Just had our appeal

[New Appeal Parent]

Oh and one more thing.. If the panels make impartial decision irrespective of appealling for more than one school, why do they ask if we have appealed for any other schools? This is irrelevant, what if we win both? I know this is being optimistic as one of our appeal did not go well as we felt that the Chairperson was in a hurry and hurried us to read out our statement. He did not even ask us at the end whether we had a fair hearing! I wonder if all this was minuted?

[Bexleymum]

Good luck with your apeal.

We got told by admissions not to appeal for two schools as the appeal panels would take this into consideration and we would have a weaker case, they told us that they would send us both forms but, we should be wise and just appeal for one school as we dont want to ruin our chances.

After reading this thread I am quite upset that it would NOT have made our case weaker. I guess it's too late now?

[Etienne]

Oh and one more thing.. If the panels make impartial decision irrespective of appealling for more than one school, why do they ask if we have appealed for any other schools? This is irrelevant, what if we win both? I know this is being optimistic as one of our appeal did not go well as we felt that the Chairperson was in a hurry and hurried us to read out our statement. He did not even ask us at the end whether we had a fair hearing! I wonder if all this was minuted?

Notes are not verbatim. The clerk is required to record the important points, and it should be clear how the panel arrived at their decision.

If it appears the panel were influenced by factors that they should not have taken into account, then they were acting wrongly and it would be worth seeing whether the ombudsman thinks this led to an injustice.

"Do you feel you have had a fair hearing?" used to be a popular way of concluding but is no longer recommended. Best practice nowadays would be: "Have you had sufficient time to say everything you wanted? Do you wish to add anything?" However, there is no requirement about how the chair should conclude the hearing.

[Etienne]

We got told by admissions not to appeal for two schools as the appeal panels would take this into consideration and we would have a weaker case, they told us that they would send us both forms but, we should be wise and just appeal for one school as we dont want to ruin our chances ......... I guess it's too late now?

I've given my view, but it would be a matter for the ombudsman to decide what is irrelevant and whether it led to an injustice.

Some posters have reported that their admission authority tried to dissuade them from submitting even one appeal ........

I assume the advice you were given was on the phone, and that there is no evidence of what was said.

You could try asking your local councillor to establish what the official policy of Admissions is.

Regards

[Gemma]

Just had our appeal in Kent, never been more nervous in my life. Panel seemed a bit stoney-faced and asked some unexpected questions. There were so many appeals that two panels had to split them and take half each. Does this happen often does anyone know? What if we fail but may have got in with the other panel. How do they decide who gets which panel?

Feeling rather confused and not a little terrified of the alternatives

[Etienne]

What sort of appeal was this Gemma. Was it against non-qualification?

[Sally-Anne]

Hi Gemma

Which panel you get is the luck of the draw - speculating on which panel might have been more favourable is not a great place to go. In Bucks there are many panels sitting at the same time. What matters is that the panel stuck to the rules. Please see my post here on Appeals and on the Kent thread about a recent issue that arose there.

Read the Ombudsman's report (Link is on one of the threads - can't remember which right now) if you feel that it applies to you on "unexpected questions".

As Etienne has said, let us have more info - we will help you if we can.

Sally-Anne

[gemma]

Yes, this was a non qualification appeal. Lots of questions about her personality and ability to cope with stress of new school. (she had bullying problems and had to change schools 3 months before test) No questions regarding academic ability at all.They did have a quick flick through her maths book though, which was the subject she was short in. We are in Kent by the way (can't remember if I mentioned that before)

[Gemma]

To Sally Anne

I read that thing about The Queen Elizabeth appeal panel. I also know one of the parents involved. Apparently it was inappropriate and also highly intimidating. I can't honestly say that ours was anything like that. I have read so much about how nice the majority of panels were,making you feel at ease etc. Ours were rather tense and robotic, directing the vast majority of questions at the head teacher. I did not feel as though they were listening to us much,and had heard it all before (As they undoubtably had) It must be a difficult and stressfull thing to do I suppose, but a small smile from even one of them at some stage during the proceedings would have helped make us less nervous.

Allthough worse than expected I couldn't honestly say it was unfair or openly hostile like those other poor parents. As if this whole thing isn't bad enough

[Appeal Mum]

Hi Gemma,

I'm so sorry to hear about your experience at appeal.

I'm one of those who posted about feeling the appeals panel made me feel at ease. Although this was the case, I can honestly say they didn't smile at us either. In fact they were just how you mentioned "Stoney faced".
I think there job is to ask the relevant questions and to listen to what you have to say.
I will be the first to admit that had the appeal not gone our way, all those negative thoughts that I had towards the appeals process (and I did have a few) might have resurfaced.
This isn't to say you don't have grounds to take it further should the need arise.
Just that when I said I was made to feel at ease, I was comparing to how I was personally envisioning it.

I know when I walked away from the appeal I felt good about the way things had gone, the more time I thought about it the less confident I was..

I hope you get the outcome you want and you continue to use this site, not only as a source of information but also for the support it offers too.

Good luck..

AM