Or to put it another way... In my county, we run stage 1 and stage 2 together, so stage 1 is repeated for each appeal.

The way the appeal runs is:
Stage 1:
Admission authority makes their case for not admitting the child
Parents ask questions of AA case
Panel ask questions of AA case.

Stage 2:
Parents make the case for admitting the child
Admissions authority asks questions
Panel asks questions

Admission authority sums up

Parents sum up.

Panel retires to decide (or more likely) hears next appeal. That's the way it's been for as long as I can remember, so that all sides get equal treatment.

Don't forget that the panel are neither on your side nor the schools side. We're neutral.

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Capers

Thank you capers, I feel like I'm going around in circles. your advice is very much appreciated.

Hi Moderators, I was hoping that you may be able to advise whether or not the official to represent the school at appeal, is allowed to comment on how many children are above our child on the waiting list?

See this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=25877&p=306777&hilit=must+not+take+account+of+waiting+list#p306777

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Etienne

Hi Etienne, We recieved our appeal pack today and the schools representitive has clearly mentioned how many children are above our child on the waiting list. This is the pack tthat is sent to the panel members.

This seems wrong, as the panel are not allowed to take account of where someone is on the waiting list.

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Etienne

At our Essex appeal the school did say how many places below the last admitted child our child was which I thought was a little unfair. Oh, and the final question from the school was 'why did your child sit the test at X? (because we are appealing for Y), my response was 'because it's a 10 min drive from home' I'm not sure of the relevance of that last question. Answers on a postcard please! We are waiting for the appeal outcome.

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Clarabelle

In our appeal, the school stated DS's scores and what position hewas on wiating list. Perhaps, I should have asked the clerk if that's something the panel should take into consideration.

Should I send an email (already drafted) to the school admission's dept to pass this message on to the Appeals Clerk, so she can pass this message back onto the appeal's panel? The appeals finish today and they will make a decision in the next few days.

Thanks

Spatel2 I read somewhere on this Forum that the Panel shouldn't take in to account the position of your child, having said that the school submitted my DD position with their documents. I then rang Herts L.A, as I was concerned about this and they told me that the panel will not take into account the position on the waiting list. However during the appeal the Panel did get confirmation from the school what my DDs mark was and the lowest mark to get a place.

Hi Jimjum
Our appeal was at Herts (Barnet) so the panel's chair, who was a previous headteacher would advise the other panel members this.

thanks