Admission Appeals
The Role of the Presenting Officer
The presenting officer represents the governing body of the school and is the person who explains why the child had not been offered a place at the school. In effect they present the admission authorities case.
This must be done as clearly as possible giving all the relevant information. The officer should be prepared to answer questions about the case being heard and also more general questions about the school, its organisation and how places were allocated.
The presenting officer will need to show that the schools admission arrangements were correctly applied and that prejudice would occur if more pupils were admitted over and above the published admission number.
A written statement detailing the admission authority’s case and summarizing the reasons for the decision should be sent out to all appellants and the admission appeal panel prior to the appeals. This information is given to the clerk to the panel who will circulate the documents prior to the appeals. This helps parents to prepare their questions in advance of the appeal.
Before the hearing
- The presenting officer should familiarise themselves with the admission arrangements and the information about why a place was not offered. To do this they will need a copy of the school’s admission procedures, the number of applicants and details of how the places were allocated in the different categories (if applicable). These reasons do not have to be exhaustive or extensive but the presenting officer should be able to deal with more specific points.
- They should be able to explain why the school cannot take any more pupils. Details about class sizes, organizational difficulties, overcrowded corridors and insufficient specialist teaching areas can be used to demonstrate prejudice. This is not an exhaustive list just an example of the sort of information that should be supplied.
- Any information from an Ofsted Inspection that may highlight the lack of space or particular problems of overcrowding.
- A map of the school and surrounding area can be useful especially if the distance from home to school is likely to be an issue.
At the hearing - What should the presenting officers’ case include?
The case should present objective evidence about
- The school’s admission arrangements, how these were applied and reasons for not being able to allocate a place.
- Net Capacity Assessment. The appeal case must include reference to when the last assessment of the school’s net capacity (the available teaching space) was undertaken and what this recommended as an “indicated Admission number”. This allows appellants and the independent appeal panel to clearly see if the published admission number is set at or above/below the measured teaching capacity of the school.
Have there been any changes to the school building or staffing levels since the admission number was set that may affect the schools ability to take extra pupils? It is not sufficient for the presenting officer to state the published admission number had been reached therefore the school is full.
Final allocated place. The appeal case must indicate under which of the school’s admission criteria the final place was allocated. If it was under a geographical criterion then the distance measure of the final allocated place must be included.
- Reasons for claiming prejudice. Why admitting an extra pupil would prejudice efficient education and the efficient use of resources. The appeal case must include details of class/group organisation and any difference in this between mornings and afternoons. Claims that prejudice would be caused by any additional admission must be backed up with factual information eg class room sizes % of rooms in use at any time, precise difficulties in any specialist area, numbers of children requiring additional support in the school or in the relevant ear group (how many have statements or how many additional staff are in place to provide support?) Broad statements which are not evidenced by factual information do not support claims that prejudice will occur. This detail is particularly important if the school’s admission number is set below the measured capacity (the available teaching space).
- Numbers. The up to date figure for the year group in question as changes can occur before the appeal/s start and numbers for each year group
The presenting officer should give a clear picture of the governing body’s case.
Infant class sizes
School Standards & Framework Act 1998
The infant class size limit introduced by the above act restricted the number of pupils who can be admitted to an infant class to 30 in each class. The Code of Practice states that is it not open to either appellants or appeals panels to seek to question whether a decision to admit a pupil would give rise to the need for qualifying measures. The appeal panel cannot direct a governing body to change the way the school is organized so that more pupils could be admitted. The appeal panel has limited powers in respect of these appeals.
- For appeals where infant class size limits are the issue the presenting officer should show that the admission arrangements were carried out properly and that the decision not to admit more pupils was reasonable. If more pupils were admitted qualifying measures would have to be taken.
Qualifying measures. In addition to the above all class size appeals must include a statement informing the appeal panel exactly what qualifying measures the school would have to take if additional places were allocated. It is acknowledged that if an additional pupil was allocated a place at a class size appeal the school would be able to waiting until the end of the current school year prior to considering strategies to adhere to class size legislation. Regardless of this a statement is needed in the class size appeal case bout what qualifying measures would eg required and how feasible these would be in terms of organisation, staffing and finance (what difficulties would arise?) This statement could be en either/or if more than one solution could be considered should an infant class remain at 30+ pupils at the end of the school year.
In these appeals panels cannot take the social circumstances of the family or child into account.
The two stage balancing process should not be applied to these appeals
General factors to be taken into account:
The presenting officer must leave the room with the parents. No party attending the appeal hearing should ever be present with the appeal panel in the absence of the other. Panel members should never speak to one party, or their representative, in the absence of the other. The Presenting Officer must not share tea/coffee or lunch arrangements with the panel they must be separate.
On no account should the parents feel that this is not an independent process.
The appeals process is stressful especially for parents who are trying to get their child admitted to the school of their choice. Presenting Officers should remember that although they may be stating the same case for a number of appeals it will be the first time the parents have heard it. First impressions count and body language is important. It is not usual for the prospective pupil to be present at these appeals; however the panel may allow them to attend if the parents insist.
More information can be found in the
Code of Practice on School Admissions and the Code of Practice on Admission Appeals
published by the DCSF
For any further information or advice please contact:
Mrs Joan Stein
Schools Adviser (Governance)
St.James’ House
20 St.James Road
Liverpool L1 7BY
Tel: 0151 705 2190