Very serious faults in admission procedures of Guru Nanak Sikh Secondary School

Archived press release

Date Published: 19/03/09

The Governors and Appeal Panel of the School did not handle admission applications or appeals in accordance with binding statutory codes.

The Governors and Appeal Panel of Guru Nanak Sikh Secondary School, Hayes, did not handle admission applications or appeals in accordance with binding statutory codes, finds Local Government Ombudsman, Tony Redmond. In his report, issued today (19 March 2009) he says “The School’s disregard of its statutory duties has been significant” and lists nine points by which it breached the mandatory provisions of the Government’s Schools Admissions Code, and two breaches of the mandatory provisions of the Admissions Appeal Code by the Appeal Panel (see page 12 of report).

This report concerns complaints from five families who had been refused places for their children at the School from September 2008. The investigation considered whether they had been wrongly refused a place at the School and whether the admissions appeal panel had considered their appeals properly.

The Ombudsman says: “Despite the introduction by Parliament of two statutory codes with mandatory provisions, and an earlier Ombudsman report critical of how the School had administered its admission arrangements and admission appeals, limited regard appears to have been given by the Governors to their statutory duties.”

The Ombudsman identifies very serious faults in how the admission procedures were conducted. As a result of significant failings it could not be concluded that the children of the five complainants should not have obtained a place at the School.

At an early stage of the investigation, the Ombudsman proposed that the School offer places to each child. The Governors refused to act on this at the time but the Ombudsman repeats his recommendation for the three complainants who still wish their child to attend the School.

The School needs to undertake a fundamental review of its admission arrangements because, while it has started this process, significant concerns remain, and the Ombudsman continues to raise these with the Governors.

report ref 08 005 300 + 4 others