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Appeal decision letter - Trafford

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 10:08 am
by overanxious
Hi, I've sent a copy of the letter to the Appeals Box.

My questions are around the fact that the way the letter is written indicates that the Panel decided that we'd failed on the non-qual before they considered our written and oral evidence. I worry that the only thing they have considered for the non-qual are the extenuating circumstances - which were slight and only briefly touched on.

They also state that the school has "proved" its case re: oversubscription - but they asked no questions of the school and have simply accepted what the school said.

Am I just being precious because we failed?! :lol: Any perspective on this would be helpful.

Thanks for all your support.

Re: Appeal decision letter - Trafford

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:10 pm
by TraffordMum
Thanks, overanxious. I don't have access to the Appeals Box ( we try to keep it as confidential as possible!) but I shall flag it to Etienne. Leave it with us.

TM (Moderator)

Re: Appeal decision letter - Trafford

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:47 pm
by overanxious
Thanks TM!

Am more than happy to be told it's fine, and it's time to step away from the forum (for one year at least!) :D

Re: Appeal decision letter - Trafford

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 8:56 pm
by Etienne
Hi Overanxious

I agree that, logically, the last two sentences of paragraph 2 ought to go at the end of paragraph 4. This might be the way the letter was compiled, rather than a reflection of the order in which the panel actually took their decisions.

Looking at the decision letter as a whole, it's probably all right, but it might be worth asking for a copy of the clerk's notes to see if anything else comes to light.

Re: Appeal decision letter - Trafford

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 11:08 pm
by TraffordMum
Etienne, where the letter deals with the written and oral evidence presented by the appellants (and to clarify I haven't seen overanxious's letter and am not talking about their case), should it summarise the main areas of the parents' case? Say, for example, there was one really key point that to the parents appeared to be the crux of the matter and was given appropriate standing as such in the appeal, if the letter does not even mention it as having been considered, is that right?

Re: Appeal decision letter - Trafford

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 12:44 am
by Etienne
TraffordMum wrote:Etienne, where the letter deals with the written and oral evidence presented by the appellants (and to clarify I haven't seen overanxious's letter and am not talking about their case), should it summarise the main areas of the parents' case? Say, for example, there was one really key point that to the parents appeared to be the crux of the matter and was given appropriate standing as such in the appeal, if the letter does not even mention it as having been considered, is that right?
Hi TM

The Appeals Code clearly states "The decision letter must contain a summary of relevant factors that were raised by the parties and considered by the panel".

However, in practice, I think any failure to observe this mandatory requirement might be viewed as a technicality. In the event of a complaint, I suspect the real issue is going to be whether there has been a breach of the Code so serious as to cause an injustice.

My feeling about decision letters is that they sometimes give a clue that something may not be quite right, and might be worth further investigation.

The clerk's notes ought to give a better indication whether the panel did consider all the significant points raised.

Re: Appeal decision letter - Trafford

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 1:02 am
by Etienne
overanxious wrote:I worry that the only thing they have considered for the non-qual are the extenuating circumstances - which were slight and only briefly touched on.
I meant to mention that they seem to have listed some of the academic evidence before touching on extenuating circumstances.
overanxious wrote:They also state that the school has "proved" its case re: oversubscription - but they asked no questions of the school and have simply accepted what the school said.
I'm afraid it never looks good when no questions are asked, but unfortunately there's no requirement about how many questions - if any - should be asked.

Re: Appeal decision letter - Trafford

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 2:49 am
by TraffordMum
Thanks, Etienne.

Re: Appeal decision letter - Trafford

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:32 am
by overanxious
Thanks very much Etienne and TraffordMum.

I think you're right and it's probably a case of some hasty copying/pasting to get the letters out rather than anything more sinister.

I am going to request the Clerk's notes. We'd had an EP report done which I thought was pretty strong and am interested to see if they paid any attention to it at all - the info might be some use to other Trafford appellants in future.

And then I'll be back some time in 2014 to start all over again! :D

Huge thanks again for all the expertise and support on the forum.

Re: Appeal decision letter - Trafford

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 8:34 am
by TraffordMum
Don't be a stranger in the meantime, overanxious. It's so much more enjoyable policing the corridors of the Trafford forum when there are passers by to talk to :)