Ombudsman identifies common faults of school admission appeal panels

9 November 2011 1 min read Janaki Mahadevan Education

Lack of communication with parents, absence of impartiality and a failure to accurately record events have all been identified as common failures of school admission appeal panels.

In its latest report the local government ombudsman concludes that school admission appeal panels often make recurring mistakes, subjecting parents and children to unjust rulings.

The local government ombudsman receives more than 1,000 complaints every year about school admission appeals and finds fault with about 28 per cent.

As well as identifying common failures of appeal panels, the report cites examples of six parents and their children who experienced unfair hearings, including a panel that failed to check that the distance between a home and a school was calculated accurately and a panel that awarded some places to children from a feeder school but not others.

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