St Thomas More Catholic School, Willenhall (24 005 106)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mrs X complained the independent appeal panel failed to properly consider her appeal against the School’s decision to refuse her daughter a place in Year 7. We found the failure to record the panel’s consideration and the reasons for its decision at stage 1 of the appeal is fault. As is the failure to explain or provide a summary of the issues the panel considered and the reasons for the panel’s decision in the decision letter. These faults have caused Mrs X an injustice.
The complaint
- The complainant, Mrs X complained the independent appeal panel failed to properly consider her appeal against the School’s decision to refuse her daughter a place in Year 7. Mrs X says this caused her and her family stress and uncertainty.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way a school admissions appeals panel made its decision. If there was no fault in how the panel made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. 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)
- If we are satisfied with an organisation’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)
How I considered this complaint
- As part of the investigation, I have:
- considered the complaint and the documents provided by Mrs X;
- made enquiries of the School and considered the comments and documents the School provided;
- Mrs X and the School had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.
What I found
Relevant law and guidance
- Statutory guidance about school admissions and appeals is within the School Admissions Code and the School Admission Appeals Code, published by the Department for Education.
- All schools must have a set of admission arrangements containing oversubscription criteria. The school’s admission authority uses these to decide which children will receive an offer of a place if there are more applications than places available. The school’s admission authority sets the admission arrangements.
- A school’s admission arrangements must contain a Published Admission Number (PAN). This is the number of places the school will offer at each point of entry. The point of entry is when the school normally admits children, in this case the PAN for Year 7 was 243 pupils.
- Parents/carers have the right to appeal an admission authority’s decision not to offer their child a school place.
- Panels must follow a two-stage decision making process. At stage 1 the panel examines the decision to refuse admission. The panel must consider whether:
- the admissions arrangements complied with the mandatory requirements set out in the School Admissions Code;
- the admission arrangements were applied correctly; and if
- the admission of additional children would prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources.
- If a panel decides that admitting further children would “prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources” they move to the second stage of the process.
- Stage 2 involves balancing the arguments. The panel must balance the prejudice to the school against the appellant’s case for the child to be admitted.
- Appeal panels must allow appellants the opportunity to make oral representations.
- Appeal panels must either uphold or dismiss an appeal. A panel’s decision that a child shall be admitted to a school is binding on the admission authority concerned.
- The School Admission Appeals Code sets out that the clerk to the appeal panel must ensure an accurate record is taken of the points raised at the hearing, including the proceedings, attendance, voting and reasons for decisions.
- The clerk to the panel must write to the appellant, the admission authority and the council with the panel’s decision and reasons.
What happened here
- The governing body is responsible for admissions to St Thomas More Catholic School. The admissions process is part of the Walsall Local Authority coordinated admissions scheme, however the School retains overall responsibility for admissions.
- Mrs X applied to the School for her daughter, Y to start in year 7 in September 2024. The School was oversubscribed and unable to offer Y a place because it was full with children who qualified under a higher criteria under its admission policy. Instead, the Council offered Y a place at School B.
- Mrs X appealed against the School’s decision to refuse Y a place. She said Y was an active member of a local Catholic Church and was preparing to receive first Holy Communion in a few months. Mrs X asked the appeal to consider Y’s priest’s letter of support. She also highlighted that Y had not been given a place at her preferred primary school but had been allocated her current school based on where the family lived. This had affected her ability to attend a feeder school.
- In addition to the desire to attend a faith school, Mrs X said the family were moving in the coming weeks. Their new home would be a mile away from the School and within the catchment area.
- The appeal took place in June 2024. Mrs X attended the first stage in person and the second stage was held by video conferencing the following day.
- In its written case the School said it had received almost 400 more applications than it had places available and had decided not to admit above its PAN. The School had exceeded its PAN in the last two academic years and this had put considerable pressure on the school. The School was currently over its Nett Capacity and had reached a point where no further places could be allocated. It asserted increased class sizes would detract from the provision of efficient and effective education with the resources available. And would put a strain on the infrastructure of the school.
- The Clerk’s notes for stage 1 show the panel had read the Governors submission and asked the School’s representative some prepared questions. The appellants also had the opportunity to ask questions of the School.
- The notes record the panel agreed that:
- the admission arrangements (including the area’s co-ordinated admission arrangements) were complied with,
- the admission arrangements were correctly and impartially applied to the cases in question and
- the admission of additional children would prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources.
- The panel then considered the second stage of the appeal and whether Mrs X's case outweighed the school's case of prejudice. The Clerk’s notes show the Chair advised they had received and read all of Mrs X’s information and asked whether there was anything she would like to add or highlight before it asked a few questions. The panel’s questions largely focussed on Y’s allocated school and Y’s recent decision to become Catholic.
- The notes record Mrs X was given the opportunity to make further comments. And was asked whether she was satisfied she had received a fair hearing and been able to tell the panel everything she wanted to. Mrs X confirmed she was satisfied.
- The panel concluded the parent’s arguments did not outweigh the prejudice that would be caused to the school and dismissed Mrs Y’s appeal. The Clerk’s notes record the panel considered:
- Y’s application was considered under the correct criteria and note the distance from home to the School;
- Y did not attend a Catholic primary school;
- It was accepted the family had been involved with the church for just over a year by the panel was sceptical of the reasons for Y embarking on the ‘Journey of Faith’
- The allocated school was a reasonable distance from home; and
- One or two of Y’s friends were going to School B.
- The Clerk wrote to Mrs X the same day advising her that her appeal was unsuccessful. The decision letter does not set out what the panel considered or give any reasons for the decision.
- Mrs X remains unhappy and has asked the Ombudsman to investigate her concerns.
Analysis
- The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. In cases such as this, our role is to decide whether the appeal panel followed the correct procedure in making its decision.
- The School Admission Appeals Code states the independent appeal clerk must take an accurate record of the appeal hearing, including the reasons for the decisions made.
- The clerk’s notes provide a record of both the School’s case and Mrs X’s case and show the panel correctly considered the appeal in two stages.
- At stage 1 of the appeal the clerk’s notes recorded the panel’s decision that prejudice would arise with the admission of more children. However, there was no record of how the panel reached its decision or the reasons for the decision it made. The clerk’s notes do not include any discussion which shows how the panel decided admitting further children would cause prejudice. Without this evidence I cannot be sure the panel properly considered this issue, which is fault.
- The Clerk’s notes do record the panel deliberation at stage 2, and the reasons for their decision that Mrs X’s arguments did not outweigh the prejudice that would be caused to the school
- However, there is no reference to the decision reasons in the Clerk’s letter to Mrs X advising her appeal was dismissed.
- The Code states the panel must communicate the decision, including reasons for that decision in writing to the appellant. And must ensure that the decision is easily comprehensible so that the parties can understand the basis on which the decision was made. It says the decision letter must contain a summary of the relevant factors raised by the parties and considered by the panel and must give clear reasons for the panel’s decision.
- In this instance the decision letter appears to be a generic template letter. It has not been tailored in any way to summarise the issues or explain the decision reached in Mrs X’s case. The failure to properly communicate and explain the reasons for the decision is fault.
Agreed action
- The School has agreed to:
- arrange a fresh appeal for Mrs X with a new panel and clerk; and
- remind all clerking staff of the need to clearly record how the panel reached its decisions and the reasons for the decisions at both stages of the appeal process and in the decision letter.
- The School should take this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint and provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.
Final decision
- The failure to record the panel's consideration and the reasons for its decision at stage 1 of the appeal is fault. As is the failure to explain or provide a summary of the issues the panel considered and the reasons for the panel's decision in the decision letter. These faults have caused Mrs X an injustice.
Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman