Secondary school admission appeal

[MillieBZF]

I understand there are some people on here that have experience with the school admissions appeal process. I wonder what the advice would be in using a legal advocate (which has been previously debated) at the appeal if I am appealing with regards to the application of the arrangements/compliance with the admissions code? i.e it is a legal argument? Any advice welcome.

No. Get them to write down the arguments for you, so you can use them in your appeal statement (submitted in advance) but don't let them attend. If you can point to one or more adjudicator decisions for schools that have had similar policies, it will help.

Also, do make sure you formally submit an admissions objection to the Schools Adjudicator - it may take a few weeks, and be too late for your appeal, but worth doing for the sake of others.

Also, yes it is good grounds for appeal, but you will also need to argue that if they had been compliant you would have had a much better chance of a place. E.g. if they have failed to prioritise looked after children, and your child is a LAC, then that's an obvious winner. But if they have failed to define their geographic catchment area clearly, and you are outside of it, it might be difficult to argue that a clearer definition would place you inside it.

Generally, I would suggest you save yourself the expense of a solicitor. They rarely bring anything to the table that you couldn’t find or do for yourself. The appeal hearing is not a court of law.

What is your argument here? If it’s that the admissions authority hasn’t followed its own published policies (in other words, made an error that cost your child their place) the admissions authority should rectify that error now, although many do insist on referring it to appeal. But if you are arguing that the admissions arrangements should be different, and if they were different your child might get a place, that isn’t an appeal matter because the panel has to work with the admissions arrangements as they are published.

I think she is arguing that the policy is not compliant with the Admissions Code, and (presumably) that the lack of compliance has cost her child a place. This is a perfectly valid appeal argument if framed correctly.

If you read paragraph 3.2a of the Admissions and Appeals code, the first stage of every appeal should consider whether the admissions arrangements comply with the Admisdions Code.

Yes, under paragraph 3.2 of the appeals code, the panel must decide whether the admission arrangements complied with the mandatory requirements of the admissions code and whether they were correctly and impartially applied. The panel must uphold the appeal of it finds they were not (paragraph 3.5).

The distinction I’m trying to draw is that we hear quite a few appeals where the admissions arrangements comply with the code, but the parent would like them to be altered so that their child qualifies for a place. The appeal is not the right venue for arguing for a change to the admissions arrangements, although there might still be compelling arguments for why the child should have a place.

Agree that a legal representative is rarely helpful and often detrimental.

Are you arguing that the admissions criteria were applied incorrectly in your case and that cost you a place, or are you arguing that the admissions criteria themselves are contrary to the code? They are two different things.

Agree with what has been said so far on this thread. I would keep well away from legal advocates. The panel is not a court of law.

If you would like to give more details of your case, you will get good advice on here.