Campion School, Hornchurch (05A04911 + 3 others)
School admissions Maladministration causing injustice
28 November 2005
Four families complained that the School did not consider their applications objectively for entry in September 2005, but instead compared them to other applicants, making judgements about who had shown the most evidence of their commitment to the Church and to a Catholic education. They said this was not fair; they were practising Catholics, committed to their parishes and schools, and could not understand why they had not been offered places when others who were no more committed than them had been successful.
The Ombudsman concluded that the School had been at fault in the way it administered its admission process, and had unreasonably departed from the Government’s Code of Practice. The School was aware that its process breached the Code, which says applications must be dealt with objectively and fairly. The Governors viewed the admission criteria as a subjective competition between families, deciding which families had presented the most evidence of their religious commitment. As a result, the families had no way of knowing how decisions were made, or why they had been unsuccessful. The Governors had previously considered introducing new admission criteria that would comply with the Code, but chose not to do so.
The Appeal Panel that considered the families’ appeals against the decision not to offer places was also at fault, as it failed to test properly whether the admission criteria had been applied fairly.
Without admitting any fault, the School offered places to three of the families following their complaints.
In his published report, the Ombudsman finds maladministration by the School and the Appeal Panel, and recommends that the School should:
- review its admission criteria, in particular the tie-break clause;
- apply objective tests of whether or not each applicant meets the criteria; and
- offer a fresh appeal to the family whose son has not been offered a place.
Date Published: 20/03/09