Errors made by the admission authority

[Etienne]

Snowdrops - I can confirm this is a non-selective school.

mjb77 - thank you for the information sent to the Appeals Box. Having studied it, I have enormous sympathy for the circumstances you describe, but cannot really give a view on whether the exceptional medical/social criterion might have applied, because it depends so much on the strength of the professional's evidence (in this instance, the GP). The exact wording used, and whether or not the GP unambiguously recommended this school as the only answer to the problem, is a key consideration.

It wasn't supporting data - it was things such as no's on the roll, teachers and their status, etc etc. Should I have been looking somewhere else for this kind of info?

No. They have a duty to respond to all reasonable requests for information, and matters such as expected numbers on roll would be considered a reasonable request. If necessary, you could put it in writing that you are requesting information about the school "under the Freedom of Information Act". However, (a) see my comments at the end about how to approach stage 1, and (b) a possible advantage of not pressing the school any further for information is that the evidence you already have of their failure to respond could strengthen your position at a later date if you wish to make a formal complaint (to the ombudsman, for example) about the conduct of the appeal. Just for the record, the Appeals Code states:

1.31 ......Appellants are appealing over a matter that is very important to them. Admission authorities must give appellants appropriate guidance and information before the hearing to enable them to prepare their case for appeal (see paragraphs 2.3 to 2.11) and, having regard to the Data Protection Act 1998 and Freedom of Information Act 2000, must respond to any reasonable requests for information about the school or the admissions process that the appellant may think they need to help them with this preparation.

on June 2nd I received details of the appeal hearing and included with it was info from the school. It referred to the predudice but wasn't particulaly thorough at all. Is this the schools case or will they send something else nearer the appeal date? I didn't think they were allowed to produce new info at the hearing but can they bring other personal notes to enable them to support this verbally?

The school's case is usually sent out a week or two before the hearing, but I can't be sure in this instance whether what you've received is meant to be the case in full. They should certainly not introduce significant new information at the hearing which you have not had a prior opportunity to consider.

we feel the information presented to the panel was not accurate and therefore we consider their decision to be flawed. Should we point it out in the written case or just wait until the hearing to raise it? If it isn't in their case and we obviously want to refer to it in the hearing should we submit a copy of their report with our evidence?

As your case is going to be quite complicated, I do think it important that you submit everything in advance so that the panel have time to consider it. It really won't matter if they finish up with two copies of the report.

So we shouldn't bother with trying to prove that the school can cope with numbers above the Pan without effecting results, based on previous years statistics?

What I had in mind is that most admission authorities are going to win their own case at stage 1. It's for the panel to decide whether or not the school has a case, and it shouldn't be too difficult for the school to establish that some sort of prejudice would arise. It's simply a fact that most appeals are won or lost at stage 2 (the parent's case). You yourself don't have to prove anything at stage 1, although you certainly have the right to ask probing questions. I see no reason why you shouldn't try and dent the school's case a bit, but my advice would be not to spend too much time and energy on this. Try and focus primarily on your own case.

A question I just thought of, Etienne - with appeals such as ours is it of benefit to have a supporting letter from the childs class teacher pointing out while the school would suit the child (just missed 11+ school very high achieving, allocated school on a par with local comp) or would this detract from the medical/social grounds which are obviously the main focus of our case?

There shouldn't be any reference to an application for another school, but a letter from the current school strongly supporting an appeal for this school, and giving valid reasons, could be very useful. In fact you should put forward very succinctly all the arguments you possibly can for a place at the school:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/11plus ... ers.php#c2
I use the word 'succinctly' because you would be right to keep the focus on your main point.

[Snowdrops]

Ah right, thanks Etienne. So the non-qualification doesn't come into play then! Good, one less thing to 'argue' about.

[Sally-Anne]

Hi mjb77

I also glanced through the information that you sent to the Appeals Box. I have great sympathy for your situation, but I must comment that the submission is far too long. If you have not already submitted it, may I suggest that you try to cut it to at least half of its present length?

There is much detail in there that, while clearly very painful for you, is not relevant to the appeal panel. Appeal panel members are generally souls of patience, but they are also only human. If you overwhelm them with detail it might just have the opposite effect of the one you are hoping for.

Good luck with the hearing.

Sally-Anne

[mjb77]

Hi snowdrops - sorry for the delay and thanks for your post DD missed the 11+ by 3 points. We are appealing for a local va school. This would always have been first choice due to medical social reasons. The school we are applying to is on a par with a grammar school results wise which is another reason I think it would suit DD. Had the 11+ result been a pass or had we appealed the decision it would have been a back up. as our local grammer is a mile away. The school we applied to is 3 miles. We didn't expect not to be offered a place but had we appealed the test result chances are we would at least have a school place to suit our child academically, if not our families needs.

I wondered if it's still worth mentioning the test or if I should just concentrate on the medical social aspect. The school we have been offered is slightly better than the local comp (not difficult as that's in special measures) although it's had a lot of staffing issues and a high turnover of teachers. We had to move our DD's primary school in year 5 as they had a similar situation (no one consistant teacher in any year between 2 and 5).

Does that all make sense? mjb

mjb, I'm very confused - I think I may be reading your posts wrong, can you clarify for me please:

Are you saying you are appealing for a grammar school or a comprehensive/secondary school?

If you are appealing for a grammar school place has your dd passed the 11+?

[Etienne]

I wondered if it's still worth mentioning the test

If you're appealing for a non-selective school, then no!

[mjb77]

Etienne - thanks for your replies which are very helpful. I haven't submitted the written appeal and will definately take out the main bullet points of our case. I found it hard going so I can imagine how any one else would feel ploughing through it. At the time I just tried to get everything down in writing so that I had a wriiten record for my own reference. Is it possible that you could reccommend what we should leave in? I'm not sure whether I should focus totally on dd or the strain on me personally as well. Our GP can support either or and has said I can have full access to my notes and use anything in them that might help inc my own appointments with him.

We have finally received a referral appointment for DD to see a child phycologist and it's scheduled for next Friday. I don't suppose it will be in time for a full evaluation or to submit any kind of written report but is it worth including appointment letters to confirm we have been referred or does this look like last minute 'preperation' as it's so near to the appeal date? Many thanks mjb

[Snowdrops]

Thanks for clarifying that mjb, it was the way I'd read it!

Wishing you the best of luck with your appeal, *fingers crossed* for you!

[mjb77]

No problem. Thank you and thanks for taking the time to post

Thanks for clarifying that mjb, it was the way I'd read it!

Wishing you the best of luck with your appeal, *fingers crossed* for you!

[mjb77]

Thanks Sally Anne. I will definately do that although it's difficult to know which parts are considered relevant. Would you have any advice at all? mjb

"Sally-Anne"]Hi mjb77

I also glanced through the information that you sent to the Appeals Box. I have great sympathy for your situation, but I must comment that the submission is far too long. If you have not already submitted it, may I suggest that you try to cut it to at least half of its present length?

There is much detail in there that, while clearly very painful for you, is not relevant to the appeal panel. Appeal panel members are generally souls of patience, but they are also only human. If you overwhelm them with detail it might just have the opposite effect of the one you are hoping for.

Good luck with the hearing.

Sally-Anne[/quote]

[T12ACY]

Just wanted to butt in and say good luck. You are in the right place and have found some excellent sources of advice in Etienne and Sally-Anne