BERKS Appeals
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Dear bow
Glad to have been of some help.
I assume this school is its own admission authority. (I make no criticism of St. Bernard's or any Berkshire schools, because I have no knowledge of them, but I have heard of foundation schools elsewhere that don't really know what they're doing and fail to follow the proper procedures. Large LEAs, with legal departments, are perhaps less likely to get the procedures wrong - which is not to say they never make mistakes!)
I think St. Bernard's needs to have your submission in advance, and unless the appeal is a long way off I can't quite understand why you haven't been informed of the arrangements.
The Code of Practice is quite clear:
At least 7 days before the hearing the admission authority should supply the clerk of the appeal panel with the following documents which should be circulated to the panel members and sent to the parents ......... a written statement summarising the reasons for the decision ............ copies of any information or documents which are to be put to the panel, including anything that has been submitted by the parents ............... Documents about appeals should be sent to the parties involved through the post, ensuring that they will arrive in good time
I think you will be at a disadvantage if the panel have not had the opportunity to study your submission in advance.
Regards
Glad to have been of some help.
I assume this school is its own admission authority. (I make no criticism of St. Bernard's or any Berkshire schools, because I have no knowledge of them, but I have heard of foundation schools elsewhere that don't really know what they're doing and fail to follow the proper procedures. Large LEAs, with legal departments, are perhaps less likely to get the procedures wrong - which is not to say they never make mistakes!)
I think St. Bernard's needs to have your submission in advance, and unless the appeal is a long way off I can't quite understand why you haven't been informed of the arrangements.
The Code of Practice is quite clear:
At least 7 days before the hearing the admission authority should supply the clerk of the appeal panel with the following documents which should be circulated to the panel members and sent to the parents ......... a written statement summarising the reasons for the decision ............ copies of any information or documents which are to be put to the panel, including anything that has been submitted by the parents ............... Documents about appeals should be sent to the parties involved through the post, ensuring that they will arrive in good time
I think you will be at a disadvantage if the panel have not had the opportunity to study your submission in advance.
Regards
Etienne
Hi again Etienne- I think my previous question misled you slightly. We have submitted a 'letter of appeal' which was really only a brief description of our grounds - I assumed we would then be asked to complete forms but have now received a letter outlining the procedure of the hearing and requesting that any further written evidence to support the appeal be sent at least week before the hearing. My question was whether to submit in advance a copy of my 'appeal statement' along with supporting evidence. I have now drafted my presentation in a bullet point style ( subject to a few tweaks) & in view of the brevity of my previous letter thought it might help the panel to have the opportunity to read it before the actual hearing... or whether it would have more impact to just read it to them on the day. The hearing is at the end of April.
Hi, bow
Any new supporting evidence (e.g. letters, reports) should be submitted in advance, but I'm inclined to think that your presentation will have more impact if left to the day of the hearing.
This assumes that your presentation is just expanding on the original brief submission, and that you are not introducing some important new points. If you are, then I would suggest sending in an updated submission, but still keep your presentation for the day of the hearing.
Good luck
Any new supporting evidence (e.g. letters, reports) should be submitted in advance, but I'm inclined to think that your presentation will have more impact if left to the day of the hearing.
This assumes that your presentation is just expanding on the original brief submission, and that you are not introducing some important new points. If you are, then I would suggest sending in an updated submission, but still keep your presentation for the day of the hearing.
Good luck
Etienne
Dear Etienne,
I hope you still visit Berkshire
My friend who appealed for a Slough Grammar sadly didn't get through. She is very distraught and feels let down by the system because she thought that she had a good case. And so did I!.
There are a few reasons I can think off, and I was wondering if you think that they are significant.
My friend presented her daughter's school teacher recommendation instead of the headteacher's one. The head did write a letter, but gave predicted SATs scores (4s and 4/5s ) that were lower than the teacher's predictions(5s)
:?::?: , and my friend decided not to show the letter.
She presented instead, in addition to the letter from the class teacher, a few month old letter saying that her daughter was "above average all rounded...".
She also submitted all her evidence of high academic achievement on the hearing day. Before the appeal, the panel had only seen the year 5 school report which wasn't that good because of their personal circumstances at the time.
If my friend was able to understand why her appeal wasn't succesful, she might be able to come to terms with it more easily, altough her daughter's only offer so far is for a 'close to failing' school.
She is now on the waiting list for The Chalfonts Community College in Bucks and has filed an appeal for this school. I will most certainly ask a few questions about transfer appeals in the Bucks section.
I would be really grateful for you opinion, Etienne.
I hope you still visit Berkshire
My friend who appealed for a Slough Grammar sadly didn't get through. She is very distraught and feels let down by the system because she thought that she had a good case. And so did I!.
There are a few reasons I can think off, and I was wondering if you think that they are significant.
My friend presented her daughter's school teacher recommendation instead of the headteacher's one. The head did write a letter, but gave predicted SATs scores (4s and 4/5s ) that were lower than the teacher's predictions(5s)
:?::?: , and my friend decided not to show the letter. She presented instead, in addition to the letter from the class teacher, a few month old letter saying that her daughter was "above average all rounded...".
She also submitted all her evidence of high academic achievement on the hearing day. Before the appeal, the panel had only seen the year 5 school report which wasn't that good because of their personal circumstances at the time.
If my friend was able to understand why her appeal wasn't succesful, she might be able to come to terms with it more easily, altough her daughter's only offer so far is for a 'close to failing' school.
She is now on the waiting list for The Chalfonts Community College in Bucks and has filed an appeal for this school. I will most certainly ask a few questions about transfer appeals in the Bucks section.
I would be really grateful for you opinion, Etienne.
Dear Catherine
I saw your post under "Slough Foundation Appeals" but missed this one
, so thanks for the prompt.
Very sorry to hear of your friend's news. I think the panel would have been puzzled if there had been nothing at all from the head, but it sounds as if the "few months old letter" was from him/her.
The phrase "above average" is not as strong as I would have liked. "Well above average" would have carried more weight.
As for evidence on the day, assuming that we're talking about a limited number of pages, and your friend highlighted the key points, I see no reason why a panel should not have digested the information.
Were the extenuating circumstances backed up with some good evidence, I wonder?
It's difficult to know what the panel's reasons were. To set your friend's mind at rest, it might be worth her writing and asking if a copy of the clerk's notes could be made available under the data protection act, and offering to pay the required fee (usually £10). How full the clerk's notes are is another matter, but there should be sufficient detail there to make clear why the panel took the decision that it did. If there is anything in the notes to indicate that the decision-making process was flawed, an appeal to the ombudsman could then be considered. This may or may not help.
I saw your post under "Slough Foundation Appeals" but missed this one
, so thanks for the prompt.Very sorry to hear of your friend's news. I think the panel would have been puzzled if there had been nothing at all from the head, but it sounds as if the "few months old letter" was from him/her.
The phrase "above average" is not as strong as I would have liked. "Well above average" would have carried more weight.
As for evidence on the day, assuming that we're talking about a limited number of pages, and your friend highlighted the key points, I see no reason why a panel should not have digested the information.
Were the extenuating circumstances backed up with some good evidence, I wonder?
It's difficult to know what the panel's reasons were. To set your friend's mind at rest, it might be worth her writing and asking if a copy of the clerk's notes could be made available under the data protection act, and offering to pay the required fee (usually £10). How full the clerk's notes are is another matter, but there should be sufficient detail there to make clear why the panel took the decision that it did. If there is anything in the notes to indicate that the decision-making process was flawed, an appeal to the ombudsman could then be considered. This may or may not help.
Etienne
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