Have you appealed against a school decision?

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Well, tomorrow's a big day for me, as I'm presenting my appeal at Kingston county hall for my daughter to have a place at the secondary school her siblings went to. The education system in Surrey stinks - the school they've put her down for has a 34% GCSE success rate, meaning almost 2 out of every 3 pupils leave school with no qualifications! I've been there, and it's not the kids or their parents at fault - it's the head and the teachers. No motivation, kids are allowed to do what they damn well like, bullying in playground etc. The teachers ignore the kids outside the classrooms - there wasn't even anyone on playground duty! Smoking at the gates, gum on the walls, swearing in the corridors ... one boy even brought lager into the school!!!!! What do the staff do? Heads down - ignore it - and ignore the kids too. Teach: Josh, what's that in your ears? Josh: What? Oh, my earphones, miss. Teach: Oh. Er ... jolly good (scuttles off.) I'll go to JAIL rather than see my kid go there. The head wants SHOOTING. The school I put her down for - Reigate - had 750 applications for 250 places. Oakwood - the school from HELL - has 200 to go before it's full. People move home rather than send their kids there. It's nothing to do with the intake artea. Both schools are in mixed areas of deprivation and middle class homes. Reigate was a bad school too - till a new head turned it around. Why don't Surrey realise there wouldn't be this problem with school places if certain schools were brought up to scratch? Oakwood and Reigate are both county schools - they should be THE SAME, performance-wise. Like I say, the system STINKS. Phew. Anyone else here had to battle to get their kid into a good school? How did you get on?