Reply With QuoteAs an initial check, you can do this in Google Maps:
https://support.google.com/maps/answ...DDesktop&hl=en
My niece and her daughter are very upset the daughter didn't get into her preferred secondary school. She missed a place on a distance tiebreak. From the admissions team "Distance - Your distance to the school is 1.257 miles. The last child admitted was at distance 1.218 miles".
The girl missed out by a distance of 0.039 miles/68.64 yards. My niece will be appealing the decision and has asked for my help. I suggested the first thing to check was the distances stated, although it's very unlikely a mistake was made.
I'm not that tech savvy. So I'm asking for recommendations of a reliable/reputable app, or device for that matter, that will give accurate GPS coordinates. We need coordinates for the school main gate and home front door. With these I'm sure I can find a website that'll give a straight line distance between the two. I'm hoping the great font of knowledge on this forum will come up with some good suggestions.
Also, if anyone has been in a similar situation and has any suggestions on other points that can be made in the appeal they'd be most welcome.
Thanks in advance to all replies.
As an initial check, you can do this in Google Maps:
https://support.google.com/maps/answ...DDesktop&hl=en
The distance factor should feature in the appeal, however the focus should be on the welfare of your niece and the impact of her not being able to attend the school. For example, on the basis of religion (assuming a faith school), remaining with her primary school cohort, the impact of travel etc.Originally Posted by RickS
Will they know where front door is?
Maybe that's why it's come to a tiebreak.
Sorry, lengthy reply timed out and crashed, I have direct experience in this area, albeit some time age - pm on way
Last edited by Suds; 28th March 2021 at 11:34.
I’m sure all of this has been set out at length in rules compiled by some pen-pusher, but if the school front gate is one of the key coordinates then why not the front gate of the home?
In the interests of consistency (and possibly gaining -or rather losing- a few yards of advantage) is this something to look at?
The rules specifically say front door of house to front gate.
Do they define “front door of house”?
Keep at it. Keep appealing with a new angle.
Can you get a map and draw a circle with a radius of 1.218 miles from the school gate, then look for which front doors lie exactly on the circumference. Maybe you could figure out the last family in, and then your niece could fight the battle on two fronts. Or she could just go to the alternative school...
Schools can be weird. Couple of the posher schools in Glasgow I know have rejected applications because the post code shows it is an apartment. Couldn’t even make it up.
Completely agree, boundary to boundary should be the measure.
As schools often sit on the edge of a large site (with playgrounds and sportsfields occupying the other side), I think the school gate is much more logical than the school boundary. I think front door is also fairly logical.
I know, that's what I meant. The school gate is obviously on the boundary and if they're measuring front door to school gate and denying people on a couple of inches the size of front garden matters. Front gate of the house/block of flats to the front gate of the school seems fair?
I wouldn't suggest measuring an obscure part of someone's garden to the corner of a random school building or field.
Agree with this, though would be more logical (but more difficult to calculate) to use walking distance not as the crow flies.
Or accept not everyone will get in to their chosen school.
@jwillans - thanks for the reply, I'll certainly focus on the points you highlight.
Thanks to everyone else who responded, although the conversation seemed to drifted on which points to measure from rather than how to get an accurate GPS coordinate. I'm 70 y.o. now and as I stated in my OP, modern technology has largely passed me by. Any other suggestions on what to use to plot the school and home points would be most welcome. Thanks.
Could you not use Strava!
Walk door to school gate and should give an accurate distance.
Cheers,
Ben
..... for I have become the Jedi of flippers
" an extravagance is anything you buy that is of no earthly use to your wife "
Your phone will give you coordinates, google can find a calculator. On iPhone it’s in the compass app. Ofc requires one to be physically there ...
If he can walk like a crow flies.
Because his niece's daughter is more important than someone elses?
Yeah - clog up the whole system with refusals to accept a decision.
Unless there has been a clerical error - Accept it.
There may be more to that story than meets the eye. In edinburgh (so no doubt in Glasgow also) - There were several parents caught out - using a 'convenient' tenement address in proximity to James Gillespie school - to qualify their children. That was the one highlighted - but for sure it goes on elsewhere.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland...-fife-36706226
Quite. We don't even know that the child is the next closest to the last admitted one.
As others have said challenging on distance wont work, as even if "error" it would mean all distances are wrong, but if you are focused on that how about: https://admissionsday.co.uk/blog/our...ce-calculator? However there should be info on how it's calculated on the admissions documentation / LA website etc.
From my recent experience, I would not waste time on measuring the distances. The distance allocations are based on a specific point at the school, which could be anywhere within their grounds to the pupils post code. In Hertfordshire, the admissions team use a .Gov or .Org website that details the distance you are away from the school.
From what I understand, they have only had the first round of allocations. On that basis, I would suggest your daughter/niece applies to the 'continued interest' list, i.e. she would like a place at the preferred school should one come up, she would be on the list to be offered the place. Given the distance she missed out by, I would expect, she would be one of the 1st on this continued interest list.
Once the admissions team have dealt with all the accepted places, they then look at those who would still like to move, and deal with those as part of the 2nd round of allocations. For whatever reason, there will always be those who do not want their first choice.
The admissions process is compilated, and circumventing the rules in place is difficult. I would be confident of your niece receiving an offer on the second round of allocations. Although by going on the continued interest list, you risk loosing the current allocation you have been given.
The whole system is bonkers. When I was in secondary school I hated the school I moved to and wanted to return to the school I started in (we moved house), a quick meeting with the head and I was able to return to the school I wanted to be at with my friends.
Luckily I don’t have to worry about any of this with my own kids.
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