Parkside School (21 007 884)

Category : Education > School admissions

Decision : Not upheld

Decision date : 10 Mar 2022

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Mrs X complained about the Independent Appeal Panel’s decision to not admit her child to their preferred choice of school. There was no fault in the way the appeal was conducted.

The complaint

  1. Mrs X complained about the Independent Appeal Panel’s decision to refuse her appeal for her child to have a place at their preferred choice of secondary school. She says this caused distress and upset for her child and herself. She wants her child to be accepted at their preferred choice of school.

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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 cannot question whether an independent school admissions appeals panel’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider if there was fault in the way the decision was reached. If we find fault, which calls into question the panel’s decision, we may ask for a new appeal hearing. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
  2. If we are satisfied with a school appeal panels’ 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

  1. I spoke with Mrs X about her complaint and considered the information she provided.
  2. I considered the information provided by the School and the Council about the appeal. This information included the appeals application form, the school’s case, the clerk’s notes and the decision letter.
  3. Mrs X and the School had the opportunity to comment on the draft version of this decision. I considered their comments before making the final decision.

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What I found

  1. In September 2020, Mrs X submitted an admissions application form for her child to start year 7 in September 2021. She listed on the application form three preferred schools for her child to attend. At the time Mrs X completed the application form, Mrs X and her child lived at a different permanent address. In March 2021, the Council’s Admissions Team wrote to Mrs X and said her child had been allocated a place in year 7 at their second preferred choice of school.

School Admission Appeal Code (2012)

  1. The School Admissions Appeals Code (2012) sets out the process the Independent Appeal Panel (the panel) must follow when considering an appeal. The panel must follow a two-stage decision making process for this type of appeal.
  2. At the first stage, the panel must consider:
    • whether the admission arrangements complied with the law
    • whether the admission arrangements were correctly and impartially applied in each case.
  3. The panel must then decide whether the admission of further children would prejudice the education of others.
  4. If the panel finds there would be prejudice it must then consider each appellant’s individual arguments. At the second stage, the panel must balance the prejudice to the school against the appellant’s case for admission of their child to the school. It must take account the appellant’s reasons for expressing a preference for the school, including what the school can offer the child that the allocated or other schools cannot. If the panel considers the appellant’s case outweighs the prejudice to the school, it must uphold the appeal.
  5. Whilst the panel must consider the school’s published admission number, the admission authority must be able to demonstrate prejudice over and above the fact that the published admission number has already been reached. It must consider the impact on the school of admitting additional children.

The appeal

  1. After receiving the allocation letter, Mrs X appealed the decision. Mrs X said due to Covid-19, her and her family were made homeless as their landlord had to sell the property. Due to this, Mrs X and her family had to move to a new home at a new location. She said there was a school closer to them which she had listed on her application form. Mrs X wanted her child to attend that school instead. Mrs X listed several reasons why she wanted her child to be admitted to this School and some of these included:
    • the School is a short walk away from their new home.
    • her child excels in specific subjects and their new preferred place of school would allow her child to excel further as it specialises in these subjects.
    • her child was not given the opportunity to view the schools she had listed on the admissions application form and this was because of Covid-19 and lockdown restrictions. Mrs X added they were not able to get an understanding of which school best suited her child.
    • she was concerned her child would need to use public transport to get to their allocated school.
  2. The School’s written case set out that it had admitted to its published admission number and no further students could be accommodated. It set out that additional buses and cars created tension and safety issues around the School access. It said the nature of the access to the School site and particularly the safety issues with students arriving and leaving school should be a consideration when adding students to the School.
  3. Mrs X’s appeal hearing took place with an Independent Appeal Panel in June 2021. A representative from the Council presented the case on the School’s behalf. The Clerk’s notes stated the School was unable to give Mrs X’s child a place. The representative from the Council provided figures for the number of children currently registered at the School who had additional needs. They also said giving Mrs X’s child a place at the School would have a negative impact on the size of teaching groups. For example, they said, “larger teaching groups reduced considerably the availability of practical resources for students themselves to use and not all students are able to fully participate with the lesson due to lack of specialist equipment”.
  4. The Panel asked the representative from the Council questions about the School’s case. For example, it asked what the School’s published admission number was for each year group and how many children were registered in each year group. The representative from the Council provided the data which showed the School had already gone above its published admission number for year groups 7, 8 and 9.
  5. The Clerk’s notes show the Panel was satisfied the admission arrangements were correctly applied in this case and to admit Mrs X’s child would cause prejudice to the School.
  6. The Clerk’s decision notes listed all of Mrs X’s reasons for wanting her child to be admitted to the School. They noted the Panel decided her reasons did not outweigh the prejudice to the School. It said this was because, “the allocated school was their second preference on their application. The house move to…was recent and after allocations had been made”.
  7. The Clerk wrote to Mrs X and informed her that her appeal for a place at the School had been refused. It said it had considered Mrs X’s concerns and had carefully considered her reasons for wanting her child to attend the School. It reiterated the Panel decided Mrs X’s reasons were not sufficient to outweigh the difficulties that would be caused to the School by it admitting her child. It added Mrs X’s child had been allocated their second choice of school.
  8. Mrs X remained unhappy and complained to us.

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Findings

  1. The Ombudsman’s role is to consider whether the appeal panel followed the Admissions Appeals Code. We do this by examining the panel’s papers and the notes taken by the clerk during the hearing. As long as it considered the evidence put forward properly, the Ombudsman cannot say what conclusion it should have come to. If we find fault which calls the panel’s decision into question, we may ask for a new appeal hearing.
  2. The Panel appropriately considered Mrs X’s reasons for wanting her child to have a place at the School. It also considered the School’s reasons why giving Mrs X’s child a place at the School would cause prejudice to the efficient provision of education and to the efficient use of resources. There was no fault in the way the Panel made its decision to refuse Mrs X’s appeal.

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Final decision

  1. I have now completed my investigation. There was no fault by the Independent Appeal Panel.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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