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Special educational needs & School admissions
Maladministration causing injustice
03 May 2007
New Christ Church Primary School and Reading Borough Council delayed in admitting a five-year-old boy with special educational needs to school. The Ombudsman drew attention to the importance of councils and schools working together effectively and following procedures to ensure that children with special educational needs are placed in mainstream schools, where appropriate, without delay. New Christ Church Primary School is a Church of England voluntary aided school, and is its own admissions authority. ‘Ms Milne’ (not her real name for legal reasons) complained that the School failed to deal properly with the admission procedure for her son, ‘John’, who has special educational needs, and took too long to reach a decision. She also complained that Reading Borough Council failed to ensure that the procedure for the admission of a child with a statement of special educational needs was followed correctly. The Ombudsman found that the School delayed unreasonably in considering the Council’s request for a place to be offered to John. The process should have taken 15 days but in fact took three-and-a-half months. The Council failed to explain the proper procedure and time limits. The governors and staff showed that they did not have a clear understanding of the law and procedures for the admission of children with special educational needs. To remedy the injustice, the Ombudsman recommends that the Council and the School each apologise to Ms Milne and pay her £125 in recognition of her time and trouble in dealing with the matter. The Council should ensure that its information to schools about the procedure for admission of statemented children is clear. The School should ensure that staff and governors dealing with admissions are fully aware of the procedure.
Date Updated: 16/01/09
are in .pdf format. To view these files you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. It can be downloaded below free of charge. Click To Download