E d u c a t i o n M a t t e r s
Education Matters School Admissions and Appeals
Service families frequently move homes on posting and it is inevitable that many will find themselves having to secure new school places for their children. The prospect can be daunting and often causes a great deal of stress. Here the Children Education Advisory Service (CEAS) outline the process and the pitfalls.
A USEFUL DOCUMENT A
most useful document for school admission arrangements is the ‘School Admission
Code 2007’(SAC) which can be found at
www.dcsf.gov.uk/sacode. Some knowledge of the admissions process will be useful should you encounter difficulties in securing a school place for your child.
START WITH THE INSPECTION REPORT The best place to start when looking for a new school in a new area is the ‘Inspection Report’ page on the Ofsted website at
www.ofsted.gov.uk.
EXPRESSING A PREFERENCE Parents have the right to ‘express a preference for a school’ but not an absolute right to have a place allocated. Nevertheless, a parent has the general right to apply for a place in any maintained school and if a place exists, it must be allocated. Clearly, it is easier to meet the majority of parental preferences, at the normal admissions round; a process that many Service families are not able to participate in. Consequently, many have to make late or in- year applications for school places.
MEETING THE NEEDS OF SERVICE CHILDREN
Although admission authorities are required to have regard to the needs of Service children (SAC Para 3.23), they are specifically prevented from retaining blocks of school places for them (SAC Para 3.24a). Nevertheless, school places should be allocated to children and their families in advance of the approaching school year if accompanied by an official MOD letter declaring a relocation date (SAC Para 3.22). Inevitably, as good schools are usually popular schools they are often oversubscribed.
THE RIGHT OF APPEAL
Should a desired school be full, a parent has the right to appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel. Schools must provide information on how to make an appeal when they refuse a place. To be successful at an appeal hearing it will be necessary to persuade the panel that either: o the admissions authority has made a mistake in the way they applied their admissions criteria;
22 Summer 2008
o that no prejudice to the provision of education or use of resources would be caused by admitting the additional child to the school
o that the prejudice caused is outweighed by the prejudice caused to the appellant by not being allowed the place.
Only one appeal can be made for a place for a child in a particular school in any one academic year. Decisions made by appeal panels are final and can only be overturned by the courts.
FURTHER RESTRICTIONS FOR KEY STAGE 1
A further restriction exists in Key Stage One (up to end of Year 2) in that Infant Class Size Legislation limits classes to a maximum of 30 pupils. Because of this there are only 2 circumstances where a KS1 appeal can be successful, these are where o ‘the decision to refuse admission was not one which a reasonable admission authority would make in the circumstances of the case’ – known as “Ground A”
o or ‘that the child would have been offered a place if the admission arrangements had been properly implemented’ known as “Ground B”.
The term ‘reasonable’ is subject to the ‘Wednesbury unreasonableness (perversity) test’ and the panel are required to consider whether the decision not to admit was ‘so outrageous in its defiance of logic or of accepted moral standards that no sensible person [ ] could have arrived at it’. Unless a case can be made under Ground A or B then the panel will not be able to uphold an appeal.
KEEP A RECORD
In case the matter should go to appeal, it is advisable to keep a detailed record of all correspondence and any telephone conversations relating to the matter. To help this, where ever possible correspond in writing, e-mail is fine. Failure by an admissions authority to follow the requirements of the Code may assist a successful appeal if it can be shown that at the time of application places were available for your child and you could have been allocated a place were the correct procedures applied.
STATION/ UNIT POSTAL ADDRESSES AND POSTING NOTICES ARE SUFFICIENT Admission authorities are required to accept a unit postal address or notification of posting as sufficient evidence to meet residency criteria in the area concerned. The appropriate references in the Schools Admissions Code are Para 3.23 (d) which requires that ‘Local authorities and admissions authorities must
..accept a Unit postal address for applications from service personnel in the absence of a new home postal address’ and Para 3.24 (b) which states that ‘Admission authorities must not … refuse a place to such a child because the family does not currently live in the local area’. A further requirement is placed upon admission authorities by Para 2.39 which holds that ‘For children of UK Service personnel and other Crown Servants admission authorities must treat a family returning to their area as meeting the residency criteria for that catchment area even if no house is currently owned in that area once proof of the posting has been provided’.
IT IS RARELY SIMPLE
Admissions issues are rarely simple to deal with as each local or admissions authority set their own admissions criteria within the requirements of the Code and individual circumstances may vary considerably. Should you encounter problems with finding a school place in any part of the UK, please contact CEAS who may be able to help by clarifying the situation with the admissions authorities, providing assistance with appeals or by referring the matters to the local admissions forums if appropriate. CEAS: 01980 618244 or enquiries@ceas.
detsa.co.uk
NOTE: CEAS have trained RAF CDW/CDO staff to support families going through the schools appeals process so do not hesitate to make use of this support if you need it.
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