Summary: Miss X complains about the way an admissions appeal panel considered her appeal for a secondary school place for her son. The Ombudsman does not find fault with how the admissions appeal panel considered the appeal.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Miss X, complains the admissions appeal panel did not properly consider her son’s appeal for a year 7 place at her preferred choice of secondary school. As a result he was refused a place.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. As part of my investigation:
• I discussed the complaint with Miss X over the telephone.
• I considered the notes of the appeal hearing and the letter sent to Miss X afterwards.
• I considered the Admissions Appeals Code 2012.
• I sent a draft of this decision to Miss X and the Council for comments.

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What I found

5. School admissions panels must follow the law when considering an appeal. There is a two stage process. At the first stage the panel considers whether the admission arrangements comply with the law and were properly applied to the case in question.
6. The panel then considers whether admitting another child would prejudice the education of others at the school.
7. If the panel finds there would be prejudice to the school, it moves to stage two. At stage two the panel considers each appellant’s individual arguments for a school place. If the panel decides an appellant’s case outweighs the prejudice to the school, it must uphold the appeal.

What happened

8. Miss X applied for a secondary school place at school A for her son, Y. On the application form Miss X only listed school A.
9. The Council wrote to Miss X to tell her it could not offer a school place for Y at school A. Instead the Council offered Y a place at school B.
10. Miss X appealed the decision and said she would not be accepting the place at school B due to previous family arguments with this school. She also raised concerns about the distance and travel arrangements to school B. Miss X said she and Y felt welcomed by school A when they attended an open evening. She also raised concerns about Y’s learning and felt school A had the best resources to support his learning needs.
11. The panel held the appeal in May 2019. The appeal was unsuccessful. The appeal decision letter set out school A’s case and summarised the points Miss X raised in the appeal. The letter concluded the panel refused admission as school A was full and Y’s case was not strong enough to outweigh the prejudice that would be caused to school A by admitting further pupils.
12. Miss X complained to the Ombudsman because she did not feel the admission appeals panel considered her case properly.

Analysis

13. The Clerk’s notes from the appeal hearing show that both school A and Miss X had a proper opportunity to put their cases forward. The notes show the panel properly considered whether school A was full and whether it would be prejudice to admit additional children.
14. The Clerk’s notes at stage two show Miss X had an opportunity to put her case forward and Miss X’s points were considered by the panel.
15. Whilst I accept there could have been more detail in the panel’s deliberations, I do not consider this serious enough to warrant a finding of fault.
16. The appeal decision letter sent to Miss X goes into some detail about the impact admitting further children will have on school A and Miss X’s reasons for wanting Y to attend school A. Overall, the panel concluded Miss X’s reasons did not outweigh the prejudice to children already admitted to school A. This was a decision the panel was entitled to make having considered the evidence submitted.

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Final decision

I have completed my investigation on the basis there was no fault in how the panel reached its decision.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman