Complaining about appeal process

[jesslou]

Hi,

We have had our secondary school appeal today, we are new to this and did not know what to expect but after months of research felt well prepared and thought we knew the process.

All was going according to plan, the presenting officer gave her case, we were then allowed to ask questions. Not one person spoke during her going over her statement.

Once it came to our turn the chair told us to put our case forward, throughout this he interrupted us saying 'yes that is in your document' and to the point that my DH felt he couldn't say what he wanted to. I thought the whole point was that they listened, ok things might have been in our pre sent docs but I was expanding on them and the presenting officer also went over old ground but not one person interrupted her.

I was just wondering if anyone had any experience and knew if this was reasonable interruption as it completely put us off to the point we skipped past vital points as I was very nervous and he made me feel uncomfortable. I am not good at confrontation, so felt a little taken back by him.
TIA

That sounds a bit harsh. I always give parents the chance to say what they need to say, even though it was in their original paperwork. Many, many parents are very nervous, and it is the chair's job to put them at their ease.

No, that isn't how it should be. The chair might need to hurry the appellant along a little if they are rambling and it isn't unreasonable to stop them if they are simply reading their written case, but they should put the appellant at their ease and make sure they are able to present their case properly.

He said it on the first sentence I said before I could even finish it. I could understand if someone was reading their statement out but I didn't even have that in front of me just my notes I had made. I could also understand if they were running over time but I had only just started to speak when he first did it.
Do you think there are grounds for complaint on this?

Personally I think it will only be a complaint for you if you don’t get in as that will be your reason your appeal wasn’t successful- even though you may not get in anyway so I don’t know if you’re clutching at straws just to complain so then you get a place- if you get me.
What were your grounds for Appeal? Maybe if they were things like having children at different schools or something not really a point maybe because they were behind time they wanted to rush it.
Or it may have felt worse than it was due to your nerves x

Not that complaining will guarantee you a space or a re appeal *

Wait and see if you lose your appeal. If you do, you can argue that the chair breached their duty to ensure that you had sufficient opportunity to state your case (Appeals Code 1.12) and that you were given the opportunity to state your case without unreasonable interruption (Appeals Code 2.21(b)). That may get you another hearing with a different panel.