Question for appeals panellists

29 replies

dynamaya · 08/05/2022 18:44

Hi. I know there are a few appeal panel members on these threads. Would it ever be reasonable to appeal for a year 7 place on the grounds that the school's sixth form is very under capacity, therefore they have space for more children in year 7?

OP posts:

prh47bridge · 09/05/2022 07:48

As others have said, it is highly unlikely an appeal panel would uphold a decision on those grounds.

I have never heard of a school taking an appeal panel decision to judicial review. Whilst they could, in theory, do so, they would only have a case if the appeal panel had failed to follow the Admission Appeals Code and this had affected the decision, or the appeal panel's decision was Wednesbury unreasonable, i.e. so unreasonable that no sensible person could possibly have made that decision.

Original poster

dynamaya · 08/05/2022 22:15

Thanks @PatriciaHolm. If a panel upheld a decision on those grounds, and a school wanted to challenge it, would it cost the school a lot of money to take the case to a judicial review?

OP posts:

PatriciaHolm · 08/05/2022 21:12

No, I'm afraid not. Spaces in other years are not relevant, other than in a very light way as Teen says if they try to make a case saying the school is overfull at lunch etc. But even then 6th form is rarely relevant as they usually have a seperate space in the school with their own classrooms, canteen etc, so it's not relevant to that argument either.

TeenPlusCat · 08/05/2022 18:48

Not an expert. But no.
It might help with them claiming over crowding is corridors, but won't help with class size issues day to day.

So you need to find much better grounds such as extra curriculars offered, or subjects at GCSE for which you can show your child has a particular interest.

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