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Contact Ian Jones (email preferred):

legal@direct-barrister.com

Tel:  07771 961 962    Fax:  0116 312 0180

Advice can be provided urgently if required, but please note that Ian Jones does not provide a free legal advice service and will require a signed contract before undertaking any work.

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Education Appeals

education appeal?

Each year, some 1.5 million applications for school places are made to admissions authorities (the local authority or, for voluntary-aided schools, the school governors) in England & Wales.  The most popular schools are heavily oversubscribed and about 20% of all applicants (40% in London) will be disappointed not to receive their preferred choice of school. On refusing an application for a school place, the admission authority must notify the parent of their right of appeal to an independent admissions appeal panel.  Over 80,000 admission appeals are lodged each year, with the increased availability of OFSTED reports and schools’ performance data and the language of “parental choice” encouraging parents to shun under-performing schools in favour of those that top the league tables.

Admission appeals are arranged by the local authority or, for voluntary-aided schools, by the local diocese or the governors.  Panel members must be independent and must include a mix of members with/without an education background.  Broadly similar arrangements apply to school exclusion appeals, although the independent appeal panel differs slightly and the number occurring (after a separate internal appeal process)

each year is considerably smaller.  Each year, there are about 9000 permanent exclusions and 300,000 fixed-term exclusions, including a disproportionate number of special needs children.  There are about 1000 exclusion appeals lodged annually, of which just over 20% succeed .  The process is more formal than with admission appeals.  Legal representation for exclusion appeals is slightly more common, though funding is not usually available.

Where a child has special educational needs, the parent/carer can appeal to the Special Educational Needs & Disability Discrimination Tribunal (SENDIST) against the refusal of the local authority to issue a Statement for that child, or the designation of a particular school for the child to attend.  The appeal is co-ordinated by the national Tribunals Service, but heard at a local venue.  About 3000 SEN appeals are lodged each year, although many exclusion appeals also relate to SEN pupils.

There are many other less common appeals in the education system, including transport appeals, staff disciplinary & grievance appeals, NQT appeals and appeals for university entry or degree grades.  If you need advice/representation for any education appeal, please contact Ian Jones for further details.  

Department for Children, Schools & Families

Teachernet

OFSTED

Schools Adjudicator

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