Governance - school admission and exclusion appeals service

This service is for all schools and academies.

What the service provides

• Legal advice throughout on process and procedure.
• Receipt of appeal forms from academy/school and distribution of necessary paperwork to all parties.
• Making arrangements for interpreters where necessary.
• Hosting of the appeal hearing.
• Providing a fully trained independent panel to consider the appeal.
• Servicing of the appeal hearing including provision of legal advice to the independent panel.
• Dealing with decision letters following appeal hearing.
• Liaison with the local government ombudsman or education & skills funding agency in the event of any challenge to the decision.

Benefits for your school

In the event that a parent challenges a decision to refuse admission to your school, you are obliged to provide a hearing before an independent panel in order that the parent has an opportunity to state their case. The requirements surrounding the arrangements of this hearing are very specific. In the event of the hearing not being wholly in accordance with those requirements, the parent can complain to the local government ombudsman or education & skills funding agency, which have the power to request that the case be re-heard. It is therefore essential that any school admission appeal is dealt with correctly.

Derby city council has considerable experience in dealing with school admission appeals for schools within the city and in ensuring the appeals are handled independently, administered effectively and managed in accordance with the school admission appeals Code. The council schedules and deals with around 1,000 school admission appeals each year. The council also has an excellent record in successfully dealing with local government ombudsman and education & skills funding agency enquiries.

Similar rights to request a review in front of an independent panel apply to exclusions, and similar obligations apply to schools. Once again, the regulations are very specific and failure to comply with them can create issues for schools further down the line. Derby city council has considerable experience in this area too, and is able to take over responsibility for dealing with the review from the point it is made to its resolution.

Cost - School admission appeals

£162.84 for the first appeal heard in any one day. In the event of your school having multiple appeals which can be heard on the same day, there will be a charge of £57.78 per appeal for each subsequent appeal on the same day.

£126.07 per day for the provision of an independent fully trained panel. 

A flat fee of £12.50 per appeal for appeals received that are subsequently withdrawn before the hearing.

The cost of any interpreters required by parents will be passed on to the school. The council will not apply an admin charge.

We will not charge for:

• Training of the panel, provided it is a panel we are supplying.
• Any liaison with the local government ombudsman/education & skills funding agency, except questions relating to panel members we have not supplied.

School exclusion appeals: Variable dependent on circumstances. 

CiA name: School Admission and Exclusion Appeals
Internal supplier code: 6012

Contact

Sarah Baines
Tel: 01332 643651
Email: sarah.baines@derby.gov.uk

How to order

Now you have selected the services you require, please visit the how to order services section to find out how you can place your order.