Ombudsman

Consult our experts on 11 Plus appeals or any other type of school appeal

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Worried Dad

Ombudsman

Post by Worried Dad »

We heard this week that our appeal had failed.How do we go about appealing to the ombudsman. At our appeal the clerk asked if we had had a fair hearing and at the time we thought yes. However on reflection we are not of the opinion that all we were able to present all of our evidence in completely coherent way (it was extremely stressful for us). One particular point which we wanted to dwell on revolved around the (in our opinion) total unsuitability of the alternative comprehensive . It has taken us years to build our child's confidence (she was bullied frequently in her primary school) and we are terrified that all of our work will be worth nothing if she has to go to this school which we know from the experience of friends is pretty tough. This could set her back years if we get this wrong.At the hearing we were only able to touch very briefly on this before the panel hurried us on .
Help!
Sally-Anne
Posts: 9235
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by Sally-Anne »

Hi Worried Dad

I am so sorry to hear that your appeal was unsuccessful. I understand how stressful it was for you to go to appeal as I have been to one myself - that also was not successful.

The Ombudsman considers cases of maladministration on the part of the LEA. This covers such issues as misinformation or a failure by the LEA or the panel to follow the Appeals Code of Practice. It does not unfortunately cover issues such as the parents being too nervous to present their case properly. If this was an appeal against non-qualification (the child did not achieve the pass mark) rather than a transfer appeal (appealing for an oversubscribed school) then the information about the alternative comprehensive was not relevant to the appeal anyway.

For chapter and verse on this, look at the Appeals Q & A (link at the top of the page).

Do just let us know which area you hail from in case there is some variation in the rules for your area - my experience is mainly in Bucks, and given the timing, I doubt you are discussing a Bucks appeal. Also let us know if this was an LEA hearing or a specific school panel.

I wish I could give you better news.

Sally-Anne
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