11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi everyone - just little update. We heard from the LGO today to say that because our clerk had been on holiday for the whole month of June and the person looking into our case for the LGO is about to go on holiday for 2 weeks we are unlikely to hear anything about it until at least the end of July.

Surely the fact that the clerk was away for this amount of time straight away after the end ofthe appeals is maladministratio in itself - she must have known that there may have been questions raised by the appeals process, and it is absolutely unfair to have to wait this amount of time for an outcome, surely.

If we were lucky enough to have a further appeal it will probably now be in the first week of September and I feel like thowing in the towel - but then I guess that's just what they want.

I feel so let down by this whole process

LFH

We had a similar experience ... keep going - you will get there in the end.

Thanks Guest 55 - it just does get to you eventually though, doesn't it?
LFH

Yes - that's why this website is so good - you've got others rooting for you.

Don't I know it, and am so grateful, thank you every one for your help and support, it is very much appreciated

LFH

Looking for help wrote:Surely the fact that the clerk was away for this amount of time straight away after the end ofthe appeals is maladministratio in itself - she must have known that there may have been questions raised by the appeals process, and it is absolutely unfair to have to wait this amount of time for an outcome, surely.

You have my sympathy. I was 'phoned a couple of days ago to see if I'd sit on a panel in 1st week of August as there are a lot of late appeals coming in. I can't do it, 'cause I'm on holiday...

Back to your point, though. The clerk will not have known that there'd be a lot of questions - I think that questions post-appeal are moderately unusual, especially if the appeals have been heard correctly and properly. Likewise, referring the appeal to the LGO is very unusual, as most panels do everything correctly, though there is a tendancy for parents to say 'I don't like the panels decision so I'll go over their heads', which is why so many referrals to the LGO are dismissed.

To me, maladministration just covers the process & conduct of the appeal. The clerk going on holiday for a month (or going sick for a month) will not alter the outcome of the appeal (especially as you must have heard the results), therefore can not be maladministration. What is may well be is damned annoying.

However, it could be that the clerk has taken a holiday then to allow for hearing any late appeals in the school holidays before the start of the new term - in which case it's good planning!

As an aside, I know one clerk who always tries to post out the appeal decision letters 1st class on a Friday, in the hopes that parents get them on Saturday and if they've not won, have the weekend to consider their actions rather than a knee-jerk reaction of picking up the 'phone & calling the LGO!

Thank you for your post capers.

I would have thought that maladministration covers all the things to do with the process of running the appeals -presumably responding to the questions of the ombudsman is one of the things as a clerk you must do.

Also, just to be clear -ours was not a knee-jerk reaction to the result, it is in our opinion, a carefully considered response to what is clearly an injustice - and that's what the ombudsman who has agreed to investigate our case will hopefully discover.

LFH

Looking for help wrote:I would have thought that maladministration covers all the things to do with the process of running the appeals -presumably responding to the questions of the ombudsman is one of the things as a clerk you must do.

It may not be best practice, and it could be that an Ombudsman might take exception to clerks taking holidays. However, as appeals can come in at any time of the year, and holidays need to be booked in advance, this could preclude clerks from having holidays. And, for that matter, the LGO staff. And maybe next years parents shouldn't book up holidays in case they need to appeal and be around for the weeks following the appeal result.

The crux of the matter, though is would the LGO order a re-appeal on grounds of maladministration. I can't see how the clerk being away after the appeal would affect the result of the appeal - unless they literally had a plane to catch and hurried the cases along not allowing enough time.

Also, just to be clear -ours was not a knee-jerk reaction to the result

Sorry - I didn't mean to imply that it was.

I know that occasionally it happens that people 'phone the LGO first and think second, just as I think a very few parents do the same with the exam itself - open the results, find a fail, and send off for the appeal papers, even though there's no real reason that the child should have passed. I, and I'm sure other panels, see one or two of these each year - children with (for example) CAT scores of 100, predicted SATS of 4b's - exam scores of 160 when the lowest pass was 210 - nice, ordinary, average children, but whose parents think shoudl have passed, maybe because of comments in school reports such as "works very hard" - where the school don't actually give out any quantitative results. Sadly, the chances of those appeals succeeding are, to put it mildly, slim, but will still listen politely and consider all the points the parents make, the same as we would with any appeal.

Hopefully the body of your complaint to the LGO will be strong enough to prompt a re-appeal.

I think I'm with Capers on this one.

I sympathise with LFH's point that maladministration ought to cover all the things to do with the process of running the appeals, but my understanding is that what the ombudsman is investigating is whether the panel's decision was properly arrived at - or whether a flawed process has led to an injustice.

Sorry, I've been whining, I just don't know what else to do