School Admissions
To Appeal or not to appeal, that is the question?
The month of March has become a traumatic time for many families up and down the country waiting to find out if their child has been offered a place at the Secondary School of choice
Each year there are popular schools that will be oversubscribed and the wait to find out if your child has been allocated a place is a stressful one. For those children and family’s who are not offered a place at their chosen school the question arises, should the family appeal – is it worth it?
Many Parents may feel overwhelmed by the prospect, others may view the procedure with a degree of cynicism, but you should not be deterred as it is always worth considering an appeal.
The Appeals panel is independent and will consider every application seriously. They will have regard for all the evidence and will listen to parents and their witnesses.
In determining admissions, the relevant authority will apply certain criteria which will include feeder schools, sibling links, distance to travel, special/medical and/or special education needs being prime examples.
When appealing the first thing to establish is, has the admission criteria been applied correctly? If so is the school full? If the school is full then the panel will have to carry out a balancing exercise of considering what problems will be created for the child by refusing admission as against any problem which would arise for the school granting admission.
If the appeal is not upheld you should establish if the admission authority is operating a waiting list for your chosen school and place your child’s name on the list as soon as possible.
If you feel the appeal procedure was not correctly conducted then there are other options available for consideration such as an appeal to the School’s Minister or to the local Government Ombudsman or possibly a legal consideration by way of Judicial Review. It must be stressed, however, that none of these options guarantee success and will almost certainly be stressful and costly.
Professional advice should be sought before proceeding with any appeal to establish:-
- If you have a case you can win
- What information you will need
- Who can help you build a case
- What to expect at the appeal hearing
- What are your rights
- What questions to ask at your appeal
Legal help or legal aid may be available in certain circumstances and particularly where a family is in receipt of certain state benefits.
David Harris is a former Assistant Director of Education and is a member of Stones Solicitors Litigation and dispute resolution team. He can be contacted on 01392 666798, email davidharris@stones-solicitors.co.uk or visit www.stones-solicitors.co.uk