Grammar School offer withdrawn

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BaristaQCee
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jul 03, 2013 9:20 am

Re: Grammar School offer withdrawn

Post by BaristaQCee »

Upthread someone mentioned the case where the parents won their appeals because the offer was withdrawn after 3 days.

In legal circles the case illustrates and confirms a number of legal principles, none of which has anything to do with an offer being withdurawn after 3 days. So I don't know where that bit of legal 'fact' comes from.

What it does illustrate is firstly, a LA could not rely on the fact that an offer was made by a person not authorised to make offers. Parents, who are not admissions experts, are not expected to know that the HM was not authorised to make offers. Therefore, they had a legitimate expectation of a place even though the person making the the offer didn't have the legal authority to make the offer.

Secondly, the onus is on the LA to make it clear that an offer has been withdrawn. In this case, the LA declined to engage the parents who questioned the validity of the withdrawal of their places.

Thirdly, the LA should, if asked, inform the parents of their options but they should not advise the parents what to do. In the case the LA advised the parents to appeal. By doing this they left themselves open to the charge that they prolonged the period of uncertainty.

Moving onto the score business, it is common for a grammar school to include a minimum mark in its admissions policy. It's usually worded along the lines that a pupil can only appeal if his/her score is within x %/marks of the last pupil admitted under the normal allocation process

Having the offer withdrawn after 7 days isn't IMHO grounds for an appeal but it sounds like nicleah was advised by the LA that she had grounds for appeal. It can be argued that this advice led to an expectation and prolonged the period of uncertainty. But even if nicleah gets a positive ruling on this part of her appeal sounds like she is going to fall foul of the score criteria.
Alex
Posts: 1097
Joined: Thu Nov 02, 2006 10:10 pm
Location: Lincolnshire

Re: Grammar School offer withdrawn

Post by Alex »

BaristaQCee wrote:
Moving onto the score business, it is common for a grammar school to include a minimum mark in its admissions policy. It's usually worded along the lines that a pupil can only appeal if his/her score is within x %/marks of the last pupil admitted under the normal allocation process
I don't think that it would be legal to say that someone could only appeal if the score was within a certain percentage of the cut-off mark.

.....Admission authorities must not limit the grounds on which an appeal can be made. (2.5 SAAC 2012)
nicleah
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed May 08, 2013 11:37 am

Re: Grammar School offer withdrawn

Post by nicleah »

Alex and Barrista. Really good points, thank you - particularly re the 3 day 'rule' and the expectation of a place. On the score issue (as Alex says) I'm sure the Appeals Code does not allow consideration of the score on the maladministration aspect.

The EFA is now investigating - it will be interesting to see what the next stage is. Will let you know.
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Grammar School offer withdrawn

Post by mystery »

Yes, on the maladministration point they could not consider the score. But at one point, in this situation should the score be considered? At a superselective which only takes very high scores, if one were mistakenly offered a place with a score which fell far short - I am not saying in this case it does - when would the score be taken into account or opportunity given for the parent to make an academic case too, if appropriate.
nicleah
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed May 08, 2013 11:37 am

Re: Grammar School offer withdrawn

Post by nicleah »

Mystery, I don't think so - as yet. There are no exceptions as yet to the Appeals Code - all schools must comply, and as I understand it the score - any selection criteria - cannot be considered as a relevant factor to a maladministration case, only to a prejudice case at Part 2. No Judicial Review or LGO decision has so far deviated from this as far as I know. I'm no admissions law expert, however, so if anyone knows anything to the contrary it will be interesting to hear! It will certainly be interesting to see what the EFA's take on this case is.
sunshine2580
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2018 10:54 am

Re: Grammar School offer withdrawn

Post by sunshine2580 »

Any updates on the outcome of this case?

We are in a similar situation this year and would like to know if the outcome was in the parents favour/
Tinkers
Posts: 7240
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 2:05 pm
Location: Reading

Re: Grammar School offer withdrawn

Post by Tinkers »

sunshine2580 wrote:Any updates on the outcome of this case?

We are in a similar situation this year and would like to know if the outcome was in the parents favour/
Nicleah has not logged on to the forum since July 2013, this was their last post.
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