Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s school’s admissions appeal panel refusing her appeal. It is unlikely we would find fault which caused Mrs X to lose out on a school place.

The complaint

1. Mrs X says the Council’s school’s admissions appeals panel should have granted her child, D, a place at School Y.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended).

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the appeal papers.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

The appeals’ process

5. 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. 
6. Parents/carers have the right to appeal an admission authority’s decision not to offer their child a school place.  
7. 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. 
8. A clerk supports the appeal panel. Parents can give information in support of their appeal.
9. 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. 
10. Appeal panels must allow appellants the opportunity to make oral representations.
11. 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. 
12. The clerk to the panel must write to the appellant, the admission authority and the council with the panel’s decision and reasons. 
13. Panels must follow a two-stage decision making process. 
14. 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.  
15. 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. 
16. 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.  

Events in this case

17. Mrs X applied for her place for her child, D, to attend a grammar school. D had not passed the entrance test and was not therefore given a place. Mrs X appealed this decision. She told the appeal panel:
• D read at levels two years above their age.
• D was bright and capable of handling grammar school.
• D had been diagnosed with dyslexia just before the tests and was not given any extra time.
• The primary school head teacher had provided a letter in support of her appeal.
18. The appeal panel dismissed the appeal. It said:
• D’s maths score had been quite below the pass mark,
• Mrs X had not provided any evidence of the dyslexia diagnosis,
• The headteacher had not mentioned the dyslexia nor had they said they believed D was of grammar school standard.

Analysis

19. The appeal panel’s detailed decision letter records the reasons Mrs X gave the appeal panel for wanting a place, including their personal reasons. It is clear from the appeal panel’s clerk’s notes it actively considered the case before making its decision. It is unlikely we would find fault in the appeal panel’s decision based on the information I have seen which supports its decision. It is a decision it was entitled to take.

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Final decision

20. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is unlikely we would find fault in the appeal panel’s decision which has caused them to lose out on a place at this school.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman