Appeals - Introduction to Appeals Q & A

Foreword

Not every child will be lucky enough to gain an offer of a place at their first choice school. Every year there is a proportion of very able children who due to extenuating circumstances marginally fail to perform in selective school entrance examinations to the best of their abilities. Secondly, there are children who do qualify for entry, but find that their preferred school is oversubscribed.

Parents of these children may want to consider lodging an Appeal. This can seem daunting, especially at a time when you are emotional about the outcome and perhaps conscious of those that succeeded amongst the peer group.

Dependent on the Admission Authority, it may be necessary to request an appeal form quickly, because there is likely to be an administrative deadline for the form to be submitted. Parents will therefore need to make a quick informed decision whether or not to proceed.

The most significant part of the Appeal form is the Grounds of Appeal.

In order to prepare properly for an appeal, you need to be clear what issues you are addressing.

• Is it maladministration that deprived you of a place?
• Is it non-qualification?
• Or (if score is one of the admission criteria) is it not reaching a score high enough to gain a place?
• Or is it oversubscription?
• Or a combination of these?

On whatever grounds you are appealing, you will need to compile supporting evidence and present your case coherently in the time allocated.

This whole process can be extremely stressful. Those of you who have followed the various threads on the 11 Plus Forum of this website will be aware of the regular contributions and sound advice from a very experienced former Appeal Panel member, Etienne.

Following numerous requests both directly to our offices and on the forum, we have persuaded Etienne to consolidate some of the frequently asked questions into an Appeal Question and Answer Section. This section will be periodically updated so we suggest that you bookmark this section.

Etienne’s Appeal Q & A –- Version 9

Disclaimer: the answers represent Etienne’s own views – others might think differently. Appeal arrangements should be more or less the same throughout the country, but parents must check carefully for any local variations. All procedures should comply with the law and the Department for Education (DFE) code of Practice on Appeals.

Questions and Answers are divided up into the following sections:

• A) Appeals – General Points
• B) Appeals Against Non-Qualification
• C) Appeals For An Oversubscribed School
• D) Complaints
• E) Miscellaneous
• F) Abbreviations

A lot of useful information can also be found on the Appeals forum. See Feedback from all areas