi lozza1 - I have a friend who works closely with school appeals - my advice would be not to use a lawyer - but to write a very detailed reason for appeal - basically you have to provide a compelling case as to why you child should be admitted even though the schools is over subscribed - basically the panel will balance the disadavantages to the school of admitting your child (are they full, have they the space/staff to cope with an extra child, how over subscribed are they), with the disadvantages caused to your child and your family if he/she were not to be admitted - it is always better to be there in person at the appeal hearing but if this is impossible I would ask if the appeals panel could set up a conference call for you so you can be 'present' at the hearing and give your case over the phone - it will also give you the opportunity to hear the schools case and question them etc. Obviously if you wait until September you could be there in person.

I attach a link to the schools appeal code
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/sacode/docs/D...%20Appeals.pdf - this gives you detailed info on how the process works.

I would stress the benefits to your child's welfare of going back to the school and be quite detailed on why you feel it could affect his welfare/education by not going to the school (appeals panels are not impressed by the 'I want my child to go to this school because it is the best in the area' line) - they want to see real reasons why not being admitted to the school could be detrimental to youir child's welfare/education.

Good luck with it all - let me now if you need any further info.

Hi Pommybird,Thanks for that info I will have a look at the website. I have just spoken to a friend who went through the same process for the same school a couple of years ago and they are going to send me a copy of the letter they put together. I have started to do a draft but will have a look at theirs to see if there is anything else I should put. I asked the schools admission about telephone conferencing but she said they don't do that( I said I would phone them so it wouldn't cost em owt). I will have to think whether its best to wait and be able to put my point of view or just hope everything they want to know is covered in a letter. To be honest I don't know which is best, if we were successful then he would start near enough immediately if not we have the stress of sorting which of the other 2 is the best and to be honest they are both rubbish.

Hi lozza - the benefit of appealing in Sept would mean that you are there for the hearing but as you say if you appeal now and are unsuccessful at least you have plenty of time to sort something else out - geting your friends letter and using that as a base sounds like a great idea - I assume they were successful which is encouraging. Also is there a waiting list for the school - worth putting his name down but obviously I would assume you will need an address to do that.

Normally schools require proof of address especially when oversubscribed so I am surprised that people have got into the school by telling lies about where they are living?? Not quite sure how that would have worked.

Im so sorry you find your self in this position we have been lucky as we move back to the UK in June and all my kids places were sorted weeks ago, we just told them we were moving back to the catchment area and it was fine-we still have our house but they did not even ask for proof.

We have even selected our daughters GCSE subjects as she too goes into year 10.

When you write the appeal I think you should also stress that point, you have a child who needs to pick and start GCSE's so this needs to be done asap.

Very best of luck to you xxx

We had to appeal for our daughter. She started year 7. We were living with my in-laws at the time but that didn't seem to matter. The place of living at the time of the appeal counts.
We came from Barbados and had the argument she wasn't used to traveling on the bus and coming from such a friendly envirement that would have been too dangerous for her to do on her own.(My husband and I both found a job and couldn't pick her up.) We had the feeling we had to get this across very clearly, because our daughter is very naive compare to a lot of British girls of her age.
We won the appeal and they'd said to us they have to concider the safety of a child...

I know this doesn't count for everyone, but I advise you to get your concerns concidering your child across as strongly you can..

Glad to hear you have managed to sort out your kids schooling before you have even got home - a great relief and one less thing to worry about!!

I know the over subscribed schools in our area definitely ask for proof of address as they have to show they have applied their admissions criteria correctly in the case of being over subscribed and in the case of an appeal - I guess this is not true of all schools though especially those that are not over subscribed - glad you had an easy time of it. Good luck and best wishes for your return in June!!

Lozza- as Trutje has said the address you will need to show is the address at the time of appeal so if you can say you are staying with friends family for the forseeable future I am sure that would be adequate - they may ask for a notarised letter from the home owner as proof - depends on how thorough the school is and how many appeals they have to deal with! (I have a friend who got her child into a school by living with her mother in law - albeit on a temporary basis) - do keep us updated on how you get on - i'll keep my fingers crossedXX

The Friends of ours that appealed have said they put grandparents address down for kids as the plan was for them to move in with them until they sold their house in shropshire where they had been for the 2 yrs prior to moving back to home town. Seems that as long as it is classed as their home address you don't have to have proof of ownership so we can put grandparents or friends home address down as we will be staying with them and both are in the catchment area. I will put my letter about options for GCSE needing to be sorted quickly. Thanks for everyones help a few brains are def better than one!! Esp mine at the mo!

It is up to the panel to prove why it would be detrimental to the school why they cannot take your son if he is in the catchment area and closest to the chosen school. I will pm you.
J x