Primary school appeal

[Plainjayne]

Hi help re appeal please.

Have appeal hearing next Friday for faith school ks2. Didn't get information I requested re net capacity etc and also was not told anything re deadline dates for appeal submissions which a helpline said I should have been told when school sent me their appeal documents a week ago. Tried to find the information myself on Google and one site said I should give my submission 5 days before so I gave it to the school on Thursday 14 nov. Anyway I've just read on this site that the panel should have all the appeal papers 10 days prior to the hearing. My question is will the school send my submission out to the panel or is it now too late? Also I was not told the panels names or the clerk to the appeal, again I read somewhere I would be given this info 3 days before the hearing, can someone confirm this for me please.

To start with the rules, you should have been notified of the date of the hearing at least 10 school days prior to the hearing. That notification should have included a deadline for submitting any additional evidence you want to include. The deadline is not fixed - it is up to the clerk to decide on the timetable.

The clerk must send all the papers for the hearing (including the names of the panel) to you and the panel a reasonable time before the hearing. There is no firm deadline for this but you clearly shouldn't receive them on the morning of the hearing. The pack you receive should include the net capacity. If other information you have requested is missing you should inform the panel that you have been hampered in preparing your case by the school's failure to comply with the requirement to answer any reasonable question.

Your submission should be sent to the panel. If it isn't it is only a problem if you included evidence for the panel to consider, e.g. letters from experts. In that case you can still introduce this evidence during the hearing but the panel may decide to adjourn the case to a later date so that they and the school can consider it properly.

It sounds to me like you have a faith school, who are responsible for arranging their own admission appeal and are not doing a very good job with the logistics of it.
When it comes to the composition of the panel, the clerk should have sent out who was expected to be on the panel with the rest of the information on the appeal which the school had submitted. However in all honesty the panels can and do get changed for all sorts of reasons.
Get your case to the clerk and they will pass on to the panel. I would also make sure that you take all the information that you wish to present to the panel with you to the appeal. Before the hearing starts the clerk will talk you through the process and you should ask them whether the panel have had all the information that you have submitted given that there have been issues with getting information. If the panel have not had the info then they can be given the info and this may delay the appeal a bit while they read it.The panel could decide to completely adjourn the case to another day but this would only happen if they felt that there were problems with assimilating all you have submitted in a reasonable time.

Thank you prh47bridge and admission for your quick replies - school sent me their appeal case which was a mix of my letters to them and their responses (though they didn't answer my questions which I asked for 3 weeks before) plus they had one front page which states where appeal to be held and time, that the year is full and there are 15 families on the waiting list. Goes on to say detrimental to education of others to admit another pupil and would set a precedent etc. they sent this to me exactly 10 days prior to appeal and I've only just noticed one line stating 'for information your appeal documentation has been received'. However I did not send in my submission until last Thursday and I did have some information included from an expert. Plus going back over papers they have definitely not informed me of a deadline for admitting further evidence.

Hm interesting. The fact there are 15 families on the waiting list might well be a concern to the school but in terms of an admission appeal is irrelevant, as is the idea it would set a precedent.

The basis of the school's case has got to be that the school has admitted to the PAN and that there are other reasons, such as small classrooms, narrow corridors, inadequate hall, poor outdoor play areas etc that mean that it would be detrimental to admit a further pupil to that year group.

If the appeal panel are doing their job then that does not constitute having given appropriate written reasons. I suspect that the school may well attend the appeal and make a more substantial verbal case. If so I would ask the panel not to accept the verbal evidence because the school are not obeying the rules as set out in paragraph 2.9 / 2.10 of the admission appeal code. That clearly says the admission authority (the school) must supply the clerk to the panel with all relevant documents to conduct the hearing in a fair and transparent manner and the clerk then sends them to you . It is up to the panel to decide whether to accept any material submitted after the specified deadline. Panels tend to take a relaxed view of parents submitting late info but there is no real excuse for the school not to have their case well prepared and in writing.