Getting The School of Your Choice
This is the time of year when schools make decisions on their intake for the next academic year. Parents are often concerned to try and ensure that their children obtain a place at the school of first choice. Of course, not every child can get their first choice, and an appeal often results.
A school in the Home Counties recently gave a prime example of how not to conduct an appeal. The head teacher met the appeal panel before the appeal, thus, undermining independence. Neither the Clerk nor the Chair had received any training; the panel were unaware of the relevant code of practice; the parents were not told in advance who would hold the appeal; inadequate information was given to the parents as to why their application had failed; key information regarding SAT results was not made available to the panel and the eventual decision letter was inadequate and misleading.
All these points are worth bearing in mind when considering an appeal on behalf of your child for it is vital that the appeal is not only fair but is seen to be fair, and parents are entitled to full information regarding it.
An additional point concerns prejudice. A school will often seek to claim that admitting one more child will prejudice the education of those already admitted; parents should attempt to show that the greater prejudice occurs by not accepting their child.
David Harris is a former Assistant Director of Education and now a member of Stones LLP dispute resolution team. He can be contacted on 01392 666777.