Summary: Miss X complained about a school admission appeal panel’s decision to refuse her appeal. The admission authority was at fault for failing to record how it made decisions, failing to consider all of the evidence and failing to properly explain decisions. This caused Miss X and Y uncertainty. The admission authority will apologise, arrange a fresh appeal and remind staff of the importance of recording decision making and explaining decisions.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the school admission panel:
1. failed to consider the reasons for her appeal and failed to properly consider letters from professionals;
2. failed to properly explain its decision;
3. recorded factually inaccurate information about her daughter, Y;
4. declined to answer any questions she had;
5. poorly communicated with her; and
6. raised that she was appealing to another mixed school resulting in an unfair appeal hearing.
2. Miss X says this has caused her and Y distress and she had not been given a fair appeal.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 admission 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)
4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and Lancashire County Council

(the Council) which arranged the appeal for All Hallows Catholic High School (the School). I also considered relevant law, policy and guidance.

6. Miss X and the School had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Legislation and guidance

Co-ordinated admissions arrangements

7. Statutory guidance about school admissions and appeals can be found in The School Admissions Code and School Admission Appeals Code. Both are published by the Department for Education. 
8. Under the system of coordinated admissions, parents make a single application for a school place to their home council. This is the council the parent pays their council tax to. 
9. 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.  
10. Oversubscription criteria will often be based on catchment areas. Children whose address falls inside a catchment area will normally be given higher priority for admission to the school than those living outside the catchment area. 
11. A school’s admission arrangements must also 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 an infant or primary school this is usually the reception year.  

Appeals

12. Parents have the right to appeal an admission authority’s decision not to offer their child a school place. Appeal hearings must be held in private and conducted in the presence of all panel members and parties. Appeal panels must act according to the principles of natural justice. 

Before the appeal

13. A clerk supports the appeal panel. Parents can submit information in support of their appeal. The clerk must send all papers required for the hearing a reasonable time before the date of the hearing. This includes information from the appellant and the admission authority. The clerk must take an accurate record of the hearing, including the proceedings, attendance, voting and reasons for decisions. 

During the appeal

14. The admission authority must provide a presenting officer at the hearing to explain the decision not to admit the child and to answer questions from the appellant and panel. 
15. Panels must follow a two-stage decision making process. 
16. 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.  

17. 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. 
18. Stage 2: balancing the arguments. The panel must balance the prejudice to the school against the appellant’s case for the child to be admitted.  
19. Appeal panels must either uphold or dismiss an appeal and must not uphold an appeal subject to any conditions. Appeals must be decided by a simple majority of votes cast. A panel’s decision that a child shall be admitted to a school is binding on the admission authority concerned.
20. The Code states the clerk ‘must’ ensure an accurate record is taken of the points raised at the hearing including reasons for decision.

After the appeal

21. The clerk to the panel ‘must’ communicate the decision of each appeal including the reasons for that decision in writing to appellant, the admission authority, and the council. The decision letter must give clear reasons for the panel’s decision including how, and why, any issues of fact or law were decided during the hearing. 

All Hallows Catholic High School admissions arrangements

22. All Hallows Catholic High School (All Hallows) is a voluntary aided school and therefore, its governing body is the admission authority. Lancashire County Council oversees the administration of the admissions, but the School retains overall responsibility for them.
23. The School’s published admission number for the relevant year was 178 students. The School said it admitted 179 students, as there was a late addition of a child with an education, health and care plan.

What happened?

24. Miss X applied for a secondary school place for her daughter Y at All Hallows.
25. The admission authority refused a place for Y at the School as it was oversubscribed.
26. Miss X appealed this decision mid-April 2024. Miss X’s view was that Y needed to attend a mixed school for safeguarding reasons. Miss X also supplied supporting evidence from a performing arts school, a GP, Y’s primary school and a vicar.
27. The letter from Y’s primary school noted support from an emotional literacy support assistant, with the most recent support being around transition to secondary school.
28. The appeal hearing was held early June online.
29. The School put forward the case that it had already placed limits on the free movement of pupils around the school due to high pupil numbers. It noted that extra pupils would cause prejudice to the education of pupils, the efficient use of resources and the safety and wellbeing of pupils and staff.
30. The panel decided the School showed that prejudice would arise and so stage one was met, and the panel could move on to stage two to consider parental reasons.
31. The clerk’s handwritten notes for stage two noted that All Hallows was Y’s first choice, but Miss X would go through the appeals process for another school.
32. The clerk’s handwritten notes also noted Miss X shared that Y had many personal attributes, detailed her faith, pastoral support from school and there had been bullying issues which impacted on her wellbeing.
33. The clerk noted “panel discussion, but no overriding/compelling reason…”. It decided “balance in favour of school”.
34. In mid-June, the appeals team wrote to Miss X with its decision. The panel decided the parent’s arguments did not outweigh the prejudice that would be caused to the school and dismissed Miss X’s appeal. It noted if Miss X had any concerns with the administration of the appeal, or she believed it did not comply with the Code, she could contact the Ombudsman.
35. Miss X contacted the admission team at the Council a week later to ask for feedback on why Y did not get into the school. The Council responded the same day to say it had sent the decision letter with the panel’s decision to her, which would fully explain the reasons.
36. Miss X contacted the admission team again several times with concerns about how the appeal had been conducted. The admission team delayed responding to some of this correspondence but replied to her final contact saying she should approach the Ombudsman with any further complaint.

Analysis

Appeal consideration and decision

37. 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. At stage one, the clerk’s notes recorded the panel’s decision that prejudice would arise with the admission of more children. But, there was no record of how the panel reached its decision, panel deliberations or voting. Without this evidence I cannot be sure the panel properly considered this, which is fault.
38. The appeal panel’s consideration at stage two was also flawed, there were only brief notes of what Miss X presented and the supporting evidence she provided. The clerk’s documents failed to record the panel’s consideration, deliberation and how the panel properly balanced Miss X’s view and supporting evidence against the prejudice to the school. Without this evidence, I cannot be sure the panel properly considered the matters at stage two and this is fault.
39. Miss X also sent a GP report in support of her appeal. There is no reference to this in the clerk’s notes or decision letter and so no record to show the panel considered this information. Because of this, I consider the panel did not consider all the evidence when reaching its decision, which is fault.
40. The decision letter noted the outcome, but it did not explain the reasons the panel considered admitting Y would prejudice the provision of the efficient education or the efficient use of resources at the School. This left Miss X wondering what the reasons for the decision were, which is fault.
41. The identified faults caused Miss X and Y uncertainty about whether the appeal was fairly and properly conducted.
42. In relation to Miss X’s other complaint points, I find no fault in the actions of the admission authority in recording inaccurate information about Y. This is because, the information that Miss X is referring to, came from information she provided as part of her appeal.
43. Miss X contacted the admission team on several occasions about the conduct of the appeal, to which it delayed responding. I find no fault on this matter. This is because, it did not have a duty to respond to Miss X about these concerns. The decision letter clearly told Miss X she could approach the Ombudsman with a complaint about the conduct of the appeal.
44. In relation to Miss X’s complaint about her appeal to another school. It is unclear from the documents how the appeal panel knew about this. But, I found no evidence the panel used this information as part of its decision making, and so I find no fault in this element of Miss X’s complaint.

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Action

45. Within four weeks of our final decision, the School will:
• apologise to Miss X and Y for the faults identified. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The School should consider this guidance in making its apology;

• arrange a fresh appeal for Miss X with a new panel and clerk. We expect the fresh appeal to be presented using the same information about the availability of places as was considered at the flawed hearing; 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.

46. The school should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

I find fault causing injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman