NOTICE OF SCHOOL ADMISSION APPEAL

for St Oswald’s School

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

We are committed to treating everyone fairly, with courtesy and respect. We realise that everyone is different and your needs might be different. However everyone should receive the same quality of service both from the School and the Members of the Appeal Panel, who are independent of the School.

Will you require an “Interpretation Service” for your case to be stated on your behalf at the appeal hearing?

Yes

No

If “Yes” please specify what interpretation Service you require

Will you require any of the following to enable you to attend the appeal hearing

Access arrangements for a wheelchair to the building and	Yes		
the room where the hearing will take place	No		

A hearing loop to enable you to actively participate in the	Yes		
deliberations	No		

Any other personal requirements – please specify below			

	1	

NOTICE OF SCHOOL ADMISSION APPEAL

for St Oswald’s School

PLEASE COMPLETE ALL SECTIONS [Please refer to the 'Parents Guide' for advice about the completion of this Notice of Appeal]

Full name of Child:

(BLOCK CAPITALS
PLEASE)

Child’s Date of Birth:

Parental Address:

Note – if your appeal involves a house move, proof of exchange of contracts must be provided before the appeal can be heard – see paragraph 4 of Section B “How to Appeal” in the attached Parents Guide

Approximately how long have you lived at this address:

Present School:

(or previous school if not currently attending school)

Decision appealed against:

(i.e. allocation of school or refusal of admission to a particular school).

If you have received a decision who is it from, and what is the reference on it?
What is the date of the decision?

Please state which school you wish your child to attend?

(or which schools in order of preference)

	2	

The Grounds for Your Appeal - please state all reasons why you believe the decision is unacceptable (including any religious or philosophical arguments you would wish to present to the Panel):

Please Note:
In respect of a child with a Statement of Special Educational Needs, or a child undergoing a statutory assessment of Special Educational Needs, decisions regarding placement are made by the Local Authority through the Statutory Assessment and Review procedures.

Parental right of appeal is to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST) and not to the Admission Appeals Panel.

	3

	4	

You have a right to attend the appeal hearing and state your case

Do you intend to be at	Yes		
the appeal hearing?	No		

If the answer to the previous question is “No” please complete this section

Do you wish your appeal to be considered on the basis of this notice and any further written statement from you? [If you make any further statement please send it with this notice.]

Yes

No

Do you wish to be represented at the appeal hearing, e.g. by a friend or solicitor?

Yes

No

Please give the name, address and telephone number of the representative

Names of parents (or other persons making the appeal)

Address

Telephone Number

email

Signed…………………………………………………….Date………………………………

This notice is to be sent or delivered to the Governing Body, c/o School Office, St Oswald’s CE Aided School, Church Street, Durham, DH1 3DQ, to arrive not later than 20 days after the date of the decision letter. The form can also be emailed to stoswalds.ce@durhamlearning.net 

	5	

St Oswald’s School

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

We are committed to treating everyone fairly, with courtesy and respect. We realise that everyone is different and your needs might be different. However everyone should receive the same quality of service both from the School and the Members of the Appeal Panel, who are independent of the School.

APPEALS RULES FOR

ST OSWALD’S CE Aided SCHOOL

(adapted from the LA rules for Community and Voluntary Aided schools made on 30 July 2012 by Durham County Council as Local Education Authority (LEA), hereafter referred to as the “Local Authority (LA)” pursuant to Section 94 and Schedule 24 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998)

1.	A right of appeal lies against: 

a)	any decision made by or on behalf of the LA as to the school at which education is to be provided for a child; and 

b)	any decision made by or on behalf of the Governors of a community and voluntary controlled school maintained by the LA refusing a child admission to such a school. 

2.	The right of appeal may be exercised by the child's parent or parents, or guardian, or any person who has the care of the child. 

3.	Notice of appeal shall be lodged with the Governing Body via the School Office within 20 days of the date of issue of the LA's final decision in writing as to the school at which education is to be provided. 

	1

4.	The notice of appeal shall be in writing and shall state:- 

a)	the name and address of the child, 

b)	the decision against which the appeal is made, 

c)	the grounds upon which the appeal is made, 

d)	the name and address of the person or persons making the appeal, 

e)	in the case where the appellant(s) wish to be represented at the hearing, the name and address of the representative, 

f)	whether the appellant(s) wish the appeal to be considered on the basis of their written representations. 

5.	The appeal shall be heard by an Appeal Panel of three persons. 

6.	The Appeal Panel shall be constituted of independent Lay Members and at least one person with experience in education who is acquainted with educational conditions in the area. 

7.	The Appeal Panel shall not include any person who was amongst those who made the decision appealed against or who took part in discussions as to whether the decision should be made. 

8.	The Appeal Panel shall not include any person who is a teacher or a teaching assistant at a school in question. The panel shall not include; members of the LA, members/former members of the Governing Body of the school in question, any person employed by the LA in a capacity connected with education (except for teachers/teaching assistants), employees of the school in question or any person of whom there are doubts about his/her ability to act impartially. 

9.	The Chairperson shall be a Lay Member of the Appeal Panel. 

10.	The Clerk of the Appeal Panel shall be a representative of Corporate Services. 

11	a) The Appeal Panel may, where it considers it appropriate, determine more than one appeal at the same hearing and the procedure at the appeal hearing shall be modified accordingly. 

b)	Normally an appeal will be heard individually although if there is more than one appeal the Appeal Panel may hear the general case of the admissions authority about prejudice to education at the school in the presence of those parents. Thereafter the circumstances of each pupil would be dealt with individually if the panel finds prejudice. 

c)	Injustice could result if the appeal of one parent at an over-subscribed school were to be decided before the appeal of another for the same school had been considered. Where it is not possible to hear all 

	2	

appeals in relation to one school at the same time the Appeal Panel should therefore, if practicable, adjourn its decision in relation to that school until all have been heard, and then consider them.

d)	Where two or more appeals are being decided together in respect of the same school, this process may involve considering the consequences of allowing all, none, or only some appeals. 

e)	As explained in Rule 25 below this will involve consideration of the reasons given for the parents' preference and the school’s published admission arrangements. It will then be necessary to consider the consequences for the school of complying with the parental preference and how serious they would be. The Panel must take account of these conflicting factors and reach a decision. In respect of these 'grouped' appeals the grounds for the decision should include the Panel's views about the whole of the circumstances disclosed by the appeal as well as a decision on each individual case. 

12.	The time and place of the appeal hearing shall be fixed by the Clerk of the Appeal Panel who shall give at least ten school days' notice in writing to the appellants and to the school, unless their right is waived by the appellants. 

13.	Within a reasonable time (normally 7 days) before the appeal hearing the appellants and the Clerk of the Appeal Panel shall be sent a written statement summarising the reasons for the decision appealed against and the application of the admissions policy and relevant legislation to the case under appeal (incorporating a summary of net capacity, a map/plan of the school, and distance from school to home if relevant to the appeal). 

14.	The appellants shall be entitled to attend the appeal hearing and may be accompanied by a friend or be represented at the discretion of the Appeal Panel in line with the School Admissions Appeal Code. 

15.	The appellants may, if they wish, choose not to attend the appeal hearing and may allow their appeal to be considered on the basis of their written representations and the procedure at the hearing shall be modified accordingly. 

16.	If the appellants do not appear at the time and place appointed for the appeal hearing, then the Appeal Panel may at its discretion proceed with the appeal or adjourn the hearing. 

17.	The appeal shall be heard in private. 

18.	At the appeal hearing the school’s representative shall present the case for the school first and shall be subject to questioning by the appellants and the Panel (if necessary). 

19.	The appellants shall then address the Appeal Panel and shall be subject to questioning by the school’s representative and the Panel (if necessary). 

20.	The school’s representative will then sum up the case for the school. 

	3

21.	The appellants shall have a final right of reply in summing up. 

22.	The appellants and the school representative shall then retire and the Appeal Panel shall consider its decision in the presence of its Clerk. 

23.	The Appeal Panel shall take into account in considering the appeal:- 

a)	any preference expressed by the appellants for the school their child should attend; 

b)	the admission arrangements published by the school in light of relevant legislation; 

c)	such other matters as the Appeal Panel consider relevant. 

24.	CLASS SIZE PREJUDICE 

(i)	Legislation (School Standards and Framework Act 1998) states that no Key Stage 1 child should be in a class of more than 30 pupils. 

(ii)	This legislation applies to any child, who, if given a place at a school, would be at Key Stage 1 (Reception Year, Year 1 or Year 2). 

(iii)	If school compliance with parental preference would cause the figure of 30 pupils per class teacher to be exceeded, the school can argue that prejudice to the provision of efficient education, or the efficient use of resources, will be caused by reason of any relevant measure that would have to be put into place by the school to ensure that any relevant class remains at 30 pupils or below. 

(iv)	A relevant measures are, for example, the employment of a further teacher, the provision of a further classroom or rearranging of the class structure, to ensure that there are not more that 30 pupils per teacher in the actual school year admission would take place or in any subsequent school year. 

(v)	It is for the school to show that undertaking relevant measures would result in prejudice to the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources. The school must make out a reasonable case for such prejudice. 

(vi)	The Appeal Panel may allow an Appeal once the pupil/teacher ratio is 30:1 only if satisfied :- 

(a)	the decision was not one which a reasonable admission authority would make in the circumstances of the case - i.e. was so unreasonable that no reasonable body or person would have made it; or, 

(b)	the child would have been offered a place if the admission arrangements had been properly implemented. (The Panel may allow the Appeal if the child would have gained a place in the school had the arrangements been carried out correctly not just because a mistake had been made); or, 

	4

(c)	the child would have been offered a place if the arrangements had not been contrary to mandatory provisions in the School Admissions Code and the School and Standards Framework Act 1998. 

25.	OTHER APPEALS 

(i)	Where the child is in Key Stage 1 (Reception, Year 1 or Year 2) and the LEA does not rely on infant class size prejudice or the child is at Key Stage 2 or beyond. 

(ii)	The Appeal Panel shall only allow an Appeal if satisfied that, either:- 

(a)	they believe that there would be no prejudice to the provision of efficient education or efficient use of resources if the child were admitted or, 

(b)	compliance with the Appellant's preference would prejudice the provision of efficient education or efficient use of resources but such prejudice is outweighed by other factors relating to the child or the Appellants. 

This is a two-stage process (whereas appeals on class size prejudice are not).

Stage 1

The school must satisfy the Appeal Panel that compliance with the Appellant's preference would prejudice either the provision of efficient education or efficient use of resources.

If the school fails to satisfy the Appeal Panel on one of either of the categories of prejudice the Appeal Panel must allow the Appeal and order the admission of the child to the preferred school.

If the Appeal Panel find that the child would have been offered a place had the admission arrangements been properly applied, and/or the mandatory provisions of the School Admissions Code or School and Standards Framework Act 1998 been applied properly, the panel must uphold the appeal unless a significant number of children are affected and admitting all would have serious prejudice to the school in question.

Stage 2

If the Appeal Panel finds prejudice as described in Stage 1 the Panel must balance this against the parents' preference and decide if the strength of the parents' case outweighs the prejudice found.

All relevant factors heard at, or relevant to, the Appeal will be considered including the consequences of the decision to both the school and the parents. The Panel will balance the conflicting factors and reach a decision.

26.	If a member of the Appeal Panel is absent from the appeal for other than a brief period, then, unless the appellants agree to continue, the appeal hearing shall be void and the appeal shall be re-heard by another Appeal Panel at a 

	5

time and place agreed with the appellants or by notice in accordance with Rule 12.

27.	The Appeal Panel may adjourn the appeal to such time and place as it thinks fit except that, where the hearing has not been completed and the appellants are present, the time and place of the adjourned hearing shall be agreed with the appellants. 

28.	In the event of disagreement between the members of the Appeal Panel the appeal shall be decided by a simple majority. 

29.	The decision of the Appeal Panel and the grounds on which it is made shall be communicated by the Clerk of the Panel in writing to the appellants and to the school. 

30.	The decision of the Appeal Panel shall be binding on the LA and on the Governors of any school at which the Appeal Panel determines that a place should be offered to the child. If your appeal is successful you must take up the place within a reasonable time period (approximately 2 to 3 Weeks). 

31.	Documents required under these rules to be served on the appellants may be sent by post or delivered to the last address disclosed by the appellants and documents required to be served on the school may be sent by post or delivered to the Governing Body, c/o School Office, St Oswald’s School, Church Street, Durham, DH1 3DQ and documents required to be served on the Clerk of the Appeal Panel may be sent by post or delivered to Committee Services, Corporate Director, Resources, at County Hall, Durham and documents sent by post shall be deemed to have been served when they would in the ordinary course of post have been delivered. 

32.	Except as provided in these rules in the conduct of the appeal shall be at the discretion of the Appeal Panel. 

	6

St Oswald’s School

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

We are committed to treating everyone fairly, with courtesy and respect. We realise that everyone is different and your needs might be different. However everyone should receive the same quality of service both from the School and the Members of the Appeal Panel, who are independent of the School.

PARENTS' GUIDE TO THE SCHOOL ADMISSIONS

APPEALS PROCEDURE AT ST OSWALD’S SCHOOL

A	INTRODUCTION

St Oswald’s is a Church of England Voluntary Aided School and you must appeal to the Governors of the school.

In respect of a child with a Statement of Special Educational Needs, or a child undergoing a statutory assessment of Special Educational Needs, decisions regarding placement are made by the Local Authority through the Statutory Assessment and Review procedures.  Parental right of appeal is to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal and not to the Admission Appeals Panel. 

B	HOW TO APPEAL

1	You will have received a letter that states that a place is not available at your preferred school. IF you wish to Appeal against this decision you should complete the Notice of Appeal and send it to the Governing Body, c/o School Office, St Oswald’s CE Aided School, Church Street, Durham, DH1 3DQ, so that it arrives within 20 DAYS of the date of the decision letter. 

2	When filling in the form you should, in support of your case, give all the reasons why you do not agree with the decision. If you have any medical evidence to submit as part of your reasons for appeal it is necessary to enclose a Doctor's letter with your Notice of Appeal to confirm the medical position. The School may with your permission seek to confirm any medical submission by having the child examined by the School Medical Officer and a report made available to the Panel. If you have any religious or philosophical convictions that are of relevance you should bring this to our attention. 

	2	

3	In accordance with the published arrangements for admission to schools your home address should be shown on the Notice of Appeal. The address of child minders or other family members who may share in the care of your child should not be used for this purpose. 

4	If your appeal involves a house move it is in your own interests to provide appropriate evidence of your move to the new address. This should be either confirmation in writing from your solicitor or some other proof that contracts have been exchanged, otherwise it will not be possible for the Appeal 

Panel to come to a final decision on the basis of all the relevant information. 

5	If you do not wish to attend you should say so on the Notice of Appeal and you can, if you wish, make a further written statement explaining the reasons why you are making the appeal. You should send this statement to the School with the Notice of Appeal. The Notice of Appeal and any statement will be read by the Appeal Panel and will be taken into account when it makes its decision. 

6	If you want a friend or representative to state your case for you at the hearing you should say so on the Notice of Appeal although it is not necessary to have this representation. If you choose to be represented you must make the necessary arrangements and meet any costs. 

It is your right to attend the hearing to state your case and you are strongly encouraged to do so in the interests of your child's education.

C	WHO ARRANGES THE APPEAL?

1	The hearing of your appeal will be arranged by Corporate Services of Durham LA on behalf of the School. They will try to arrange if at all possible, that the hearing takes place not too far from where you live. It will not be possible to hold hearings in the evenings or at weekends. 

2	The LA try to arrange appeals at venues that are equally accessible to all appellants. Please indicate on your notice of appeal whether you have a disability or any personal needs so that an appropriate venue for the appeals concerning your preferred school can be arranged. 

D	HOW MUCH NOTICE WILL BE GIVEN?

1	You will be given at least ten school days notice of the hearing; longer notice if possible. If you wish to attend the hearing but find that the date is inconvenient please telephone the School as soon as possible.

	3

E	WHEN WILL I KNOW THE SCHOOL’S REASONS FOR REFUSING ADMISSION? 

1	You will be sent a statement by the School seven days before your hearing giving the reasons for the decision (against which you are appealing) and explaining the admission policy for your case. 

2	The Appeal Panel will also have been given a copy of this statement, together with your Notice of Appeal and any supporting documents prior to the hearing to enable them to be familiar with all the circumstances of your case. 

F	WHO WILL DECIDE MY APPEAL?

Your appeal will be heard by a Panel of three independent persons. None of the members of the Panel shall have been involved with the decision which you are appealing against or have any connection with the school involved. The Panel is independent of the LA and its decisions are binding on the LA, the school, and yourself (except in limited circumstances of procedural irregularity).

G	AT THE HEARING

1	If you have opted to attend the hearing it is appreciated it can be an anxious occasion, especially as it involves the future of your child's education. As a result the Appeal Panel and its Clerk (who acts as adviser to the Appeal Panel on law and procedure) will try to keep the hearing as informal as possible. Try to arrive at the hearing in good time so that you may gather your thoughts. If you do not arrive at the time you have been given the appeal may proceed without you. 

2	To enable all the facts to be given at the hearing the following format is used:- 

i.	The school’s representative will put the school’s case first, following which you will be able to ask him/her questions. The Panel may have further questions for the school’s representative. 

ii.	You will then be able to state your case, following which you may be asked questions by the school’s representative. 

(Members of the Appeal Panel or the Clerk may also wish to ask questions to clarify points). 

iii	The school’s representative will then sum up the school’s case. 

iv	You will have the last word, being allowed the opportunity to sum up your case. 

After presentation of the case, both the school’s representative and you will retire and the Appeal Panel will consider its decision. This decision will be sent to you, in writing, by the Clerk of the Appeal Panel, together with the reasons for it. 

	4	

H	HOW IS THE DECISION MADE?

1.	If your child, if given a place at the school would be at Key Stage 1 (Reception, Year 1 or Year 2); 

(i)	It is the duty of the LA and School to allocate school places on the basis of parental preference. However, the School may seek to argue before the Appeal Panel that there are 30 pupils per teacher in the relevant year group and that in order to comply with class size legislation and to avoid prejudice (an adverse effect) to the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources, a further classroom, additional teacher, or rearranging the class structure would be required. 

If the School makes out a reasonable case for infant class size prejudice the Appeal Panel may allow an Appeal only if satisfied that:-

(a)	the decision was not one which a reasonable Admission Authority/Governing Body would make in the circumstances of the case (i.e. so unreasonable that no person/body would have made that decision); or, 

(b)	your child would have been offered a place at the school if the admission arrangements had been followed correctly (i.e. your child would have a place at the school if the mistake had not been made); or, 

(c)	the child would have been offered a place if the arrangements had not been contrary to mandatory provision in the School Admissions Code and the School and Standards Framework Act 1998 (SSFA 1998). 

2.	If your child is at Key Stage 1 and the LA does not rely on infant class size prejudice or your child is at Key Stage 2 or beyond the following will apply. 

(i)	There will be a two stage decision-making process. It is the duty of the LA and School to follow parental preference in allocation of school places until the Admission limit for the relevant year group is reached. Once the year group is full to this Admission Limit neither the LA nor the School may admit further pupils. Where parents appeal to the Appeals Panel the School may seek to argue that compliance with your preference would prejudice (adversely affect) the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources. If the School fails to satisfy the Appeal Panel on one of either of the above points your Appeal must be allowed. 

(ii)	If the School does satisfy the Appeal Panel that prejudice will be caused then the Panel must balance this against your preference and decide, after taking all relevant factors into account, whether the strength of your case outweighs the prejudice of allowing your child a place at the school. 

(iii)	However, if the Appeal Panel find that the child would have been offered a place had the admission arrangements been properly applied and/or the mandatory provisions of the School Admissions Code or the 

	5	

School and Standards Framework Act 1998 been applied properly, the Panel must uphold the appeal unless a significant number of children are affected and admitting all would cause serious prejudice to the school in question.

3.	Where a number of appeals are to be heard for an oversubscribed school it may be necessary to hear all the appeals before the Appeal Panel makes decisions on individual cases. This is necessary so that the Appeal Panel may acquaint itself of the overall position in relation to one school and the whole of the circumstances involved. Each decision, however, will take into account the individual circumstances of each case. 

4.	The appeal hearing will not be open to the press and the public. 

I	FURTHER INFORMATION

1	The decision of the Appeal Panel will be final and binding on the LA and the School. Whatever the Appeal Panel decide the LA and School will have to carry out. The LA and School have no right of appeal against the decision of the Appeal Panel. The Secretary of State for Education and Employment will only intervene if he is satisfied that the LA or School have acted unreasonably or failed to discharge duties imposed upon them by the various Education Acts and the SSFA (1998). If your appeal is successful you must take up the place within a reasonable time period (approximately 2 to 3 Weeks). 

2	The Local Commissioner for Administration (the Local Government Ombudsman) also will not seek to duplicate the appeal arrangements. The Ombudsman will be able to investigate alleged cases of maladministration in the way a case has been handled by an Appeal Panel or in the way the case was presented to them by the officers or the actions of the Authority following the decision of an Appeal Panel. The Ombudsman will not seek to substitute his opinion for the opinion of the Appeal Panel though it is usual for the authority to consider a remedy to any criticism of it by the Ombudsman. 

3	The supervision of the constitution and working of Appeal Panels is under the auspices of the Council on Tribunals and members of that Council are entitled to attend hearings to observe and report upon the proceedings. 

	6