Secondary Appeal Starting At 12 Noon (lunchtime) - Advantage or Not?

[GirlInASwirl]

Has anyone had a lunchtime appeal?

Does it restrict the amount of time you have - so that the panel/reps can get a break?

For panel members - strategically; would you put a strong case at lunchtime - because you may only need a few items clarifying?

Trying to way up whether a lunchtime hearing works to our favour or not.

Views welcome

Ours was at 12.05 it wasn't successful. Only one out of 73 was upheld. I feel they listened to the school too much and didn't question them.

I don't think time of day makes any difference. It certainly shouldn't. The panel should allow however much time you need to put your case. If you are cut short and lose your appeal that would be grounds for complaint.

Panel members don't control the order in which appeals are heard. That is sorted out by the clerk.

After lunch is worse! 12 is not as bad as 1 when their tummies are rumbling! They may still be alert with the after-effects of their coffee break.

Panel member here. It does not make the slightest bit of difference what time your appeal is. I think our lunch break is about 1pm. We get coffee and biscuits whenever we want. Quite a few appellants are no-shows so it is unusual to have continuous appeals over 2-3 hours without a break. We just get a sandwich for lunch so it is hardly a case of snoozing through the afternoon appeals either!

Thank you all for that so far.

Sorry that your appeal was not successful House. From experience; its really difficult when you do not see enough questioning of the school's case in front of you. 73 hearings is certainly a large workload to cover (if all were heard). Where they all individual hearings as well? Do you think the panel had exhausted its questions of the school's case before you entered the room? What are your next steps now?

prh47bridge - Thank you so far - always find your advice helpful . Have you seen one of my other posts (our appeal experience yesterday)?

Milly and HP - It's interesting the contrast between parents views of 'time of hearing' and panel members. As HP says it should not make any difference and panel members are encouraged to give equivalent attention to all hearings - no matter what time of day. This would certainly be a challenge; particularly if a lot of similar themes are cropping up throughout the day. How does a panel handle this - is it a case of, every hearing is important to each family and they put other thoughts and feelings aside?

From a parent's point of view; time does seem to have a psychological effect. We do wonder how alert the panel will be, if they have had sufficient comfort breaks, if we are disadvantaged by being at the start or end of a morning/afternoon session, how running order effects openness to our evidence, how naturally awake we are at different times and so forth.

I have now seen it and responded.

You make some interesting points but in general a case is either strong or not and time of day or running order make no significant difference. The panel get the papers in advance and they are familiar with the case before you walk in the door. We tend to discuss them before the first appeal and decide what we want to ask. then we discuss them at the end.

Re the schools arguments - yes we have heard it all before but obviously it is new for the parents. If they don't probe the schools case then we do.

Re the appellant case. Each appeal is different. They range from having pretty much no case at all other than they "like" the school because it has a good reputation to quite complex medical/socio reasons.

Re themes - in my area quite a few do not understand the admissions criteria - especially banding etc and often the 'catchment' areas confuse people. Lack of sibling policy or low sibling priority also confuses parents quite understandably - older sibling got in but not younger. For primary this year nearly all were on medical grounds.

Generally we hear up to 20 cases a day (sometimes 2 or 3 consecutive days). I think people get the time they need and sometimes that is more or less than others. I sat for an in year one which lasted an hour. It was the only appeal and the poor appellant needed that time.

Just to add to HPparent's points...

It is important that the panel is seen to act impartially. It is therefore important that they allow every parent to ask whatever questions they want (within reason) even if they have heard the same question and answer 15 times already. Similarly, if the parent doesn't question the school's case the panel should, even if they are asking questions to which they already know the answer.

If the panel starts cutting people short, stopping them from asking reasonable questions or similar that is grounds for complaint if the appeal fails. The panel must indeed recognise that every hearing is important to the appellant and give them whatever time they need to make their case.

20 cases a day seem a lot. The most I've heard is 12 in a day, usually it is 10. The allotted time is 30 mins, but of course we allow parents as long as they need. The main problem I find is if we hear several cases needing interpreters, because not only do they take longer but also the panel still have to look alert and interested during the whole process.

Ours are 20 mins but we tend to get a lot not turn up - at least a quarter, sometimes more, so those are relatively quick.