Unsuccessful appeal - lost faith in the system

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JWE
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2011 4:09 am

Unsuccessful appeal - lost faith in the system

Post by JWE »

We were unsuccessful in my son's appeal for Sep 2011 entry despite him gaining a mark of 119 (118,119) and being fully supported by the school (state school) who ranked him 2-2 and confirmed he is already working at level 5 . He found the tests stressful which was the basis of the case. All other appeals from the same school 117 and above have been successful. I can't understand why he has been singled out and have lost all faith in the appeals system. Is there no way to appeal against an appeal other than going to the High Court?
Etienne
Posts: 8978
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Re: Unsuccessful appeal - lost faith in the system

Post by Etienne »

Very sorry to hear of your disappointment, JWE.

I'm afraid you're unlikely to get anywhere by challenging the panel's judgement. There would need to be a procedural fault so serious as to cause injustice.

Have a look at the Q&As. For example:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeals/ombudsman" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and E14 b (Bucks):
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeal ... aneous#e14" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Etienne
capers123
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:03 pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Re: Unsuccessful appeal - lost faith in the system

Post by capers123 »

JWE wrote:We were unsuccessful in my son's appeal for Sep 2011 entry despite him gaining a mark of 119 (118,119) and being fully supported by the school (state school) who ranked him 2-2 and confirmed he is already working at level 5 . He found the tests stressful which was the basis of the case. All other appeals from the same school 117 and above have been successful. I can't understand why he has been singled out and have lost all faith in the appeals system. Is there no way to appeal against an appeal other than going to the High Court?
Sorry to hear your news.

I'm not from Bucks, but in general it's very difficult to prejudge how an appeal is likely to go. You may have had a really good case on paper, better than the others from the same school. On the day, though, other issues can be raised - extenuating circumstances - by the other parents that may have made their cases stronger than yours, and the supporting evidence from the school could have been stronger for the other children. At the end of the day, there's a maximum physical capacity in the grammar schools, so some, often strong, appeals will sadly be unsuccessful. If they were all successful, it would no longer be a selective school!

If the appeal was run correctly but the panel happened to decided against you, then the Ombudsman would not recommend a re-hearing. Even if there had been minor errors in procedure, the chances are that the decision would have been the same, so the Ombudsman would tell the panel off, but not order a re-hearing.

Taking the case to High Court would be a very extreme measure. Not only would it be costly, but your chances of success would be pretty slim. After all, why should a judge think any differently from 3 appeals panel members when offered the same evidence? If you've got strong new evidence, then you could ask for a new appeal.
Capers
Sally-Anne
Posts: 9235
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Re: Unsuccessful appeal - lost faith in the system

Post by Sally-Anne »

Hi JWE

I am also sorry to hear the news. I hope that you have a reasonable alternative school.

I must correct some points that capers123 has made, because they do not apply to Bucks.
capers123 wrote:You may have had a really good case on paper, better than the others from the same school. On the day, though, other issues can be raised - extenuating circumstances - by the other parents that may have made their cases stronger than yours, and the supporting evidence from the school could have been stronger for the other children.
These points do not apply in Bucks non-qualification appeals - each case is assessed on its own merits, and you are not "competing" against other appellants in any way.
At the end of the day, there's a maximum physical capacity in the grammar schools, so some, often strong, appeals will sadly be unsuccessful.

Bucks panels do not take account of the number of school places available. If they were to allow every single appeal of the 900 or so heard each year, the resulting over-subscription would be sorted out via transfer (over-subscription) appeals after the allocations are made on March 1st.
If you've got strong new evidence, then you could ask for a new appeal.
A request from parents for a re-hearing will not normally be considered unless there is significant new evidence that was not - and could not have been - available at the time of the first hearing.

As capers says, a procedural error would need to be sufficiently serious to raise questions about the panel's decision, and not be merely an administrative error that had no real bearing on the final outcome.

Sally-Anne
Etienne
Posts: 8978
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Re: Unsuccessful appeal - lost faith in the system

Post by Etienne »

I fully endorse what Sally-Anne has said. The issue at the moment in Bucks is solely one of qualification, and appeal panels there do not even know - or want to know - which school parents are interested in. They have absolutely no idea how many places might be 'available' - oversubscription will be dealt with by the application of the admission rules when school places are allocated on or after 1st March.
Etienne
mannic
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:24 am

Re: Unsuccessful appeal - lost faith in the system

Post by mannic »

Well done Sally-Anne in pointing out some major (and welcomed) additional differences in considering the appeals situation !
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