The previous Appeals Code (2009) stated: "
1.31 …….. Admission authorities must give appellants appropriate guidance and information before the hearing to enable them to prepare their case for appeal ….. and, having regard to the Data Protection Act 1998 and Freedom of Information Act 2000, must respond to any reasonable requests for information about the school or the admissions process that the appellant may think they need to help them with this preparation ….."
The 2012 Appeals Code is more concise: "
2.8 Admission authorities must comply with reasonable requests from parents for information which they need to help them prepare their case for appeal."
Assuming this is an academy, you could try a polite letter to the headteacher as follows:
“Paragraph 2.8 of the Appeals Code states that admission authorities must comply with reasonable requests from parents for information which they need to help them prepare their case for appeal.
In order to help prepare for an appeal, I should be very grateful if you would let me know ...........”
OR
You could try a FOI request:
https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeals/general#a39Quote:
Would they let you visit?
I would have hoped so, but it's their decision.
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they told me they would not be likely to reply as it would prejudice an appeal. This was only an application!
Sounds a bit harsh to me - they are obliged to provide
factual information even for an appeal (as paragraph 2.8 above makes clear).
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Does the LA have to provide you with a map of the points
Try FOI.
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As it's an oversubscription appeal and they've never gone over PAN, I'm going to need to try and get information regarding things like classroom sizes, number of equipment items per class etc. How on earth can I get that?
I wouldn't spend too much time on the school case.
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v. Bear in mind that an appeal panel usually has a lot of experience within it, and in all probability is more than capable of analysing the authority’s case without anyone else’s help. By all means ask a few short, probing questions at stage 1 to try and dent the authority’s case a bit, but it is rare for an authority to lose at stage 1. If they do lose, that is a bonus that will almost certainly happen without any intervention on the part of parents. If you spend too long worrying about stage 1, it will risk distracting from what in most instances really matters. The vast majority of appeals are won or lost at stage 2, the parent’s case, and this is where your focus should be.
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeal ... -school#c2