Unsuccessful Appeal.

[pickle]

Thanks all.

Etienne I will definitely complain once I get my breath back! This appeal has taken up an awful lot of my time and with two younger children also, I'm way behind with other stuff!

I don't want a fresh appeal to be honest, I wouldn't send my child to that school if they paid me. For a school to behave in such an underhand manner is very disappointing but I'm glad I got an insight into the school before any of my children were admitted there

However, I feel that on principle I need to see this through to the end for the benefit of other parents. I think these academies rely on parents not really understanding the appeals process and it's very unfair.

Thanks again for the support. I'm still glad we did it

Pickle.

[CarpeDiem]

I think these academies rely on parents not really understanding the appeals process and it's very unfair.
Thanks again for the support. I'm still glad we did it

I agree they are not very transparent with their appeal processes but well done pickle for trying your best Im sure your DC appreciated your faith in them and you will have no what if's haunting you. If you do decide to go to the EFA all the very best I am sure you will get a lot of support from the forum.

[Etienne]

Hi Pickle

I'd entirely understand if you've had enough of this particular school. I am aware, though, of some schools in other parts of the country where they've behaved very badly with regard to appeals, but in all other respects are still very good schools.

It would be helpful if you are willing to pursue your concerns with the EFA. We've certainly had cases on the forum where a complaint has been made for altruistic reasons - to try and improve things for other parents, not because a re-hearing is necessarily being sought. (However, I would suggest telling the EFA that you are seeking a re-hearing, to ensure they take your complaint as seriously as possible. If you are eventually offered a re-hearing, you don't have to proceed with it if you don't want to.)

As far as the recent appeal is concerned, you couldn't possibly have done more, and I'm full of admiration for you.
Your son can be really proud of how well you fought for him.

[tobyprice]

In our oversubscription appeal today, the school's rep said to us during a break that they really had to make the process more transparent, so even they realise there are big problems.

[Etienne]

If I'm not mistaken, the school Pickle was appealing for handles its own appeals. Where this happens, it seems to me there is a particular problem in that the process risks - at the very least - being perceived as not totally independent.

Note the following statement from the chair of the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council, which has been mentioned elsewhere on the forum.
(I have highlighted points to do with transparency, natural justice, independence, accountability.)

• • "In the case of schools/academies that are their own admission authorities, it is unsatisfactory that Foundation and Voluntary Aided schools and academies run their own appeal panels. Full independence needs to be ensured, following the principle of natural justice that no-one should judge her/his own case.
    …………
    
    The Commission recommends that the Secretary of State should identify an organisation that is well-placed to provide an independent appeals service, to be instigated and run in a quasi-judicial manner. It also recommends that the Local Government Ombudsman’s powers should be extended to hear complaints concerning the maladministration of admissions and admission appeals of all admissions authorities (whether from maintained schools or academies).
    
    These findings and recommendations chime closely with the findings in a report produced in 2003 by the AJTC’s predecessor body, the Council on Tribunals (CoT), setting out concerns at that time about the operation of school admission and exclusion appeal panels. Of course, this report pre-dated the creation of academies but raised the same concerns about schools which are their own admission authority running their own appeal panels, highlighting the perceived lack of independence of such arrangements. The same is now true of academies whose panels lack any semblance of independence, and whose operation was never brought under the oversight of the former CoT and the AJTC (which the Commission’s report omitted to mention). Moreover, not only do these panels lack independence their operation lacks any degree of transparency or public accountability since there is little or no information published about them – for example, the cases that they hear are not included in the official appeals statistics produced by the Department, either for admissions or exclusions.
    
    With regard to the Commission’s call for an independent appeals service, the most obvious solution would be for local authority appeal panels to hear admission and exclusion appeals for all schools in their area, including those for voluntary aided and foundation schools as well as academies. The local authorities already have a cadre of trained and expert appeals clerks and panel members, usually situated in the democratic services department, with an appropriate degree of separation from those involved in managing local admission arrangements. Indeed, some local authorities already manage the appeals for own admission authority schools in their area, including academies, under a special arrangement with the schools in question. We do not believe that this suggestion would be inconsistent with the ethos of academies having freedom from local authority control as it is important to remember that the independent appeal panels are concerned solely and primarily with access to justice. The issue of prime importance is the perceived independence of the appeals arrangements rather than where they are situated. Moreover, the local authority retains overall responsibility for ensuring the provision of education for all children in the area."
    
    [ Response by the chairman of the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council on the Academies Commission Report ‘Unleashing greatness – getting the best out of an academised system’ ]