LGO finds selective grammar guilty of maladministration over handling of appeal
The Local Government Ombudsman has recommended that a leading selective grammar school offers a place to a boy with a hearing problem after mishandling his appeal.
Tony Redmond said the appeals panel at Reading School, which has foundation status, “failed to properly consider [the complainant’s] arguments that [his son] had been discriminated against and this means that the panel’s decision was reached with maladministration”.
Mr Wright’s son Matthew (not their real names for legal reasons) sat the entrance tests for the school. At the time he had an undiagnosed hearing problem and he misheard instructions for the English written test. Some of the boy’s work was crossed out by the invigilator as a result and he narrowly missed out on a place.
By the time of the appeal, Matthew’s hearing problem was diagnosed. Medical evidence was submitted to the panel, but the appeal was still unsuccessful. The father threatened legal action, but discontinued this when offered a second appeal. This also failed and so Mr Wright took the case to the Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman ruled that the panel should have concluded that Matthew had a disability and he had been disadvantaged in his test because of this. He added that had this happened, it was likely that – at the final stage of the process – the panel would have concluded that the boy’s case outweighed any prejudice that would arise to the school in having to admit an extra child.
Redmond recommended that the governing body should:
- Offer a place to Matthew
- Apologise to the boy and his father
- Pay compensation of 3250 to Mr Wright in recognition of his time and trouble in pursuing the complaint
- Consider the report and ensure that future admission appeal hearings take account of the Ombudsman’s comments, “particularly where there is a claim that a child suffers from a disability as defined by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995”.
To read the full report, click here.
