1. Local Authority area in which the appeal took place:AVDC

• 2. What you were appealing against?

• c. both non-qualification and oversubscription

• 3. Name of school you were appealing for: Aylesbury High


• 4. Was this a school where the governors are the admission authority?
Academy - Bucks ed acted as admission authority
• 5. Approx. date of appeal hearing: June 5th

• 6. How many days in advance of the hearing, including weekends, did you receive the case papers? 12 days

• 7. Where was the appeal held? Local hotel
(e.g. council offices)

• 8a. Did your individual hearing start more or less on time? Yes

• 8b. If not, how late was it in starting? Maybe

• 9. Do you know what sort of independent appeal panel you had? Not sure

• 10. Who was on the panel?
(if you were told, e.g. a retired teacher, a businessman, and school governor - no names, please.)
A local business woman and governor of different school
A local business man
An retired primary headteacher

• 11. Was there a group hearing? Yes
(This is where stage 1 - the LA or school case - is presented to all the parents as a group)

• 12. Did the appeal follow the recommended order of business? Yes
• a. the case for the admission authority;
• b. questioning by the appellants and panel
• c. the case for the appellants;
• d. questioning by the admission authority and panel;
• e. summing up by the admission authority; and
• f. summing up by the appellants.

• 13a. Had your case already been considered by a Review Panel? Yes
(sometimes applies to non-qualification)

• 13b. If so, were you told that, because your case had already been reviewed, the only issue for the appeal panel was whether the review had been conducted properly? Yes

• 14. What questions were you asked about your case?

FCO
Didn’t want us to read what we had written before. But happily let us read our speech.
We asked Aa rep if all cases who had moved schools had been questioned as our Dd’s case had. He said he didn’t know but he had not seen a case where a school move had been raised.

One panel member asked the aa rep if they would agree that the academic record on the SRP headteacher summary sheet looked as high as it could be as it seemed to be. He said yes he agreed and that that had clearly been provided by law by our dds previous school.

The same panel member said he thought the srp evidence took no account of 3 pieces of evidence. Did the aa rep agree? The A’s rep said “I suppose I do yes”

Clerk then asked us and aa rep to leave the room to give legal advice on line of questioning.

Aa rep said to us ‘I wonder what she doesn’t like that I said. I know the legal framework as well as she.’

Acad evidence presented - asked to confirm when moved schools.
Given the comprehensive evidence why did she not get over the qualifying mark? They said ‘Presumably you expected your daughter to fly through it?’ We answered no we are not that arrogant but on balance we expected her to pass comfortably based on feedback from both schools.

How did Our dd say it went?
How does she approach homework? Perfectionist and slow or quick with careless errors?
Was she Prepared for what the test might be like?
Was she Tutored? “No right of wrong answer”. We said yes - was it by us or paid for? We said paid for given disrupted yr 5.
Was she aware of what the test meant?

Did our dad visit her current allocated school ?what did she think?
Are you in catchment for that school.

Please tell us why the prejudice to Your did would outweigh the prejudice to the girls at the school. We were then challenged that some of our reasons were “preference” not prejudice.
- does she any career plans? We said no, only 11!
- Can she cope with 2 languages? We said we thought so.

How did she feel about the previous school move?

• 15. What were the panel like? Professional, polite, warm
(e.g. Were they friendly? polite? considerate?)

• 16. As far as you know, was the representative of the admission authority left alone with the panel at any point in time? (It's acceptable for the representative to be waiting outside the room, but he/she must not be already in the room with the panel when you arrive, or remain in the room with the panel when you leave.) no

• 17. Were you asked at the end of the hearing whether you had had sufficient time to state your case (or words to that effect)? Yes

• 18. Did you feel rushed? No

• 19. How long did the hearing last? About 1 hr
(excluding the group hearing, if there was one)

• 20. Were you told you could telephone for the decision? No
(most authorities do not allow this, although some do)

• 21. If you have the result, was your appeal successful? Yes!

• 22. How long did you have to wait for the decision, including weekends? 5 weeks

• 23. Success rates for appeals for this school (if applicable, and if known):
• a. on this occasion - don’t know. There were 40 appeals

• b. Based on info presented by aa in their case, previous years 0 the previous 2 yrs. 4 in the yr before that.


• 24. Any other comments:
It felt a fair and reasonable process. We came out thinking we had probably won the FCO argument, had a 50/50 chance on qualification but were unlikely to persuade them on prejudice. But we felt we had said everything we could and been totally honest.

• 1. Local Authority area in which the appeal took place:
Bucks
• 2. What you were appealing against?

• b. oversubscription only?

• 3. Name of school you were appealing for:

Will add later
• 4. Was this a school where the governors are the admission authority?
Academy

• 5. Approx. date of appeal hearing:
8.6.18

• 6. How many days in advance of the hearing, including weekends, did you receive the case papers?

In time to add extra info but we had to be sharp.

• 7. Where was the appeal held?
Council Offices

• 8a. Did your individual hearing start more or less on time?

Slightly late I think but not enough to notice too much

• 8b. If not, how late was it in starting?


• 10. Who was on the panel?

They all had links with education and children who had been educated in the County.

• 11. Was there a group hearing?
Yes but neither my husband or I were able to attend

• 12. Did the appeal follow the recommended order of business? A
• a. the case for the admission authority;
• b. questioning by the appellants and panel
• c. the case for the appellants;
• d. questioning by the admission authority and panel;
• e. summing up by the admission authority; and
• f. summing up by the appellants.

• 13a. Had your case already been considered by a Review Panel?
No

• 13b. If so, were you told that, because your case had already been reviewed, the only issue for the appeal panel was whether the review had been conducted properly?

• 14. What questions were you asked about your case?
I was asked about a closer school and whether we had visited.
I was asked if my DC had friends at this school.
What would we do to resolve issues if we were unsuccessful?
I was asked about siblings for context.
I was asked about his own school and if he was alright there, friendships bullying etc.
What were his plans for the future. This made sense in the context of our appeal.


• 15. What were the panel like?
The panel were professional and I felt that they gave me ample opportunity to present my DC case, they tried to dig deeper where I may not have presented well. It was an emotional experience for various reasons but I felt comfortable despite extreem nerves.

• 16. As far as you know, was the representative of the admission authority left alone with the panel at any point in time? (It's acceptable for the representative to be waiting outside the room, but he/she must not be already in the room with the panel when you arrive, or remain in the room with the panel when you leave.)
No
• 17. Were you asked at the end of the hearing whether you had had sufficient time to state your case (or words to that effect)?
Yes

• 18. Did you feel rushed?
No

• 19. How long did the hearing last?
Supposed to be 20 mins I wasn't sure what time I went in but suspect I ran over time.

• 20. Were you told you could telephone for the decision?
(most authorities do not allow this, although some do)
No I was told I would here in 5 working days.
• 21. If you have the result, was your appeal successful? No it was a majority decision so possibly some dissent and the year group was already over subscribed.

• 22. How long did you have to wait for the decision, including weekends?
About 5 days.
• 23. Success rates for appeals for this school (if applicable, and if known):
• a. on this occasion

• b. in previous years


• 24. Any other comments:

• 1. Local Authority area in which the appeal took place:
Essex County Council

• 2. What you were appealing against?
• a. non-qualification only?
• b. oversubscription only?
• c. both non-qualification and oversubscription?
C

• 3. Name of school you were appealing for: Colchester Royal Grammar School

• 3b. Year group being appealed for:
(e.g. Y7 entry)Year 7

• 4. Was this a school where the governors are the admission authority?
(e.g. academy, foundation or voluntary aided) No

• 5. Approx. date of appeal hearing: 8 May 2019

• 6. How many days in advance of the hearing, including weekends, did you receive the case papers? 3 working days

• 7. Where was the appeal held? Colchester Adult Learning Centre
(e.g. council offices)

• 8a. Did your individual hearing start more or less on time? yes

• 8b. If not, how late was it in starting? on time

• 9. Do you know what sort of independent appeal panel you had? For example:
• a. A panel appointed by the Local Authority? - because it's dealing with a community school for which the LA is the admission authority.
• b. A panel appointed by the school? - because it's an academy, foundation or VA school where the governors are the admission authority.
• c. A Local Authority appointed panel acting at the request of the school? - because it's an academy, foundation or VA school where the governors are the admission authority, and they 'hired' a panel from the LA.
• d. Some other panel acting at the request of the school? - because it's an academy, foundation or VA school where the governors are the admission authority, and they 'hired' a panel not from the LA but from a commercial organisation, charity, or some other body.

A

• 10. Who was on the panel?
(if you were told, e.g. a retired teacher, a businessman, and school governor - no names, please.)
Retired Head teacher, civilian and the chair


• 11. Was there a group hearing?
(This is where stage 1 - the LA or school case - is presented to all the parents as a group)
yes

• 12. Did the appeal follow the recommended order of business? yes
• a. the case for the admission authority;
• b. questioning by the appellants and panel
• c. the case for the appellants;
• d. questioning by the admission authority and panel;
• e. summing up by the admission authority; and
• f. summing up by the appellants.

• 13a. Had your case already been considered by a Review Panel?
(sometimes applies to non-qualification)
no

• 13b. If so, were you told that, because your case had already been reviewed, the only issue for the appeal panel was whether the review had been conducted properly? No

• 14. What questions were you asked about your case?
questions about why we felt our son lost concentration half way through the maths paper, what influence the extenuating circumstances had on him, why he wanted this specific school



• 15. What were the panel like?
(e.g. Were they friendly? polite? considerate?) Judgemental, discrimination, vile, hostile, patronising, pre-judged, dismissive and bais

• 16. As far as you know, was the representative of the admission authority left alone with the panel at any point in time? (It's acceptable for the representative to be waiting outside the room, but he/she must not be already in the room with the panel when you arrive, or remain in the room with the panel when you leave.)Yes

• 17. Were you asked at the end of the hearing whether you had had sufficient time to state your case (or words to that effect)? no

• 18. Did you feel rushed?No - we felt from the start that the panel were fed-up by the time we had to state our case and made extremely offence remarks

• 19. How long did the hearing last? 40 min
(excluding the group hearing, if there was one)

• 20. Were you told you could telephone for the decision?no
(most authorities do not allow this, although some do)

• 21. If you have the result, was your appeal successful? No

• 22. How long did you have to wait for the decision, including weekends?10 days

• 23. Success rates for appeals for this school (if applicable, and if known):
• a. on this occasion none

• b. in previous years1 since 2012


• 24. Any other comments:The appeal was horrific. I personally never felt so humiliated and pre-judged in my whole life. Our son's academic ability was astronomical. The retired head teacher commented extremely positively on his academic ability although we could sense from the start that the rest of the panel and the chair was not consistent or neutral at all. When the school were questioned - by other parents as well- about the admission criteria, the different papers sat, the false representation of the traffic light system, the Chair was quick to stop everyone, dismiss their comments and said the these were not questions for the school. But when a member of the panel made discriminating statements about our ethnic origin, english as a second language, excluding statement like "we English won't use this or that word that is typical of where you come from" , also making mocking gestures with his hands regarding my hearing disability - the chair did not once intervene. We were many times rudely interrupted during our statement which does throw you of path...When I used the word state school in error, instead of local comprehensive school the chair was extremely rude asking me if I knew what I am actually appealing for. When we attempted to summarised our final statement with regard to "if you could please take into account our extenuating circumstances, English as a second language, our academic evidence and also gender equality (as admission off cuts are not the same for everyone)...the chair shrugged her/his shoulders and said..."that's the system"...and if that is all we can adjourn this meeting.

The moment we left the room we phoned the appeals office to log a complaint regardless of the outcome of our appeal as we were treated like second class British citizens being at an inquest rather than an appeals meeting to state our sons case. The chair did not handle these procedures in a professional way whatsoever, and I am truly saddened by this all, feeling we've been failed by the system and our own council we've proudly been supporting since our arrival in the UK. We were asked to send and email to a specified person, which to this date, has not responded at all. (we did phone the following day to ask if the email were received. It was). We will follow up on it tomorrow morning.

We did all we could to state our son's case. But for us as his parents to be treated in such a way was truly shocking.

Yes, I can understand that the panel were obviously fed-up by the time we had to state our case. The wait is really tiring for everyone. Almost everyone before us came out distraught. Most in tears. From the start some were impatient, rude, abrupt, vile, dismissive and challenging. As the chair stated from the start ..."Just to confirm, your appeal is not being supported as you did not meet the admission criteria, now please state your case.'...so No it is then.

On a positive note - To date, we need 0.96 to be allocated a space at CRGS. We will stay on the waiting list. The schools representative and the retired head teacher tried their best to ask relevant questions, we felt that they truly listened and could sympathise with our circumstances. For now, we will be floating once more....

1. Local Authority area in which the appeal took place: North Yorks

• 2. What you were appealing against?

• c. both non-qualification and oversubscription?

• 3. Name of school you were appealing for:
EMS
• 3b. Year group being appealed for:
Y7 entry

• 4. Was this a school where the governors are the admission authority?
Yes

• 5. Approx. date of appeal hearing:
May 2019
• 6. How many days in advance of the hearing, including weekends, did you receive the case papers?
15
• 7. Where was the appeal held?
School

• 8a. Did your individual hearing start more or less on time?
40 mins late


• 9. Do you know what sort of independent appeal panel you had? For example:
• a. A panel appointed by the Local Authority? - because it's dealing with a community school for which the LA is the admission authority.
• b. A panel appointed by the school? - because it's an academy, foundation or VA school where the governors are the admission authority.
• c. A Local Authority appointed panel acting at the request of the school? - because it's an academy, foundation or VA school where the governors are the admission authority, and they 'hired' a panel from the LA.
• d. Some other panel acting at the request of the school? - because it's an academy, foundation or VA school where the governors are the admission authority, and they 'hired' a panel not from the LA but from a commercial organisation, charity, or some other body.

Unkown

• 10. Who was on the panel?
(if you were told, e.g. a retired teacher, a businessman, and school governor - no names, please.)
Lay person x 2 and independent educator x 1

• 11. Was there a group hearing?
(This is where stage 1 - the LA or school case - is presented to all the parents as a group)
Yes
• 12. Did the appeal follow the recommended order of business?
Yes
• a. the case for the admission authority;
• b. questioning by the appellants and panel
• c. the case for the appellants;
• d. questioning by the admission authority and panel;
• e. summing up by the admission authority; and
• f. summing up by the appellants.

• 13a. Had your case already been considered by a Review Panel?
(sometimes applies to non-qualification)
No

• 13b. If so, were you told that, because your case had already been reviewed, the only issue for the appeal panel was whether the review had been conducted properly?
NA
• 14. What questions were you asked about your case?
Why I thought the test was unfair. Why I hadn't asked for additional provisions such as a ruler.


• 15. What were the panel like?
(e.g. Were they friendly? polite? considerate?)
Very professional, friendly, wanted to put you at ease.

• 16. As far as you know, was the representative of the admission authority left alone with the panel at any point in time? (It's acceptable for the representative to be waiting outside the room, but he/she must not be already in the room with the panel when you arrive, or remain in the room with the panel when you leave.)
No.

• 17. Were you asked at the end of the hearing whether you had had sufficient time to state your case (or words to that effect)?
Yes

• 18. Did you feel rushed?
No, but felt manipulated by the school representative in order of conversation and weight sent on various issues.

• 19. How long did the hearing last?
(excluding the group hearing, if there was one)
45 mins.

• 20. Were you told you could telephone for the decision?
(most authorities do not allow this, although some do)
Yes.

• 21. If you have the result, was your appeal successful?
Unknown

• 22. How long did you have to wait for the decision, including weekends?
6 days.

• 23. Success rates for appeals for this school (if applicable, and if known):
• a. on this occasion unknown

• b. in previous years 2018 - 20 appeals, none successful.


• 24. Any other comments:
A very stressful and demoralising experience. Would recommend avoiding the whole appeals process if at all possible. Feel like the school did not believe academic evidence demonstrating academic ability - questioned accuracy of ed pysc report and questioned quality of support by Headteacher of primary school despite it being very strong.

• 1. Local Authority area in which the appeal took place: Gloucestershire

• 2. What you were appealing against?
• a. non-qualification only?
• b. oversubscription only?
• c. both non-qualification and oversubscription?

Oversubscription

• 3. Name of school you were appealing for: Sir Thomas Rich's School

• 3b. Year group being appealed for: year 7
(e.g. Y7 entry)

• 4. Was this a school where the governors are the admission authority? Academy
(e.g. academy, foundation or voluntary aided)

• 5. Approx. date of appeal hearing: 4th June 2019

• 6. How many days in advance of the hearing, including weekends, did you receive the case papers? 3 weeks

• 7. Where was the appeal held? Local hotel
(e.g. council offices)

• 8a. Did your individual hearing start more or less on time? Yes

• 8b. If not, how late was it in starting? n/a

• 9. Do you know what sort of independent appeal panel you had? For example:
• a. A panel appointed by the Local Authority? - because it's dealing with a community school for which the LA is the admission authority.
• b. A panel appointed by the school? - because it's an academy, foundation or VA school where the governors are the admission authority.
• c. A Local Authority appointed panel acting at the request of the school? - because it's an academy, foundation or VA school where the governors are the admission authority, and they 'hired' a panel from the LA.
• d. Some other panel acting at the request of the school? - because it's an academy, foundation or VA school where the governors are the admission authority, and they 'hired' a panel not from the LA but from a commercial organisation, charity, or some other body.

• 10. Who was on the panel?
(if you were told, e.g. a retired teacher, a businessman, and school governor - no names, please.)
Two women and one man, teachers and governor at other school plus lay person

• 11. Was there a group hearing? No
(This is where stage 1 - the LA or school case - is presented to all the parents as a group)

• 12. Did the appeal follow the recommended order of business? Yes
• a. the case for the admission authority;
• b. questioning by the appellants and panel
• c. the case for the appellants;
• d. questioning by the admission authority and panel;
• e. summing up by the admission authority; and
• f. summing up by the appellants.

• 13a. Had your case already been considered by a Review Panel? No
(sometimes applies to non-qualification)

• 13b. If so, were you told that, because your case had already been reviewed, the only issue for the appeal panel was whether the review had been conducted properly? n/a

• 14. What questions were you asked about your case?
What impact the accident had on my son; how we had prepared him for the exam; did we consider taking the late test; was there any disruption on the day; why did my son not take pain killers before the exam. Nothing I hadn't prepared for.



• 15. What were the panel like? They were lovely, very calm and understanding as I was on my own. The school's rep was equally lovely.
(e.g. Were they friendly? polite? considerate?)

• 16. As far as you know, was the representative of the admission authority left alone with the panel at any point in time? (It's acceptable for the representative to be waiting outside the room, but he/she must not be already in the room with the panel when you arrive, or remain in the room with the panel when you leave.)
No, she was in a separate waiting area beforehand.

• 17. Were you asked at the end of the hearing whether you had had sufficient time to state your case (or words to that effect)? Yes

• 18. Did you feel rushed? No

• 19. How long did the hearing last? 20 minutes
(excluding the group hearing, if there was one)

• 20. Were you told you could telephone for the decision? No
(most authorities do not allow this, although some do)

• 21. If you have the result, was your appeal successful? Yes

• 22. How long did you have to wait for the decision, including weekends? 7 days

• 23. Success rates for appeals for this school (if applicable, and if known): School takes between 5 and 8 extra pupils
• a. on this occasion

• b. in previous years


• 24. Any other comments: I am so happy it was a success. We did have extraordinary circumstances with my sone being hit by a car two weeks beforehand. Evidence included high academic achievement and predictions but also statements regarding my son's behaviour after the accident and a police report.

1. Local Authority area in which the appeal took place: Gloucestershire

• 2. What you were appealing against?
• c. both non-qualification and oversubscription?

• 3. Name of school you were appealing for: Stroud High School

• 3b. Year group being appealed for: Y7 entry

• 4. Was this a school where the governors are the admission authority?
Yes

• 5. Approx. date of appeal hearing: 22nd May 2019

• 6. How many days in advance of the hearing, including weekends, did you receive the case papers? 4 days

• 7. Where was the appeal held?
Local Hotel

• 8a. Did your individual hearing start more or less on time?
Yes

• 8b. If not, how late was it in starting?

• 9. Do you know what sort of independent appeal panel you had? For example:
• b. A panel appointed by the school? - because it's an academy, foundation or VA school where the governors are the admission authority.

• 10. Who was on the panel?
The panel introduced themselves by name but no further information.

• 11. Was there a group hearing?
No

• 12. Did the appeal follow the recommended order of business?
• a. the case for the admission authority;
• b. questioning by the appellants and panel
• c. the case for the appellants;
• d. questioning by the admission authority and panel;
• e. summing up by the admission authority; and
• f. summing up by the appellants.
Yes

• 13a. Had your case already been considered by a Review Panel?
(sometimes applies to non-qualification)
No

• 14. What questions were you asked about your case?
What did she say regarding the fact that she had answered quite a low proportion of the questions?
How was she on the day of the test?
What would be the prejudice to her of having to attend her allocated school?
Did we have any additional evidence of academic ability (other than SATs predictions and headmaster's letter)?

• 15. What were the panel like?
(e.g. Were they friendly? polite? considerate?)
They were friendly and considerate. There was a point towards the end where one of the panel repeated back something to us which they had clearly misunderstood. It was our main points regarding extenuating circumstances, worryingly. It was clearly written in our appeal, and we had, I thought, been clear on it when we recapped. We explained it again and had the impression other panel members did understand.

• 16. As far as you know, was the representative of the admission authority left alone with the panel at any point in time? (It's acceptable for the representative to be waiting outside the room, but he/she must not be already in the room with the panel when you arrive, or remain in the room with the panel when you leave.)
No

• 17. Were you asked at the end of the hearing whether you had had sufficient time to state your case (or words to that effect)?
Yes

• 18. Did you feel rushed?
No

• 19. How long did the hearing last?
About 30 minutes

• 20. Were you told you could telephone for the decision?
(most authorities do not allow this, although some do)
No

• 21. If you have the result, was your appeal successful?
No. Insufficient evidence to demonstrate required academic standard.

• 22. How long did you have to wait for the decision, including weekends?
10 days

• 23. Success rates for appeals for this school (if applicable, and if known):
• a. on this occasion
10 out of 21 appeals were upheld this year

• b. in previous years
In 2018 34 appeals were lodged and 10 upheld

• 24. Any other comments:
The school's case appeared to be very clear that they are set up for 32 students per class. This means that they have space for 10 above PAN on appeal and that would appear to be borne out by the results of appeals - 10 per year. I've been wondering why they wouldn't just go with a PAN of 160, but I guess that having space at appeals allows scope for considering other factors than the test sat, as well as leaving room for any issues with the test on the day.
I can understand that for a non-qualification (albeit by a slim margin) appeal, our academic evidence was, regrettably and unavoidably, relatively light. Our daughter doesn't go to a school that actively encourages grammar applications and does not provide scores as such, other than the annual report feedback.

1. Local Authority area in which the appeal took place: Gloucestershire

• 2. What you were appealing against?
Oversubscription

• 3. Name of school you were appealing for: Ribston Hall High School

• 3b. Year group being appealed for: Y7 entry

• 4. Was this a school where the governors are the admission authority?
Yes

• 5. Approx. date of appeal hearing: 21st May

• 6. How many days in advance of the hearing, including weekends, did you receive the case papers?
10 days

• 7. Where was the appeal held?
Council Offices

• 8a. Did your individual hearing start more or less on time?
Yes. There was a slight delay - while we were waiting our turn there was an adjournment of the appellants before us. We saw the parents and the admission authority come out of the room and then the clerk took them back in 10 minutes later. So we started maybe 10 mins late.

• 9. Do you know what sort of independent appeal panel you had? For example:
• b. A panel appointed by the school? - because it's an academy, foundation or VA school where the governors are the admission authority.

• 10. Who was on the panel?
Two lay persons and one panel member with a background in education

• 11. Was there a group hearing?
Yes. It was quite an experience, a really packed hall and it went on a long time. The school had prepared a presentation which we had all received in advance. Then there were questions. MANY of the questions were related to parents' misunderstandings, for example about the admissions process, so for example how unfair it was to allow a late test, how unfair it was to age adjust the test scores before ranking, how unfair it was that entry was solely based on the test result and not on years of good results etc. It got very heated and I must remark that the chair was extremely courteous in handling it all. They even allowed questions from children in the room, some of whom were clearly not the children being appealed for. I was very glad to have it because I do think it was beneficial for everyone there, and in addition I was very glad for this site - if everyone had had sight of the Appeal Q&As here they would have been less stressed/confused and had fewer questions related to the overall process rather than the school's specific case.

• 12. Did the appeal follow the recommended order of business?
• a. the case for the admission authority;
• b. questioning by the appellants and panel
• c. the case for the appellants;
• d. questioning by the admission authority and panel;
• e. summing up by the admission authority; and
• f. summing up by the appellants.

c-f as a group hearing had been held

• 13a. Had your case already been considered by a Review Panel?
(sometimes applies to non-qualification)
No

• 14. What questions were you asked about your case?
How had she been prepared for the exam?
What did she say regarding the fact that she had answered quite a low proportion of the questions?
Had she ever done any timed tests?
Relating to extenuating circumstances - how was she on the day of the test and how is she now?
Questions specific to her school background abroad.

• 15. What were the panel like?
(e.g. Were they friendly? polite? considerate?)
They were friendly and considerate and very kind when I got emotional, which I knew I would.

• 16. As far as you know, was the representative of the admission authority left alone with the panel at any point in time? (It's acceptable for the representative to be waiting outside the room, but he/she must not be already in the room with the panel when you arrive, or remain in the room with the panel when you leave.)
No.

• 17. Were you asked at the end of the hearing whether you had had sufficient time to state your case (or words to that effect)?
No

• 18. Did you feel rushed?
No

• 19. How long did the hearing last?
About 20 minutes

• 20. Were you told you could telephone for the decision?
(most authorities do not allow this, although some do)
No

• 21. If you have the result, was your appeal successful?
Yes.

• 22. How long did you have to wait for the decision, including weekends?
24 days.

• 23. Success rates for appeals for this school (if applicable, and if known):
• a. on this occasion
5 out of 43. The school made a very compelling case around the capacity of classrooms, so more than 5 (one per tutor group) would be very high prejudice to the school.

• b. in previous years
In 2018 42 appeals were lodged and 2 upheld

• 24. Any other comments:
Although we had a lot of points in our case that were valid and that we passionately believed in, I am sure many of the other parents did too. I think what tipped the balance for us in this appeal was that this was the ONLY school in the area that offered a specific element on the curriculum that we could prove was important to our particular child's education at this stage. In our case that was that they offer more than one modern language from Y7.

• 1. Local Authority area in which the appeal took place: Kent

• 2. What you were appealing against?
* • c. both non-qualification and oversubscription

• 3. Name of school you were appealing for:
Mayfield Grammar School for Girls

• 3b. Year group being appealed for:
* Year 7 - 2019

• 4. Was this a school where the governors are the admission authority?
Academy

• 5. Approx. date of appeal hearing:
June 2019

• 6. How many days in advance of the hearing, including weekends, did you receive the case papers?
About 4 weeks

• 7. Where was the appeal held?
Community Centre

• 8a. Did your individual hearing start more or less on time?
Yes. A little earlier as we were the first hearing.

• 8b. If not, how late was it in starting? N/A

• 9. Do you know what sort of independent appeal panel you had? For example:
• a. A panel appointed by the school Independent panel

• 10. Who was on the panel?
3 gentlemen. 2 from education and 1 lay.


• 11. Was there a group hearing?
No


• 12. Did the appeal follow the recommended order of business?
* • a. the case for the admission authority;
* • b. questioning by the appellants and panel
* • c. the case for the appellants;
* • d. questioning by the admission authority and panel;
* • e. summing up by the admission authority; and
* • f. summing up by the appellants.

Yes, exactly in that order.

• 13a. Had your case already been considered by a Review Panel?
Yes and No. We had already been put through a Headtecher recommendation which was also unsuccessful.

• 13b. If so, were you told that, because your case had already been reviewed, the only issue for the appeal panel was whether the review had been conducted properly? N/A

• 14. What questions were you asked about your case?
Interests outside of school?
Was she tutored?
What does she read?
Any concerns with Dd not going to school with her friends?
Asked a lot of questions surrounding the weakness in Maths
Where she’d been allocated



• 15. What were the panel like?
Polite, professional, extremely friendly - which threw us! Wasn’t expecting them to be so considerate and understanding.


• 16. As far as you know, was the representative of the admission authority left alone with the panel at any point in time? (It's acceptable for the representative to be waiting outside the room, but he/she must not be already in the room with the panel when you arrive, or remain in the room with the panel when you leave.)

No, she was waiting outside when we got there and left with us to greet the next appellant.

• 17. Were you asked at the end of the hearing whether you had had sufficient time to state your case (or words to that effect)?

Yes

• 18. Did you feel rushed?
Not at all. I left feeling that they had all the information they needed already with the documentation I had sent in advance.

• 19. How long did the hearing last?
15-20 minutes

• 20. Were you told you could telephone for the decision?
No

• 21. If you have the result, was your appeal successful?
YEESSSS!!!!!!

• 22. How long did you have to wait for the decision, including weekends?
3 days

• 23. Success rates for appeals for this school (if applicable, and if known):

• a. on this occasion: We was told there was around 40 appeals to which there was 14 places available due to building work at the school allowing them to go over PAN

• b. in previous years
2018 - 42 appeals - 13 upheld
2017 - 37 appeals - 13 upheld
2016 - 40 appeals - 26 upheld


• 24. Any other comments:
We went in ready to argue our case. I’d read so many appeals from other members where the panel were horrible but ours were the complete opposite! When we got there the admissions officer from the school and the clerk were so warm and welcoming it threw us off straight away. When I read my speech I was so nervous my voice was shaking. The panel were extremely nice, polite, professional and let me take my time answering questions and made sure I said everything I wanted or needed to say. I did forget to sum up though!! My adrenaline was rushing through me and when asked if I had anything further to add I stupidly said No!! Came out feeling I’d fluffed it up and was a bit gutted I didn’t get the last say.
The rep from the school did mention that it was a nice touch to bring copies of my speech(thanks again to this site!) and commended us with a job well done.
Thank you for all the advice on the pages. I would never of been prepared for what was to come had I not found this site. I felt I answered all questions the best I could (after reading every single one of the appeals on this thread )- so I knew the kinds of things they wanted to know.
We had no extenuating circumstances (put it down to nerves on the day). And very little academic evidence(just the headteacher letter of support) But because DD scored well overall (over the 323 but just missing the individual 107 maths pass mark) i believe that was the reason it went in our favour.
My advice would be to try and send in all evidence and documentation beforehand, I could tell they had read every piece and it just speeds up the process. Don’t wing it on the day. Write up your speech with absolutely everything you want to say. You don’t want to come out wishing you said more. And finally - Bring your child to life. It’s not all about academics

1. Local Authority area in which the appeal took place: Trafford

• 2. What you were appealing against?
b. oversubscription only

• 3. Name of school you were appealing for: AGSB

• 3b. Year group being appealed for: Y7

• 4. Was this a school where the governors are the admission authority? Yes

• 5. Approx. date of appeal hearing: June 2019

• 6. How many days in advance of the hearing, including weekends, did you receive the case papers?
The Governors' Case was received seven weeks before the hearing - in fact it was received before our deadline for submissions so allowed us to include additional evidence in our submission. A full copy of all submissions (including 11+ results, admissions policy, etc) was sent two weeks before the hearing, so we received it around 7 working days in advance.

• 7. Where was the appeal held?
At the school.

• 8. Did your individual hearing start more or less on time? If not, how late was it in starting?
It was approximately on time (we were towards the end of the session), starting around 15 minutes late.

• 9. Do you know what sort of independent appeal panel you had?
I don't know. The school is an academy but they didn't say how the panel had been appointed.

• 10. Who was on the panel?
Each person had a name card which also said "lay" or "education" or "chair". From memory there were two "education", one "lay" and the chair, plus the clerk who we were told is a solicitor.

• 11. Was there a group hearing?
No, individual stage 1.

• 12. Did the appeal follow the recommended order of business?
Yes, and the chair began the hearing by reminding everyone of that order before we started.

• 13. Had your case already been considered by a Review Panel? If so, were you told that, because your case had already been reviewed, the only issue for the appeal panel was whether the review had been conducted properly?
Does not apply - oversubscription only.

• 14. What questions were you asked about your case?
Very few. We were explicitly told there would be no questions about our son's academic standing as he had a qualifying score. One panel member (education) asked whether we had applied to the other grammar schools, and then why not. We were prepared for this question and had submitted evidence about journey times - the appealed school is around 50 minutes door to door whereas the next nearest is 80+. We explained why there was no alternative selective school, and reiterated why selective provision would be of such benefit to our son.

• 15. What were the panel like?
They were friendly and welcoming, and always calm and professional (for want of a better word). In particular the chair was very encouraging of questions and never made us feel rushed. At every stage she made absolutely sure that every person in the room had run out of questions before she moved on to the next stage. She explained the procedure at the start, then a reminder of each stage as it began. They thanked us for coming. The clerk seemed surprised and grateful that we had a copy of our presentation and summing up to give them at the end.

• 16. As far as you know, was the representative of the admission authority left alone with the panel at any point in time?
No. In fact, they made a point of keeping the representatives away from the corridor outside the room until we were there, let alone out of the room. The panel, clerk and school admin were at great pains to make sure everything was being handled by the book, and it was reassuring. The representatives were the admissions manager and the HT. They introduced themselves to us outside, and thanked us for coming. At no point were we made to feel we were unwelcome or wasting anyone's time.

• 17. Were you asked at the end of the hearing whether you had had sufficient time to state your case (or words to that effect)?
Yes, and at each stage as we moved through. We were given time to look over our papers before we answered that question, too!

• 18. Did you feel rushed?
No, not at all.

• 19. How long did the hearing last?
Around 20 minutes.

• 20. Were you told you could telephone for the decision?
No.

• 21. If you have the result, was your appeal successful?
Unfortunately not. We knew it was a long shot but had managed to get our hopes up.

• 22. How long did you have to wait for the decision, including weekends?
12 days. The decision is dated 7th day (5th working day) after the last appeal and was posted on the 8th day after the last appeal (6th working day). The school appears to have had the results no later the 3rd working day.

• 23. Success rates for appeals for this school (if applicable, and if known):
• a. on this occasion 6/37
• b. in previous years
2018 - 7/46
2017 - 2/16
2016 - 3/26
2015 - 4/26
2014 - 10/35

• 24. Any other comments:
There were several typos and other discrepancies in the school's case, which had obviously not been updated for at least five years (e.g. referred to outdated government guidelines). That had led us to look more closely at the numbers they presented, and in particular class sizes, classroom sizes, and overall provision, and submitted evidence in support of our assertions of discrepancies/errors.

At the hearing we asked when the classroom sizes and shared spaces had last been assessed. The representative said it was done annually. We asked why the governors' case didn't include the most recent assessment and the representative agreed it should have, and that they didn't have the current assessment to hand. We pointed out that the school had offered above its PAN and above its stated capacity every year, and the representative said they did that knowing that some children decline the place - we briefly discussed how many decline, and noted that they still end up over capacity and well over PAN after declines, let alone appeals, as they need at least one in seven offers to be declined to stay within PAN. Prompted by the excellent FAQ on this site, we asked what prejudice there had been with those numbers of children, and what accidents or difficulties or accommodations had been needed for the extra children in previous years, and what provision had already been made for 2019 Y7 (which would cover not only the additional children already admitted but also some admitted at appeal - we did the maths out loud). The representative very firmly said none. I asked him to clarify, that there was no prejudice by adding more children above the current numbers, and he agreed and reiterated that there would be no prejudice. This was a surprise to me, as I had expected him to double down on the school's case that they were already bursting at the seams!

Unfortunately we were unsuccessful. When the letter eventually came it told us that the Panel believed there would be prejudice, which in all honesty has annoyed me because the school twice said there wouldn't Maybe that didn't make it into the minutes? I am feeling deflated today as it feels as though nothing that was submitted in advance or said at the hearing was actually taken into account, but rather that the Panel had said "school is full, this child has no particularly persuasive extenuating circumstances ... reject." Nonetheless, we felt it had been a worthwhile exercise altogether, and we are confident the school's case will have been updated by next year!

(updated 19/6/19 with this year's successful appeals number)