Anyone had a meeting with the School Adjudicator re:admission arrangements?

[katybell2011]

Hi,
I posted a while ago here and recieved some great advice, our son was not allocated a place at the same school that his brother goes to as (hidden!) in the schools admission arrangements it says that children who enter the school with a statement do not count as a sibling link
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/1182442-Appeal-advice-sibling-link-not-counted-because-one-child-has-SEN/AllOnOnePage

We thankfully won our appeal and both of our children are delighted. My husband and I thought long and hard about wether to raise our concerns with the school adjudicator's office, both children are now at the school and we didn't want to "rock the boat". However, if everyone thought "I'm alright Jack, so I won't bother" then the world would not be a nice place to be at all. So we contacted the SAO, along with our objection, they have raised another 15 points which may be non compliant with the code (ouch - bet the school are going to love us!) and want to arrange a private meeting with us, the school and the LEA.
Has anyone had any experience of this? I'm not sure what to expect and am getting quite nervous. My husband cannot attend so I was planning on writing out something to say on the day if nerves get the better of me.
Thank you
Kate

15 extra points which may be non-compliant seems a lot. It is quite usual for the school adjudictor to completely review the admission arrangements if there is a complaint about any part of a school's admission arrangements.

I am a bit surprised that the adjudicator is looking to have a meeting with you if the LA and school are present. This would especially seem appropriate if you are making a complaint about 1 bit of the admission arrangements when the SA is looking at 15 points they have identified. It does say private so maybe you should ask for some clarification with the SA over exactly what will happen. I would be tempted to ask for a private meeting with the SA to solely discuss the one issue you have, so that you minimise the contact with the school and hopefully minimise any damage to the relationship with the school.

How about calling the adjudicators office to talk to the adjudicator in advance to get a feel for what they want from you. There shoud be a case officer who is familiar with the case, as well as the actual adjudicator. You can then ask for what admission is suggesting without the school stressing about what you are saying in your pre meeting.

Re the school they should be professional and not take it personally. In a large secondary school there are always complaints about something, and this is just another complaint via a different route. A good school knows that dealing with the complaint well is least painful for all concerned.