Dorset Council (20 003 648)

Category : Education > School admissions

Decision : Not upheld

Decision date : 26 Mar 2021

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: The Ombudsman has decided to discontinue the investigation of Miss X’s complaint that an Independent Appeal Panel refused to admit her son to her preferred school. This is because Miss X’s son has settled in well to his new school and no longer wishes to be considered for a place at their original preferred choice. This means there is no worthwhile, achievable outcome for Miss X that justifies investigating her complaint.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Miss X, complains that the Council unfairly denied her son a place at her preferred school for him. Miss X says the reasons for this are:
      1. other children were wrongly given a place because of fraudulent applications that the Council failed to properly investigate;
      2. there is an unfair catchment system in place; and,
      3. in previous years, other children were wrongly given a place due the Council’s incorrect application of the Infant Class Sizes legislation.
  2. Miss X says her son has missed out on a place at the family’s preferred school. Miss X says she has had to reduce her working hours and make special arrangements to transport her son to a different school that is further away with different starting hours. She says the decision has negatively impacted her other son’s anxiety.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. 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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:
  • it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
  • we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

  1. We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered the information provided by Miss X and by the Council. I spoke to Miss X about her complaint.
  2. Miss X and the Council have had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered all comments before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

What should have happened

Infant Class Sizes

  1. The Infant Class Sizes legislation provides there must not be more than 30 children in an infant class (that is, classes containing reception, year one and year two children).
  2. The Government has listed the few circumstances in which a child may be classed as an ‘exception’ and the class sizes could go over 30. They include: twins, children of armed services parents, looked after children, and children who have special educational needs. 
  3. When a parent is appealing for a place in an infant class, the Independent Appeal Panel’s task is to review the decision already made. Independent Appeal Panels can only uphold an appeal where Infant Class Sizes applies if the admissions arrangements were unlawful, or not properly applied, or if the decision not to admit was unreasonable. The test of unreasonableness here is very high.

What happened

  1. Miss X applied for a reception class place for her youngest son, B, at her preferred school for him, for September 2020.
  2. The Council refused Miss X’s application due to the infant class size limit having been reached. Miss X appealed the Council’s decision.
  3. The Independent Appeal Panel refused Miss X’s appeal. It decided to uphold the Council’s original decision as it said this had been made in line with the law.
  4. Miss X complained to the Ombudsman as she feels there have been irregularities in respect of fraudulent addresses and past breaches of the Infant Class Sizes legislation. She says this means her son has been unfairly denied a school place.

Analysis

  1. Since Miss X complained to the Ombudsman, her son, B, has started at a different school that was not their original preferred choice. Miss X has told me that B has settled in well at his new school. She says this means she is no longer hoping to achieve an outcome that could lead to B transferring to their original preferred choice of school.
  2. The Ombudsman will only normally investigate a complaint where we can achieve a worthwhile outcome for the person affected. With complaints about admission appeals, if we find fault, we are most likely to recommend a fresh appeal hearing. In this case, Miss X no longer wants this as she has said she is now happy with B’s new school so no longer wants a place. I have, therefore, decided to discontinue my investigation into Miss X’s complaint as I can achieve no worthwhile outcome for her.

Back to top

Final decision

  1. I have discontinued my investigation. This is because, based on the evidence I have seen, there is no worthwhile, achievable outcome for Miss X.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Print this page

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings