Standardized tests

[Des]

Hi and thanks again for wonderful help to date which is greatly appreciated.

I sent a Data Protection Subject Access information request to school, to which they have acknowledges saying that they understand they normally have 20 school days to respond but for me to take into account Easter holidays which are extra to this. My understanding is that they have 40 days including weekend, Bank Holidays & School Holidays so even if they comply by their understanding it is under the time limit which will be fine and not a problem.

However three weeks ago I also sent two separate Freedom Of Information requests to which I have not yet had a reply or acknowledgement so far and my understanding is that they have 20 working days only to respond with the information regardless of holidays. I was thinking that maybe if they don't understand their obligations they might be also thinking they have 20 school days plus Easter Holidays to respond.

This leads me to the questions as to how will this effect the appeal hearing itself if:

A/ The school does not respond to my requests?

B/ The school does respond to my requests but after the legal time frame meaning it arrive's too late to be used for the appeal?

[Etienne]

Hi Des

I think you're right about the time scales, and the school may well be confusing FOI requests (20 working days) and DPA requests (40 calendar days). You may wish to point this out, and also remind them - quite irrespective of FOI/DPA - that:

• a) they are required by the Appeals CoP to respond to reasonable requests that you make to help you prepare for the appeal, and
  (b) ultimately, what is 'reasonable' is likely to be decided by the ombudsman in the case of maintained schools - or the EFA/Secretary of State for academies - but one would almost certainly expect considerable latitude to be given to parents who are doing their level best to get to grips with a process that is at best unfamiliar to most appellants, and at worst somewhat intimidating.

With regard to 20 working days, the word "promptly" is also used!

Legal Annex
Section 1
(1) Any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled—
(a) to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds information of the description specified in the request, and
(b) if that is the case, to have that information communicated to him.

Section 10(1) provides that –

“Subject to subsections (2) and (3), a public authority must comply with section 1(1) promptly and in any event not later than the twentieth working day following the date of receipt.”

Section 10(6) provides that –

“In this section –
“the date of receipt” means –

(a) the day on which the public authority receives the request for information, or
(b) if later, the day on which it receives the information referred to in section 1(3);

“working day” means any day other than a Saturday, a Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday or a day which is a bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 in any part of the United Kingdom.”

[from the Information Commissioner]

how will this effect the appeal hearing itself

As I anticipated in early March "This could be tricky ......."!

Personally I see two possible approaches:

• 1. You could proceed with the hearing, say nothing about the school's shortcomings, and (if unsuccessful) complain subsequently about the failure to respond to requests for information. Ultimately the ombudsman or EFA would have to make a judgement about whether the lack of information disadvantaged your case sufficiently to cause an injustice.
  
  2. You could raise these matters politely at the hearing. It would be best to do so not too confrontationally if possible - in order to retain the sympathy of the panel. The best point at which to do this would probably be after the school's case when you are asked if you have any questions. I cannot predict with any certainty what would happen next.
  
  You might or might not be offered the information on the spot - in which case you could reasonably point out that you haven't had time to consider it properly.
  
  If the panel has any sense, it would offer you an adjournment.
  They might suggest 10-15 minutes, if the information is readily available.
  Or it might be an adjournment to a later date, if you say that 10-15 minutes is insufficient for you to prepare your case, or if the information is not readily available. In this situation you would need to consider whether a later appeal would be in your interests. See:
  http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeal ... school#c22" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
  (If you were to be offered a later date, and decline, it would then be difficult to make a formal complaint.)

[Des]

Hi again,
Well thanks to your advice.
Great relief since everything written up,evidence gathered and win or lose i am now quiet looking forward to my big day next week lol.

Quick question: If someone has the good fortune to win a appeal due to maladministration at stage one, will they be told at the time and the panel simply not bother with stage 2.

[Etienne]

Quick question: If someone has the good fortune to win a appeal due to maladministration at stage one, will they be told at the time and the panel simply not bother with stage 2.

I think this is very unlikely at stage 1 (as part of a multiple appeal, anyway) because the panel would need to look at the individual case (i.e. at stage 2) to establish that the child was entitled to a place.

[Des]

Cheers Etienne,

[Des]

Hi Etienne,
We received our decision letter today and the result was as expected - Refused. 0-1
I think maladministration did not go down well lol and I think the headmaster does not like me anymore

There are a number of strange things about the letter quoting things the headmaster said which he did not and incorrectly quoting things I have said and missing out other important things I asked of the headmaster in relation to provable incorrect statements within his written prejudice statement, which destroys his argument of prejudice completely, yet prejudice was upheld for the school.

A couple of very important bits of our appeal have also not been referenced in the Clerks letter i.e
That we were misled by the previous headmaster that the test results were all standardised
Our reasons for preference of the School: Especially Maths & ICT

Also of my FOI and DPA Information requests to schools asking for 33 bits of information 11 were not given.

All letter says in reference to maladministration is: They also acknowledged the many papers submitted in response to your appeal. In reading these papers you claimed that the school was subject to maladministration in the fact that the school admission policy was not clear, but this matter was not upheld by the appeal panel

Remembering posts on the forum about the Local Government Ombudsman.

Do you think we might be able to take further for a rehearing or am I just wishful thinking

[Etienne]

Hi Etienne,
We received our decision letter today and the result was as expected - Refused. 0-1

Sorry to hear that, Des.

There are a number of strange things about the letter quoting things the headmaster said which he did not and incorrectly quoting things I have said and missing out other important things I asked of the headmaster in relation to provable incorrect statements within his written prejudice statement, which destroys his argument of prejudice completely, yet prejudice was upheld for the school.

It could be difficult to prove what was or wasn't said, unless it's recorded accurately in the clerk's notes.

A couple of very important bits of our appeal have also not been referenced in the Clerks letter i.e
That we were misled by the previous headmaster that the test results were all standardised
Our reasons for preference of the School: Especially Maths & ICT

Reasons for preference really ought to be there (and I assume they were part of your written case, so cannot be disputed).

Also of my FOI and DPA Information requests to schools asking for 33 bits of information 11 were not given.

I assume you mean not responded to - or do you mean not given in the decision letter?

Do you think we might be able to take further for a rehearing ...............

If you could copy or scan the content of the decision letter, and send it to the Appeals Box, I'll let you know what I think.
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... =35&t=9907" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Des]

Dear Etienne,

Again thank you for your assistance and kind offer for me to forward the decision letter to the appeals box which I have done.

You are correct in not responded to!

Reasons for preference were in the written case!

All the best

[Etienne]

Thanks, Des. Could you try re-scanning and re-sending page 3?

If you are interested in trying to get hold of a copy of the clerk's notes, please read the following carefully:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeals/ombudsman#d4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Etienne]

Received - thanks.

Will weigh up everything tomorrow.