• 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