Admissions and Appeals for Primary Schools

[cjones9812]

Hello

Looking for advice regarding admissions and appeals process. Recently applied for a place at a primary school that is 1.1 miles from home and out of catchment. We did not get in but during the admissions process we became aware of admin errors form the admissions team. We raised this in our appeal and asked them to kindly look into these errors to ensure that they have been addressed and to confirm that the admissions team acted in line with the 'Code' for admissions and lawful and further to that, to ensure that our application was not at a disadvantage because of these errors. However when we received the outcome letter it only mentioned the errors by saying that ' the school representative stated if the admissions team had made errors they would rectify them'. However this does not answer any of our questions and although they have not upheld our appeal we are non the wiser about out the errors and whether they acted in line with code what impact it had on our application. Any Advice please? Surely this cannot be acceptable as it seems that our concerns have been disregarded and therefore our application in its entirety.

Am sure one of the experts will be along shortly but at first reading I suppose it depends on the nature of the errors (and the schools admission criteria)
So - did they get your distance measurement wrong, did they fail to acknowledge a sibling already at the school etc.

Did you ask them before getting to appeal specifically about the admin errors?

Hi There no, nothing to do with distance, just wanted to mention we were out of catchment. Basically they made an error when allocating places and their PAN ( planned admission number) was 27 and because of their error they accepted a child ( who was a twin) and increased their PAN so he could have a place. We asked them :

How did this error happen and can you ensure that whatever failed in their process did not have an impact on other applications?

Who was permitted to change the PAN when it had already been agreed?

We thought that any pupils accepted after the allocation of places needed to go through appeals and be assessed - rather than by pass the system?

What is the purpose of the appeals process if it is possible to call the admissions and ask them to review and then be let in to the school that way without an investigation into what happen - isn't this the purpose of appeals, to review any errors so that it is a fair and transparent process?

We asked all of these questions so that we could confirm that the process had been carried out properly but they did not answer one point. They said we make very few errors and when we do we rectify them.

We feel that because we questioned their process that our appeal was essentially disregarded. Is this lawful or are they permitted not to our address our concerns stated here above?

I suppose from the panels point of view - the raising of PAN for a twin is legitimate (I think most admission criteria take the view that if the last admitted child is one of a multiple birth then the others are admitted as "excepted" - so they don't have to go through the appeals. So if twin 1 was number 27, twin 2 automatically becomes 28. The panel may feel that this "error" didn't have a detriment to the way in which your admission was handled?

I mentioned calling about errors as I had assumed the error directly affected your application - so for example they hadn't noticed you had a sibling at the school and therefore placed you in the wrong category - often schools will correct these errors without need of an appeal.

The other point I suppose is that with a PAN of 27 you won't have been restricted in terms of an ICS appeal, so did you think the panel responded correctly to the rest of your appeal (not just the errors)?

If the first twin was the 27th to be admitted with a PAN of 27, then the 2nd twin MUST be accepted to reception. There has been no error made or flouting of the admissions code.

However with a PAN of 27, and 28 in the class, you'd maybe stand a chance at a place if you appealed if your child has a particular need to go to this school.

Thank you for clarifying and this is the first time - apart from googling and trying to understand the SSFA Act in laymans terms, I am getting a greater understanding of the process.

I don't deny that the twin should get a place and completely agree that they should - you have answered my question in terms of who is able to change the PAN number and accept the child - from what you have said above, admissions is permitted to and they do not have to go through the appeal.

So the 28th twin doesn't need to go through as an 'excepted pupil' he can go through on normal admission numbers ?

The issue I have with the IAP and the hearing is, each time we called the school to see where he was on the OSL and how many appeals there were , the figures kept changing and they said they had been an error because of the twin being missed and this changed the numbers. We put in our appeal the questions I listed here above however during the hearing they did not address our questions and more or less disregarded it.

I felt that the outcome letter fell below the minimum standards and completely missed out that section of us asking whether the 'Code' had been adhered to. All we were asking for was reassurance and clarity of what happened, why and to assure us that it had no impact on the chances of our son getting into the school.

Do you think that is normal or acceptable? do they not have an obligation to address that part of our appeal?

Must add , that the main part of our appeal was to assess the reasonableness of our son attending another school. This is the only school in the area whereby he could attend and we would not incur £450 a month in breakfast and afterschool club fees - either that or one of us giving up work to be able to collect him. I appreciate the reasonableness test is subjective so if they find that expense to the family reasonable there is nothing we can do. What I found wrong, as stated, that they would not respond to us about the errors in the process so we had assurance no one had been put at a disadvantage and the code had been followed.

Am not an expert so cannot comment on what the letter should or shouldn't have said, but the bar for 'reasonableness' is much much much higher than childcare costs. Issues such as the child being in a witness protection programme, child being a wheelchair user and school is on the third floor type high...

Well thanks for your comments I have had more information and clarity from this discussion than I have had from the admissions team and appeals panel. I accept that the 'reasonableness' test is basically up to them and as you have stated, a much higher bar than childcare, which is a pity since the fees are and can be crippling.
But at least from what I have been told here above, they have acted in line with the 'code' , they were permitted to change the PAN on the day and the twin did not need to go through the appeals process or go through as an 'excepted pupil'. If only this could have been explained in our letter- that was all we asked- in line with being open , transparent and fair.

You don't have to go through any special process to be excepted. A child admitted through the normal process can be excepted. However, with an admission number of 27, infant class size regulations are irrelevant so there was no need for the child to be excepted.

Titchy is slightly wrong. They didn't have to admit the second twin but there is a strong presumption that they would. If they hadn't the twin would almost certainly have got in on appeal.

I'm afraid the arguments you put forward were very unlikely to persuade an appeal panel. You would have been better advised to show how your child would be disadvantaged by not attending this school, e.g. by showing that this school offers activities that are not available at the allocated school and would be particularly relevant for your child.

Yes I agree that the twin would have almost got in on appeal but I didn't understand why he didn't need to go through the appeals. The admissions didn't even check whether the mother had put down 2 different schools (as some parents do decide to do this) they automatically accepted him from one phone call. Why do some have to go through appeals to highlight and error whereas some can just call and get admitted to the school? Why isn't there consistency? How can they define this as fair , open and transparent?

Also why cant they explain how the error occurred so we know it didn't impact other applicants?

Do you know whether the mother put down a different school or is that theoretical?
I've seen on here where there has been an error that it can be resolved with a phone call.

A reception age same year sibling of a child with a place or child with an EHC naming the school don't have to appeal - the Admissions code allows them to be accepted without the need for appeal. A child not awarded a place because of an error which affected only them similarly doesn't need to go to appeal.

I think you need to understand that admissions authorities can admit children over PAN in certain circumstances without them needing to appeal. That's good practice, not against the code at all and seems to have been what has happened.

Admitting a twin (or higher) when the first of multiples secures the last place is standard practice and explicitly allowed for in the Admissions Code, even when ICS applies.

Some LEAs do force those parents to appeal, but as the outcome is a foregone conclusion (I assume prh47's 'almost certainly' is an outbreak of lawyerly caution) it is a waste of time and money. It's better (IMO) practice just to admit, and it even if you don't think it's better, it's equally good and entirely permissible.

These issues that you raised should have been dealt with at the appeal. The representative of the admission authority should have given you the answer that others have made at the appeal, not left you thinking they will look into it. Legally the panel had to make a decision over admission or not after the end of the hearing and could not taken any other information into consideration that the hearing gave you the impression that would be investigated but clearly was not.
27 is a peculiar number as an admission number, so I would have to ask whether the appeal was as an "ordinary" appeal and not an infant class size case, which it certainly would not be. I am wondering whether this appeal is in Wales as they have quite funny PANs at times.

I assume prh47's 'almost certainly' is an outbreak of lawyerly caution

It is! If an appeal panel got this wrong I would have to question their training.

Hi It turns out admissions do not know whether one twin secured the last place ( number 27 of the PAN) or not and how or when the error occurred. Does this make any difference? It gives me even less confidence in their process and allocation of places.

Admission - in relation to your questions/ points, this was not a Welsh admissions , it was in England. We submitted our appeal documents before the hearing, well in advance as per their instructions and we clearly and kindly requested for them to look into the errors raised and asked them how the errors occurred, whether the actions were in line with the 'code' and to confirm that our application ( and others) were not at a disadvantage because of these errors. They did not respond to this , they could not tell us how the error happened and said if an error is made then we rectify it and that was all that was said on the matter.

Yes I also thought 27 was an odd number when they had listed how many pupils are in each year and some of them are higher than 27 plus the legal maximum is 30. During the appeal all the school rep focused on was why they would not accept more than their PAN (whether they classed that as 27 or 28). It seems schools set their PAN number below the 30 to allow them to have some wiggle room.

The point of my post was to find out whether they acted in line with the code in terms of accepting and allocating pupils, from what the posts here above state, the admissions did even with or without the admission error. However how that can be confirmed when they don't know how the error occurred very much confuses me. If you don't know how the error occurred how do you know the others are right? The other point of my post is to check whether the panel had a legal obligation to address our concerns and to check that other applications had not been at a disadvantage because of the aforementioned. We gave them an opportunity to look into it before the appeal hearing, we didn't suddenly bring it up in the appeal, they knew well in advance- they didn't address our concerns or confirm that the error had no impact on other applications and they knew what had happened, they merely wrote 2 lines on it on our outcome letter and said ' if errors were made, admissions would rectify them' What is the point of the appeals panel if they cant even confirm to you that the admissions process has been implemented correctly and fairly?!

It doesn't matter whether the first twin was the 27th pupil admitted or the first pupil admitted. Once they had a place in the normal admissions round they had little choice but to admit the other twin.

I should also point out that, even if there had been an error (and nothing you have posted so far suggests there was), this would only have helped you at appeal if your child would have got a place but for the error. Unless you were, or should have been, first on the waiting list an error resulting in the wrong child being admitted doesn't help you.

I'm afraid everything you have reported so far suggests there was an error in not admitting the second twin in the first place (which doesn't help you - the only child affected by that error was the second twin) and the admission authority have corrected that error in the way they are supposed to. I haven't seen anything that suggests your child was deprived of a place by an error.

Yes, the appeals panel should look into any possible errors in the admission process. If your child missed out on a place due to an error they should have awarded your child a place. However, nothing you have posted suggests you have identified an error beyond the initial failure to admit the second twin. The letter could have said that you had not identified any errors in the admission process affecting your child in addition to commenting that the admissions team would rectify any errors. However, the fact it didn't say that is not a major omission in my view and certainly does not give any grounds for getting the appeal panel's decision overturned.

Thanks for your replies. Yes it would have been nice and reassuring that they knew how and why they had made errors and confirmed that we had not been at a disadvantage. Seems the appeals panel works in a different want to what I would have expected - tried to compare and contrast it in a legal / courts context and what a judge would have addressed or expected the defence to address. I have requested the minutes of the appeal hearing from the clerk but no response nor acknowledgement to my email. At least they are consistent with their disregard.

Trying to compare with a legal/ courts context is not a good comparison because everything to do with an admission appeal is based on the definition of balance of probability (that is 51% believed) whereas in a court case it is beyond reasonable doubt.
That is why many solicitors are poor at admission appeals because they are looking at beyond reasonable doubt and therefore nit-pick away at things as they believe that any small errors or omissions that can be proven should lead to a favourable decision.
It is highly unlikely that you will get to see the minutes of the appeal as this is deemed confidential to the panel. The only people who can request it and expect to get it are the Local Government Ombudsman

If this process does not allow for a parent to ask whether their child's application was not impacted by admission errors and they cannot give a yes or a no answer to that, then there is something fundamentally wrong with the admissions process. Its a simple , straightforward and fair question to be able to get an answer to.

But you CAN ask that . In your case there was no indication that an error had meant your child didn't get a place.

They can't give you very specific information on who was or wasn't affected by any errors as that'd be a data breach. You asked and were told if there were errors that affected you they'd be sorted by the admissions team.

As stated here above in the discussion, I have asked it several times but they cant confirm how the error happened and they have not answered my question. I don't know if the error had an impact on my child or others because they do not know how the allocation of places process went wrong.

But as far as I can recall - you've not said that the school have retracted a place from anyone else? So on unearthing the second twin they've just added them to the school roll.
Are you suggesting you fear that they misapplied your application (for example as I mentioned in my first post on your thread- have they not put you in the right admission category - you feel you should have been in a higher category?) If there isn't evidence of any error in your application process - and normally you'd have an inkling of this (for example there have been other threads when posters are 100% certain the distance criteria was wrongly applied), then I think the "twin unearthing" had no material impact on your application. Whilst you may have preferred an explicit statement to this effect in the panel's decision the absence of such a statement doesn't mean that they haven't considered it (imo).