Northampton School for Boys (05B03822)

School admissions                      Maladministration causing injustice

31 January 2006

Northampton School for Boys has a co-educational sixth form. ‘Angela’, the daughter of ‘Mr and Mrs Allen’ (not their real names for legal reasons) applied to join the School’s sixth form effective from September 2005, but was refused. Mr and Mrs Allen complained about the way the School considered the application.

The Ombudsman upheld complaints about the published information given to Mr and Mrs Allen about the admission process which failed to set a realistic admission number, to explain the oversubscription criteria or to explain the role of a course guidance meeting. The Ombudsman also upheld complaints about flaws in the operation of the School’s admission policy. In particular, the Ombudsman criticised the School’s use of a course guidance meeting as an interview in all but name, which was an integral part of the admission process, used to select pupils when the school had more applicants than places available.

Complaints from Mr and Mrs Allen about an appeal hearing that subsequently considered the refusal of a place at the School to Angela were partially upheld. The Ombudsman found that the School failed to share enough information in advance of the hearing on the conduct of the course guidance meeting. He also considered that a member of the appeal panel should have withdrawn from proceedings as he was a governor at a school where some appellants attended. Complaints about the timing of the receipt of the case that was put forward by the School and the venue of the appeal hearing were not upheld.

The Ombudsman said he would not conclude that the outcome for Angela would have been different had the admission process not been flawed. But he did find that Mr and Mrs Allen had a justifiable sense of outrage at the failings identified. He felt that this injustice would be suitably remedied by the issue of this public report.

The Ombudsman noted that the School had revised its admission criteria for sixth form entrants from September 2006 onwards and now had a realistic admission number. The School was to introduce a questionnaire as part of the admission process. In the event that a place was denied and parents appeal, the Ombudsman recommended that the School share details on the scoring process with the parents and appeal panel in advance of an appeal hearing. The Ombudsman welcomed the School’s assurances that no appeal panel member will serve as a governor at an appellant’s existing school. He also noted the School’s intention to recruit an independent clerk for appeals and hold future appeals at a venue away from the school buildings.

Date Published: 30/07/09