Anyone have experience with the efa for maladministration

[Boygirl5]

Hi everyone, I'm new on here, so here goes.....
I had an appeal hearing on 17th June. First the school rep gave his case, I had no questions. Then it was my turn, I had prepared a script to read from which I asked could I read from. I offered the clerk a copy and he accepted. When I had finished the panel said they had no questions and neither did the school rep.
Panel asked school rep to sum up and he declined they then asked me if I wanted to sum up I said yes I had some notes. The chair then asked if I had copies of that too i said yes. So he asked me to just leave my notes as they would read themselves as they had nearly 60 appeals to hear!

I rang the efa later that day as I wasn't happy that I hadn't been asked questions, allowed to sum up, nor had they made reference to any of the many letters of support.
The efa advised that I should wait until I receive the outcome of the appeal before putting a complaint in.
I found out on Friday 28th June that my appeal had been unsuccessful, I have sent an email of complaint to the efa the same day 28th June.

I believe this constitutes maladministration. Does anyone have any thoughts on this or experience on how likely I am to be granted another appeal or indeed how long these things take.

Many thanks in advance for any advice/support

Thanks for info. I would be happy with one place at the moment for my son who has suffered depression. Although they do have a sibling rule, also the new code states twins should be treated as one at appeal.
Although my other child would be happy at the allocated school, so I'd be happy to gain one place an reapply for his twin for next available place.

To be fair my case did include the clubs available that they intended to join. Including maths, science and several sports and IT club.
I think it was basically too dilute as someone pointed out earlier. The person I've paid put too much in, I questioned this before submitting but she assured she was doing he right things. The friends and family letters to show strong connections with school.
Sports letter to show good sportsmanship etc

She told me not too compare the two schools too much as I shouldn't be seen to be making negative comments about other school etc.

Now I realise that I should just focus on one twin, his depression and the pastoral care the school provide. Also the clubs etc the school provide.

His head of year was convinced I had an excellent case and was sure I would win at appeal.

The worst thing was telling him....

Thanks

Just to add, the smallest yr group at the minute is the current yr 7 at 157 PAN 150
The largest is 189 which was last year GCSE group.

They admitted 150 this year and 5 of the 51 appeals were won bringing it to 155.

The expert told me she couldn't see any flaws in their admittance policy nor could she think of any questions to ask the principal after he put his case forward, she told me to say,
I accept that you have admitted your PAN however I see in previous years you have admitted children through appeal and I'm here today to put forward my appeal and hope you will admit my children via appeal.

Hello again, yes the maths and science clubs are not available at the allocated school. Both my children love maths ans science and were especially impressed with the science labs and the maths club, which is before school starts.
Does this strengthen my case? Is it worth mentioning?

Thanks for all help and info.

the new code states twins should be treated as one at appeal

No it doesn't. I don't know where you get that from. The only provision for multiple births in the Codes is that they have an exemption from infant class size limits.

I agree that you should be careful about comparing the appeal school with the offered school and in particular avoid negative comments as far as possible. Remember you are appealing for a school, not against the offered school. It is acceptable, of course, to say that the appeal school has X which the offered school does not, e.g. the appeal school has maths and science clubs but the offered school does not.

I would recommend focussing on each twin in turn and building the best case you can for each of them. Of course, if you get one in the other is likely to jump straight to the top of the waiting list.

Not questioning the school was, in my view, a mistake. I would at the very least have asked about the years that are currently over PAN, at least up to Y11. I would ask them whether they were having any problems as a result of the additional pupils. In particular, I would look at the things they raise in their case to refuse admission (probably things like overcrowding in the corridors, problems with organising lunch, etc.) and ask questions around that. Have they had any reportable accidents attributable to overcrowding? With every year already over PAN how are they coping? And so on.

You should most definitely mention the maths and science stuff. That helps your appeal. It is the kind of thing the panel want to hear as it shows that your child's education will suffer if he is not admitted.

Thanks for your advice. If I manage to get an appeal due to the maladministration I'm going to appeal for just one twin.

If I manage to get the appeal would you mind if message you for advice please?

The twin code was in something I read on a schools appeal site. It is, to my knowledge, very recent?
Also the desired school has a sibling rule and I was assured if one were to win at appeal the other would also gain a place.
I would need to strengthen my case as much as possible.

Thanks

No expert here, but I have got my own dd into secondary on appeal on medical/MH grounds.

The weakness in your case seems to be that you don't really prove why this is the only school that can meet your son's emotional needs. "Prides itself on pastoral care" is a very vague phrase. All secondary schools are supposed to provide pastoral care, they will all have a counsellor and somebody in charge of pastoral support. All secondaries regularly have to deal with student with depression: it is very common at this age. "Our school prides itself on pastoral support" isn't actually evidence that the school provides something the other school does not; it's just an advert.

To have a chance here you would have to argue that this school has a particular kind of support that is particularly geared to your son's particular type of problem. And you need to prove this, not just reference the blurb in their prospectus or other phrases they use to sell themselves.

I had a friend who successfully argued for her dc's admission as she was terminally ill and the school she applied for had special resources set aside for bereavement counselling. That's the sort of argument you need.

When I argued for dd's admission due to physical SN, we provided plans of the available schools to show how she could or could not access all classes in her wheelchair. Backed up by letters from a paediatrician to explain exactly how and when she would need to use the wheelchair. It's this kind of specific approach you need.

Feel free to message me if you want some help.

I am fully aware of the latest Appeals Code and there is definitely nothing in it that says twins must be considered together. If a school is doing it I would complain as it reduces the chances of a successful appeal. There is nothing wrong with hearing both cases at the same time but the panel must consider each twin separately.

Having a sibling rule in the admission arrangements normally only means that if one twin succeeds at appeal the other would almost certainly be moved to the head of the waiting list. But the school could in this situation choose to admit the other twin even though it takes them over PAN.

I felt having twins went against me at appeal, one of the five bullet points in my decision letter was that I wanted two places as they were twins.

The school I'm appealing to has a very strict code on twins, if one gets a place the other does too, it's as simple as that.
I was told this when I asked for an appeal form, although they had never had twins appeal before.

Thanks

Appeals and admissions criteria are not the same though. The admissions criteria may well say if a multiple both sibling gets a place the others will too, but appeals panels don't work like that.

So if you appeal for one and are successful, the other wont automatically get in , although they'd be at the top of the waiting list.

I was told they would by the clerks secretary before appeal. However, I think the panel wouldn't think like this and I think it went against me.