Secondary School places allocated today [sad]

We are actually appealing 2 schools Rigby46 one is on her doorstep and the other is one bus ride away. She has no chance whatsoever (don't know why we are bothering tbh) with the one that is a bus ride away as she will not qualify in any criteria. No sibling link, no feeder, not cared for child and not on distance. The next nearest is even further away again and the one most of her existing primary is fed into. Just as Impossible for her to get there as the one offered, ie 2 buses and no direct connection.

It's this "as the crow flies" that gets me there must be someone who can see the nonsense of it when you cannot physically travel "as the crow flies" without a helicopter or a set of wings.

Anya's good points were ^Finally, get all your ducks in a line. As I see it you have two strong grounds for appeal. The distance and the chance of buses are your strongest bargaining chip, especially if she will be travelling in the dark. I suggest you make the journey yourself and take photographs of parts that might be considered in a risk assessment e.g. Any roads to cross and if there is a pedestrian crossing and what the traffic flow is like.

You also say your GD is small for her age. Get her assessed height and weight wise on percentiles. And if you can get her present headteacher to back you up on her timidity all to the good.

PS has she has an assessment re being 'secondary ready'? My GS has just had his

Also, somewhere you said that she has to wait at a lonely bus stop for about 20 minutes?
That cannot be safe. Getting correct details about that may help.

Can I say that I do not think the travel will pull that much weight. Not that I don't think it should but as a precedent there are children that travel miles and miles to get to grammar schools at their parents behest.

You have to show that a) the admission process was not properly followed &/or b) that the admission criteria is not reasonable.

I suggest that the appeal focus on the premise that the admission criteria are not reasonable because they place an unfair disadvantage on children moving home during primary school as they are unable to access local feeder schools. So a child could live in the local community for two years and still not be able to attend a local school that prides itself on serving the local community.

Gilly would also have to show that if an exception was made for her DGD it would not open the floodgates numbers of other children in a similar position which the school could not accommodate.
She can back up the case with the information about the additional stress the travel has on her DGDs ability to successfully access the education on offer at the school she has been offered. e.g. frequent lateness due to cancelled bus, traffic jams etc.

Just in case you think I am a jobsworth , I am not but just trying to be realistic and I know what will be considerd and what will not.

I think it is wrong that any child travels more than 30 minutes to get to school. Children should be able to go to local schools. It is time government reversed the Greenwich judgement and reinstated clear catchment areas and stopped kidding parents thay have a 'choice'! They even try to sell grammar schools as choice!
If they invested money into making all schools good schools instead of investing in diversifying the system, part of which has caused Gillybob's problem, school life would be clearer for parents.

The trouble is Penstemmon, as I'm sure you're aware, that admission processes and procedures are not government controlled but set by each individual LA. From what Gillybob has posted their particular LA's selection process has been followed correctly. Without scanning through 11 pages of posts I seem to remember that siblings at the school is the primary criterion, and none of the other criteria work to her advantage either.

This isn't to say that their selection process is fair and well thought-out. It has clearly fallen down in this instance.