School appeal - Process not followed

[GS78]

Looking for some advice please.

We moved house in Feb 2020 and applied for a school place which was full and subsequently appealed. I submitted the supporting documents for my appeal reasons (GP letter, previous school letter etc) by hand with the school reception a week before the appeal. (Note, there was no deadline mentioned in the letter that I received for the appeal)

On the day of appeal (mid-Feb), I put my case to the panel, admission authority and panel asked me questions, all the process took less han 30 mts. I left the school and was thinking over how it went and realised the panel did not question any of my supporting documents, but just generally questions based on my statement. I got a doubt if my documents actually was with the admission authority and the panel.

Straight away I called the school and after a couple of days they admitted over the phone that supporting documents was not provided to the panel, even though school had received them. School offered me a second hearing (have the email from school offering second hearing but no mention why) but things were getting delayed due to the panedmic and then full lockdown happened.

When schools reopened in September, I sent a letter (recorded delivery but lost the proof of posting) to the school as an official complaint of how my case was handled and I haven't heard anything at all since mid-March. I got no response back.

In the midst of all this, my DD got an admission in another school in early March, bit further away and has struggled to settle in the school since. I wish she had got a place in the school we appealed for as it was closer and she had known people in the school who would have helped her to settle down (social reasons - primary reason for our appeal). She has massively struggled to settle in school 2, has gone through various difficulties which has affected her mental health, diagnosed with ADHD etc.

Of course there is no guarantee that;

1. We would have got admission in "School 1" if the supporting documents were provided to the panel
2. DS would have settled better in "School 1"

I feel betrayed by the lack of professionalism shown by school 1 and how they handled the appeal case. Cheated may be a strong word to use but can't help to think that way when I see what my DS is going through. We have no absolutely not intention of moving school even if a place is offered now, DS doesn't want to go through the pain of trying to settle down in a different school again. But I just feel like, for the mistake they made, school should be made accountable.

I may be just talking out of annoyance and anger, need to forget this whole episode. Or should I take this further with the school trust higher up the chain.
Again, 100%, we will not accept even if a place is offered now, so I am not even sure why I should pursue further.

Any thoughts and advice would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks,

So did the school ever give you the result of the appeal or just give you a second one due to missing the evidence?

You could look back on it and say they made a mistake. But you could look back and say you made the mistake of not checking they had the supporting evidence in the hearing, but it is done, it's over, you're not going to move. People who work in schools make mistakes, like all of us. It's hard when your child is struggling but I truly think you should let it go.

The thing is: the school was full. They didn’t have to make an exception even with the supporting documents. I think what makes most difference is whether the year group is full and if the school repeatedly have extra children in year groups. If a year group has spaces but the school tends to take over PAN, then I would argue for flexibility. If it’s full in the year group it’s difficult to argue a special case. I would stay where you are and accept the decision. Would it truly have been different with the paperwork? Possibly not. I also think you should have presented your case and referred to the paperwork - like a barrister. Hope DC settles in though. It’s tough.

The question that needs to be asked is why did you hand the information into the school? Who did you get the information about the appeal from? Was it the school in which case handing the information into the school was correct or was the LA, in which case the information should have gone to the LA.
Having said that the fact that the school would allow a second appeal suggests that they recognised that a mistake had potentially been made. However your post suggest that you did not action that appeal at the time in February. Whilst you talk about the school closing for COVID, the reality is that the schools were open for things like admission appeals and if you had responded you would have had a much stronger case for admission at a second appeal.
No school is going to come chasing you about whether you wanted to move forward to the second appeal and after leaving it to September before complaining you do not really have a case.
Yes they should have responded to your letter in September as a matter of courtesy but we are now in May so again you seem to have done nothing for 10 months. So not really sure how your complaint can be justified.

Thanks very much for all the response and suggestion.

@ imgoinginsaneinthemembrane - Appeal was ruled in favour of the school. I do agree, I should have checked but never expected that situation. Thanks for the advice, I will move on and concentrate on the future of my child.

@ PresentingPercy - The school had taken students over PAN over the past 5 years that I checked. Of course my documents may have not made a a difference and I did accept this in my original post. It was the way they subsequently dealt with my case, after they realised their mistake, that I was not happy with.

@ admission - School handles their admission process so had to hand over the paper work to them and they handled everything. Even the hearing was in the school premises.

Sorry, may be I wasn't clear, first appeal was in Feb when the documents weren't provided to panel. Once I checked and they realised their mistake, end Feb they came back to me and said they will arrange a second appeal. Nothing happened and I followed up, reply was that they couldn't get a date confirmed due to pandemic and they will get back to me soon as. But nothing happened and I assumed this was due to lockdown. When I again checked in September, reply I got was that I need to put my child's name again in the waiting list and make a new appeal as the year group now is different. That's when I sent a complaint letter.

Agree with all comments to move on. I will look forward to the future and help my child settle down in her current school.

Thanks for your comments and advice, much appreciated.