1. When are appeals heard?
Appeal hearings are held during the day Monday to Friday. Appeals are not held at weekends, in the evening, on bank holidays or during school holidays.
2. Where do appeals take place?
Appeals are heard virtually using Microsoft Teams. You can join your appeal from anywhere using any device for example a smart mobile phone, laptop or tablet. You do not need to have an account to join a Microsoft Teams meeting. For information on how to join a Microsoft Teams meeting please see How to use MS Teams.
Ensure you are in private with no distractions, where no one other than family or anyone supporting you can hear what is being said.
Appeals must be held in private and recording is strictly prohibited.
3. Attending the appeal hearing
We would advise you to attend the appeal as it’s helpful for the appeals panel to hear first-hand why you want your child to attend a particular school. If you do not wish to attend the hearing, your appeal will be heard in your absence and considered on the written evidence you have provided with your appeal form. This also applies, if you do not join your arranged hearing.
If you are unable to attend the arranged hearing please contact us and, you can decide to:
- Have the appeal to proceed in your absence
- Authorise someone to attend the appeal on your behalf
- Ask for an alternate appeal date and where possible we will try to accommodate this request, although at times it can be impractical to offer an alternate date
4. Joining your appeal
Many appeals are heard during the day and we endeavour to start your appeal promptly, please join your appeal by your appointment time, the panel will wait up to 5 minutes before proceeding with the appeal in your absence. Sometimes appeals can overrun, if you are not let into the hearing by your appointment time, please wait in the virtual waiting room and the clerk will admit you into the meeting as soon as they are ready to start your appeal. You may wish to test the link beforehand and if you have any problems joining using the link please email the appeals team at DSU_SchoolAppeals@sandwell.gov.uk
5. Support at the appeal
You may have a family member, a friend, an interpreter or a professional who is involved with your family e.g. a social worker support you at your appeal. If you intend to bring a legal representative to the hearing or if anyone supporting you will be joining separately, please notify the clerk in advance. If you need an interpreter, please let us know when you appeal as we can organise this for you, if you do not have anyone over the age of 16 who can do this for you.
Someone from the school you are appealing for cannot support you.
6. Can I bring my child to the appeal?
It is not necessary for your child to attend and young children may disrupt proceedings. Your child can be present if you feel this is appropriate, however appeals can be upsetting, please consider this when deciding whether to allow your child to attend.
7. Home address to school distance
The distance from your child’s home address to the school will be different to the distance given on google, as a specialist system is used to measure in a straight-line measurement as the crow flies.
8. Submitting supporting information
If you wish to submit documents / evidence in support of your appeal, please email them to DSU_SchoolAppeals@sandwell.gov.uk no later than 1 week before your appeal late. The late introduction of supporting evidence may not be considered by the panel.
9. Cancelling my appeal
If you no longer want to appeal for the school, you can withdraw the appeal by emailing DSU_SchoolAppeals@sandwell.gov.uk
On occasions a place can become available at the school, in the event this happens, and your child is offered a place, your appeal will be withdrawn.
10. The panel considering your appeal
Your appeal will be heard by an independent appeal panel consisting of 3 volunteers who are fully trained. The panel has no connection to Sandwell Council or the school you are appealing for and has no vested interest in the outcome of your appeal. The panel will comprise of at least one person who has experience in education and at least one person who does not have any experience in the management or provision of education.
The panel are the decision makers and they will decide if your appeal is refused or allowed.
11. Who will be at the appeal hearing?
- The appeals panel
- The clerk
- A presenting officer from School Admissions
Sometimes a representative from the school will attend the appeal hearing.
On occasion there may be an observer at the hearing who is in training as a clerk or panel member, they will take no part in the hearing.
12. The role of the clerk
The clerk is an independent source of advice on procedural issues, the appeals code and admissions law and ensures the hearing is conducted fairly. The clerk also records full written notes of the appeal hearing, records the panel’s decision and always stays with the panel.
13. The role of the chair
The chair of the appeals panel is responsible for the conduct of the hearing including:
- Introducing all parties and explaining their roles
- Explaining the process which will be followed
- Ensuring you have the opportunity and time to verbally present your case
14. The role of the Presenting Officer / School Representative
The presenting officer will verbally present the schools case and if a school representative attends, they will co-present the case for the school.
15. Length of appeal hearing
It is difficult to advise how long your appeal hearing will last, however, you will be informed how much time has been allocated to your appeal in your invitation email. Sometimes appeals do not last the duration and some appeals can run over.
16. Appeals process
The below 2 stage process will be followed:
Stage 1 is about the school’s circumstances.
The presenting officer will present the case for the school, explaining why a place could not be offered to your child.
You and panel may ask questions based on the information received. This is not the time to start presenting your case, you will get the opportunity to do that in Stage 2 of the appeals process, questions at this stage should be in relation to the information presented about the school.
Stage 2 is about your child
You will verbally present your case explaining the reasons why you want your child to attend your preferred school. Remember to focus on:
- the school you are appealing for
- your personal circumstances
- what the school offers that will meet your child’s specific needs
- what the impact will be on your child, if unable to attend your preferred school
- if relevant; what the school offers that the current school / school offered does not offer
Do Not:
- Repeat yourself
- Concentrate on why you do not want your child to attend a particular school
- Do not mention other children who you believe have been offered a place at your preferred school
To ensure the panel has the full picture of your case, the panel and presenting officer can ask you questions.
If you forget to say something, do not worry as you will be given the opportunity at the end to have the last word and this is the perfect opportunity for you to mention it.
Summing up
At the end of the appeal the chair will ask the presenting officer to sum up the school’s case first. This is not personal towards your child; it is what the presenting officer says to every parent who appeals.
The chair will then ask you to briefly summarise your case, you do not need to repeat your case, just pick out the main points of your case. You do not need to sum up, if you do not wish to do so.
Once the appeal has ended, you will not be able to submit any further information.
17. Multiple Appeals
If you are appealing for a place in reception or year 7 for admission in September, it is likely there will be many appeals for the same school and the appeals will be heard together by the same panel.
If your appeal is being conducted through the multiple appeals process, the above 2 stage process still applies, however, stage 1 and stage 2 will be held separately. Please see below for further details:
Stage 1
This meeting is usually held at the start of the day, if there is more than 1 appeal date for the school, the meeting will take place on day 1. All parents appealing for a place for their child will be invited to attend at the same time to hear the case for the school.
We will not provide interpretation support at this stage, if you require support you will need to have someone accompany you, who must be over the age of 16.
The appeals panel and parents can ask questions based on the information received, if you do not attend this meeting, you will miss the opportunity to ask questions. Any question at this stage should be generic and about the school, if you have a question specifically about your child you can ask this at your Stage 2 hearing.
The appeals panel and the clerk will briefly leave the meeting whilst the panel determines if it has been proved it would be prejudicial to admit more children. The clerk and panel will return to the meeting, where you will be informed of the panel’s decision at this stage.
Stage 2
If the panel finds at Stage 1 of the appeals process that there would be prejudice to the school, then your appeal will proceed to Stage 2. You will receive an invitation to present your individual case in private to the panel at an allotted time. Stage 2 is about your child and will follow the exact order as detailed in the appeals process. The presenting officer will briefly explain why your child was not offered a place at the school and then the chair will invite you to present your case to the appeals panel.
We will provide an interpreter to support you at this meeting, if you require this support.
18. Year 3 to 11 Appeals
If you are appealing for a place in year 3 up to year 11, the panel will follow the below 2 stage decision making process:
Stage 1 – Examining the decision to refuse admission
The panel must consider whether:
- the admission arrangements complied with admissions law and were correctly and impartially applied in the case in question.
- the admission of additional children would prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources.
If the panel are satisfied stage 1 has been met, they will proceed to stage 2 of the decision making process.
Stage 2 – Balancing the cases
The panel will decide if your case outweighs the case of the school, to decide this the panel will balance your case against the school’s case.
19. Reception, Year 1 and 2 Appeals
If you are appealing for a place in reception, year 1 or year 2, your appeal will be considered under Infant Class Size Legislation.
What is Infant Class Size Legislation?
Infant class size legislation does not allow a place to be offered to a child if there would be more than 30 children in an infant class per schoolteacher (teaching assistants, support staff etc are not classed as schoolteachers). Although, in exceptional circumstance a child may be admitted to an infant class, taking the number of children in a class above 30 (this is extremely rare).
What the Panel look at?
The panel can only allow an appeal where:
- It finds admission of an additional child/ren would not breach infant class size (30 children per class teacher)
- It finds that the admission arrangements did not comply with admissions law or were not correctly and impartially applied, and the child would have been offered a place if the arrangements had been correctly and impartially applied
- It decides that the decision to refuse admission was not one which a reasonable admission authority would have made in the circumstances of the case
The threshold to find that an admission authority’s decision to refuse an admission was ‘unreasonable’ is high.
To determine whether the refusal was ‘unreasonable’, the panel must be satisfied the decision was ‘perverse in the light on the admission arrangements’ i.e. it was beyond the range of responses open to a reasonable decision maker or a decision which is so outrageous in it defiance of logic or of accepted moral standards that no sensible person who had applied their mind to the question could have arrived at it.
For example, if your child has a sibling already at the school, this would not be classed as an unreasonable decision to refuse your child admission to the school.
20. Receiving your decision
The clerk to your appeal will email the decision letter to you within 5 school days of the panel making their decision.
21. The appeal panel’s decision
The decision made by the panel is legally binding on all parties. If your appeal is a multiple appeal, the panel will make decisions in private on all appeals once the last appeal has been heard. If your appeal is not a multiple appeal, the panel will make a decision on your appeal in private at the end of the day once all appeals have been heard.
22. What if my appeal is unsuccessful?
If your appeal is unsuccessful you cannot appeal against the appeal panel’s decision. You cannot appeal again for the same school for the same year group. To discuss alternate schools, you will need to contact School Admissions as the appeals service cannot assist you. It is the responsibility for your Local Authority to ensure your child has a suitable school place.
23. Complaints
You cannot complain about the panel’s decision, but you can complain if you feel maladministration has took place. Maladministration covers things like failure to follow correct procedures or failure to act independently and fairly. The ombudsman cannot consider whether the appeal panel’s decision was correct and cannot overturn their decision. If the ombudsman finds there has been maladministration, suitable recommendations can be made for a suitable remedy.