schools adjudicator

Dec 6 2011

Wakeman School to Close – Schools Adjudicator Lessons

I’ve received the sad news in recent days that the fight to save the Wakeman School in Shrewsbury from closure has been unsuccessful. Despite putting up a fantastic fight and with the support of most of the local community and the local Diocese, The Schools Adjudicator has approved the Shropshire County Council plan to close the school.

Having read the Adjudicator’s report in detail, I must say that I am disappointed with his report which does not, in my opinion, provide the level playing field that I have previously supported and championed. He glosses over some of the clear inadequacies of the council’s process and consultation and does not delve sufficiently deeply into the statistics which were contentious and challenged strongly by the Wakeman Parents group. There were no reprimands, slight or otherwise, for a council that did not plan to consult formally with the school’s pupils or the feeder primary schools. He stated that these things had happened but chose to allow the council off scot free with the argument that eventually these groups were aware of the consultation (mainly because of the school and parents’ actions) so they got their opportunity to make their representations anyway! He seems not to have seen this as a failing of the council which seems inexcusable. In similar situations, I have seen Schools Adjudicators criticise councils in their reports for identical failures.

Up to this point I have felt that access to The Schools Adjudicator is a positive thing to ensure an unbiased and objective assessment of the situation. This report shows that the Schools Adjudicators are individuals and have their own predispositions. In other words, your chances of getting a fair hearing might depend on which Schools Adjudicator you get for your appeal.

In many ways this is still preferable to a more cynical interpretation of this report which might suggest that, generally speaking, councils’ arguments are now being given more priority because of the dire financial circumstances they find themselves in. But where does this leave good schools and parents and pupils? Is the Statutory Code of Guidance being interpreted in favour of councils to help save them money? Let’s hope this is not the case or else the code’s phrase “an education system shaped by parents” sounds very hollow and deliberately misleading.

By David • Blog • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Oct 25 2011

Access to The Schools Adjudicator

You will no doubt be aware if you have read the articles on the site and the handbook that I am a great advocate of the Schools Adjudicator. I believe that if you can access the Schools Adjudicator process then you will receive a fair hearing based on my experience and the experience of a few other schools that I know.

The field becomes a level playing field because the local education authority is not controlling the process and is only seen as one of a number of parties to the decision. if you have good arguments, present them well and relate them to the statutory guidance then you have a good chance of success.

However, I believed that, from reading the statutory guidance, that access to The Schools Adjudicator was limited to faith-based schools and trust schools. So normal, mainstream schools were at the mercy of the local education authority.

Yet recently I have been contacted by a school under threat in the Shrewsbury area and they have revealed something very surprising to me. This is the original comment I received from Helen Fletcher:

We’ve used your great website and advice to fight the Shropshire Council’s proposal to close The Wakeman School and Arts College in Shrewsbury. This is the current situation which I thought might be of interest.On 7th September, we had lots of complaints and concerns about the proposal and consultation lodged with the Ombudsman, but despite this Cabinet voted unanimously to close the school. We are waiting for the Ombudsman’s findings. More importantly for us and I think for your website too, though, is that the Lichfield Diocesan Board of Education has referred the decision to the Schools Adjudicator and we are hopeful that this will result in our wonderful school being saved. This is significant because The Wakeman is not a church school (please see http://www.lichfield.anglican.org/news&newsID=840), but the church has still given us us that precious route through to the Adjudicator and a fair hearing for the school. We’ll keep you posted.

The fact that the local diocesan board has been able to intervene on behalf of a non faith-based school and result in the matter being referred to The Schools Adjudicator is very encouraging. This gives more hope to those mainstream schools who previously have had no access to an appeals process.

Helen’s latest comment is:

Following on from my post of 24 September- we’re in the process of preparing for our meetings with the Schools Adjudicator (both potentially between the school and the Adjudicator, and the public meeting) and your experience would be very helpful to us. Any information or tips would be much appreciated. Does the Adjudicator act as the chair of a debate between the two sides, or does s/he take more of an active lead, asking questions of both sides and wanting information about particular things? Are there any issues that you think are particularly important to demonstrate at the meetings? Our appeal is entirely structured around the statutory guidance as you advise, and we think we have a strong case, but we want to make sure we do the school justice at the meeting(s) too. The LA’s case seems riddled with holes- all the way through this process the issue for us has not been looking for ways in which it has failed to meet the statutory guidance but deciding where to stop- so any advice on what to focus on in the meetings would really help. Thank you, and best wishes.

I am still unsure how this came about legally but I will do a little more digging. But from now on I will be advocating that all schools make direct contact with either of the local diocesan boards – Catholic or C. of E. – to see whether they are prepared to support your case against closure proposals. If  they are then there may be a chance to access The Schools Adjudicator which can only be a good thing.

By David • Blog • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Feb 28 2011

Sacred Heart Win!

Sacred Heart Primary School in Byermoor, Gateshead, have successfully fought off a proposal by Gateshead Council to close them down.

In his report and conclusion, the Schools Adjudicator stated that the Council had not made a strong enough case to close what is a designated rural school and that if the school had closed this would cause in imbalance in the denominational provision in the area. The Council agreed that the standards at the school were not an issue.

The Adjudicator did remark that the Council’s policy of minimum 210 place schools meant unfair treatment of Sacred Heart as it was a small but designated rural school and as such had a presumption against closure.

The Parents Group, the school and the local community put up a very robust and patient fight against the closure proposal and must now be very proud of their achievements. Well done to all concerned.

This must be a lesson to all small schools fighting closure proposals. You can win if you have the arguments and marshall them effectively.

By David • Blog • 1 • Tags: , , , ,

Jan 14 2011

Sacred Heart, Byermoor – Schools Adjudicator Now Involved

Just a short note to record that Sacred Heart RC Primary School in Byermoor, Gateshead, has now appealed to the Schools Adjudicator against the council’s decision to close the school. I have been working with them to help them fight this action and feel that they have an excellent case to keep the school open. The parents feel that the council’s consultation process has been less than open and transparent and that their views have been ignored or sidelined throughout this process.

Sacred Heart is a small (105 pupils max) rural school with a proud local heritage that is popular with parents, pupils and teachers. Until the review was announced it had no surplus place problem to speak of. At its last Ofsted report in 2007 it was classed as satisfactory although, with the advent of the new head teacher, improvements have clearly been made. It is a designated rural school and a passionate defence of the school has been made by parents, teachers and pupils. Even as a rural school it is less costly to run than many other urban primary schools in Gateshead. So why has it come under the spotlight?

Gateshead Council clearly do not like small schools. They have a policy to close schools that do not have the potential to reach 210 pupils capacity on the assumption that bigger means more financially viable. Yet its consultation has been littered with inconsistencies and errors. The goal posts have been changed several times. Parents have been given scant information on which to formulate their views. Major consultation responses from the parents action group have not even been acknowledged never mind published. Key questions have not been answered. Behaviour at public meetings by council staff and members has been less than professional.

At least Sacred Heart will have a level playing field now with the involvement of the Schools Adjudicator. The decision will be taken by someone who does not have other agendas. The parents’ voice will be heard. The council will have to justify their decision. Parents will be able to put their views and arguments for keeping the school open and know that they will be listened to properly.

I believe they have a strong case for keeping the school open. So does the local Roman Catholic diocese. I just hope that the Schools Adjudicator does to.

By David • Blog • 0 • Tags: , ,

Nov 5 2010

Closure Proposals – The Schools Adjudicator

I’ve talked a little before about the Schools Adjudicator and their role in hearing appeals against a council’s school closure proposal. I feel that they provide an objective assessment of your case as opposed to the heavily biased case for closure that your council puts forward. (Many councils do not even tell parents there is a possibility of an appeal to the Schools Adjudicator!)

However, you can learn a lot from reading some of the previous decisions made by the Schools Adjudicator. If you go to the Schools Adjudicator web site and look down the menu you will be able to find all the published decisions made by the Schools Adjudicator for several years back. The decision reports are short (10-20 pages long generally) but packed with information. They are in date order generally but with a bit of effort on your part you can find decisions made about schools that are a close fit to your situation. You just need to read the beginnings of the reports.

When you have identified the decision reports that closely match your own situation print them off and read them carefully and make notes. They may not all be favourable results but you can learn so much about what the Schools Adjudicators are looking for, what are important factors in their assessments, what factors are less important and how they come to their decisions. This is invaluable information when you are planning a campaign or drawing up your response to consultation or, if you are very lucky, writing a report for the Schools Adjudicator at an appeal.

The key thing is that the Schools Adjudicator will make an assessment based around the Statutory Code of Guidance for school closure but inevitably there will  be different emphases on different factors. Reading the reports will give you an insight into what the Schools Adjudicator generally deems as important. You can also see how each individual inspector interprets the statutory guidance from the way they write the report and summarise their findings.

My advice would be to spend some time researching these reports as they are a very useful resource in planning terms.

By David • Blog • 4 • Tags: , ,

Oct 22 2010

STOP PRESS! Epinay School Saved!!

Great news. The outstanding special school in South Tyneside has been saved from closure by The Schools Adjudicator! I have just been told today by the Head Teacher of the victory for common sense. All credit to her and all the rest of the Epinay community who have fought hard and long against the flawed (and ultimately ridiculous) proposal to amalgamate 3 special schools on one site.

The Schools Adjudicator rejected the proposal because, amongst many cogent arguments put to him which he accepted, he could not see that the standards of education could be improved for the majority of pupils affected (namely those currently at Epinay). Yes – why close an outstanding school and expect for that school’s ethos and standards to be replicated at a new site with new teachers and in a different environment? South Tyneside’s cabinet members  should hang their heads in shame for trying to close one of the few outstanding schools in their area.

But – jubilation for Epinay. May their celebrations last for a long time. At least someone eventually listened to them. Someone without a vested interest. At least The Schools Adjudicator brought some reality into this farcical situation.

Long live Epinay.

By David • Blog • 0 • Tags: , , , , ,

May 31 2010

The Importance of Community

I just thought I would do a short post about the importance of community in the closure of a school. As part of the decision making exercise, local authorities are supposed to take into account community use of the school. It usually centres on how much use is made of the school premises by local community groups. This is actually what the guidance states. If there is a lot of use by community groups then it is more difficult to close the school.

However, in the case of Gillas Lane Primary School, we found The Schools Adjudicator to be open to a much wider interpretation of “community”. We argued that the community valued and supported the school in different ways even though there was little community use of the school’s premises. We pointed to the history of the area and the role the school had played when there was social disruption for several years. The school was seen as an oasis of calm for the children of the area and it never received any vandalism during this period. We were supported at meetings by members of the local community who did not have any links to the school. They stood up in meetings and supported the school in their own way. The school was a living symbol for the community of the good things in the area rather than a resource to be used.

The Schools Adjudicator did comment on this. He felt from the meeting and the written representations made that the local community valued the school and was impressed by the support given. I am sure that this had an impact on his final decision.

It just shows how The Schools Adjudicator is more likely to take a much wider view of the overall context of the school than the minimum that the statutory guidance states.

By David • Blog • 0 • Tags: , ,

Jan 16 2010

Appeals

Even when the council has made its formal decision through the statutory Schools Organisation Committee (SOC) you may still have the opportunity to appeal against this decision. All is not lost at this stage for some schools.

You note that I said “some” schools because various categories of schools have an extra level of protection. If your school is a :

  • Faith-based school
  • Trust school, or,
  • Rural school

then you will probably have access to an appeal mechanism through the Schools Adjudicator. Check your situation through the Statutory Guidance for School Closure. This can be invaluable if your local council is intent on closing your school.

The Schools Adjudicator will look at the proposal with fresh eyes and examine whether the proposal meets all of the statutory guidance where the local council may have just concentrated on areas that support its case.

As a general rule, if you are a maintained, mainstream school you will not have this access in law. This was the case with Gillas Lane where the primary school is a maintained school. However, we were able to get access to The Schools Adjudicator because the council could not come to a decision within the statutory timescale and therefore, in law, the case passed to The Schools Adjudicator for determination.

We knew that if we could get to The Schools Adjudicator we would get a fair and objective hearing, something that we felt Sunderland City Council had not given us. The trick is to get to that position. Sowing the seeds of doubt is a major strategy here. But that is another story in its own right.

If you can prepare for an appeal early. Keep some of your powder dry. Do not show your full hand to the council and try to be one step ahead of them at each stage. Keep them off guard. Appeals can tip the balance in your favour.

By David • Blog • 0 • Tags: , , ,