Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about an unsuccessful appeal for a school place. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to warrant further investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complains about an unsuccessful appeal for a place for her child Y at her preferred school, School Z. She says the independent appeal panel acknowledged her concerns about the admissions process and information but decided the decision to refuse Y a place at School Z had been properly reached. She says the panel failed to properly explain its decision and she therefore argues it was unfair and incorrect.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether an independent school admissions appeals panel’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider if there was fault in the way the decision was reached. If we find fault, which calls into question the panel’s decision, we may ask for a new appeal hearing. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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Background

5. Independent appeal panels must follow the School Admissions Appeals Code when considering an appeal. The law says the size of an infant class must not be more than 30 pupils per teacher. There are only limited circumstances in which more than 30 children can be admitted.
6. When a school receives more applications than it has places (the ‘published admissions number’, or PAN), the applications will be ranked according to its over-subscription criteria. Each application will be placed into the highest appropriate criterion, and places are then allocated in descending order of rank.
7. If a child is not allocated a place in their preferred school they may appeal. There are special rules governing appeals for reception and Years 1 and 2. Appeals under these rules are known as “infant class size appeals”. The rules say the panel must consider whether:
• admitting another child would breach the class size limit;
• the admission arrangements comply with the law;
• the admission arrangements were properly applied to the case;
• the decision to refuse a place was one which a reasonable authority would have made in the circumstances.
8. An appeal panel can only overturn an admissions authority’s decision to refuse a place if they find one or more of these points do not apply and that had the decision been taken properly, the child would have been allocated a place at the school.
9. What is ‘reasonable’ is a high test. The panel needs to be sure that to refuse a place was “perverse” or “outrageous”. For that reason, panels rarely find an admission authority’s decision to be unreasonable in light of the admission arrangements.
10. The clerk must ensure an accurate record is taken of the points raised at the hearing, including the proceedings, attendance, voting, and reasons for decisions.

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My assessment

11. Our role is to check appeals have been carried out properly. We do not provide a further right of appeal or decide whether a child should be given a place at a school and we cannot question the merits of decisions properly taken. If the panel has been properly informed, and used the correct procedure, then it is entitled to come to its own judgment about the evidence it hears.
12. The evidence available in this case shows the Council as the admissions authority wrote to Mrs X to explain the reasons it refused her application for a place for Y at School Z. It sent her a copy of the school’s case explaining how spaces had been allocated, that they were allocated in accordance with their admissions arrangements and that the school was full.
13. Mrs X attended the appeal hearing and asked questions about the school’s case. She also queried information from a brochure about entry to the school which she felt was either incorrect or misleading and says the school admitted an error in what it had said. The notes of the meeting provide a record of this conversation but stop short of stating there was any error. Rather they state the school admitted its statement could be interpreted differently but that it clearly explained entry to the school was not guaranteed.
14. The panel considered Mrs X’s appeal but found that admitting Z to the school would breach the infant class size limit, that the admissions arrangements complied with the law and were correctly applied and that the decision to refuse admission was a reasonable one in the circumstances. It therefore had no choice but to refuse Mrs X’s appeal.
15. I appreciate Mrs X is unhappy with the appeal panel’s decision but I have not seen enough evidence of fault to question it. The issue with the school’s brochure did not show any error in the decision to refuse Y a place at school Z and while Mrs X clearly has her reasons for wanting him to go to the school there were only limited grounds on which the panel could uphold her appeal. The panel was entitled to decide these did not apply in her case and the law does not allow us to question its judgement.

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Final decision

16. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman