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Parents pay lawyers to fight for school places
Tim Ross, Education Correspondent2 Mar 2009
PARENTS are paying more than £1,000 in legal fees as they fight for places at the best state schools.
The recession is fuelling demand for grammar schools and highly rated comprehensives among London families who can no longer afford private schools, or see a good saving in finding an excellent state school.
The waiting ends this week for almost 80,000 London families who have spent months agonising over applications for state secondary schools. Education authorities and head teachers send out letters offering places today.
Last year, more than a third of children were rejected from their first choice schools in the capital, a far higher rate than across the country as a whole.
This year, the news may be even more difficult for desperate parents. Tens of thousands of children face rejection from their chosen schools this week.
Growing numbers of parents are trying to win places on appeal. However, nine out of 10 appeals fail, so many parents are hiring lawyers.
Lawyer Matt Richards, from Schoolappeals.com, said the appeals process could last up to five months and was often far more intimidating than parents were prepared for.
His most comprehensive package of services includes drafting the written submission, preparing parents for the hearing then representing them in front of the appeal panel. It costs around £1,200.
"This is a legal tribunal with the same status as an employment tribunal," he said. "You do need a fairly detailed legal submission." Interest in his services is up already this year, fuelled by an exodus from private schools.
"There have been more people coming to us who have been hit by the credit crunch," he said. "They are pulling their children out of private education and saying, 'We can't afford the fees but I'm not taking the sink school so I want you to get me the best in the area'."
Appeals over grammar school places in particular are likely to grow. Barrister Ian Jones, from www.school-appeal.org.uk, is also expecting more business this year.
His full service including representation at the appeal hearing "tends to come in at just under £1,000".
"There will be 30 or 40 sets of parents all appealing for a place in the same school which is saying it can't take one more child," Mr Jones said.
All parents have a right to appeal to an independent panel if their child has been rejected. The panel is made up of three to five voluntary members of the public, at least one of whom will have an education background.
Ron Burrows, 64, from Surrey, turned to Mr Richards for help last year after his grandson was refused a place at a local school. Their appeal was successful but Mr Burrows said some parents had been reduced to tears.
"It's an experience I wouldn't want to go through again," he said.
"As a process overall it was disgusting. My heart goes out to parents who are appealing this year."
Reader views (20)
Middle class and their sharp elbows again.
- Shaun, leeds,uk, 03/03/2009 08:48
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Natalie, surely it's 'en route' and not 'on route'! You are the reason why we pay private school fees
- Fee Paying Parent, London, UK, 03/03/2009 00:50
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Since when is it wrong for a parent to want to get the best education they can for their kids? Its not as though there is name-status snob value involved in the school selection - these are state run schools being discussed, not elitist enclaves.
The reverse snobbery coming from some of these comments could be described in many ways. The two that spring immediately to mind are 'sad' & 'bitter'.
- Rogan, Irving, 02/03/2009 22:20
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As someone who has not long left an average performing state school, I suggest the parents spending their time and money on appealing for the best school look at the children you are raising, and the example you are setting..
If you set the right standards at home your child will excel regardless of what school theyre in!
And just in case you wondered, I have 9 A-C GCSE's 3 A-Levels, a BSc (Hons) and on route for chartership as a surveyor...
Save your cash and get a grip people!!
- Natalie Holness, East London, UK, 02/03/2009 18:59
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As a parent who went through this process four years ago, parents must do their homework well before the child is ready for secondary school. When I say "homework", you have to visit the schools at least a year before you need to, check their Ofsted reports and look at the exam results - make comparisons between boroughs and the schools!! All this information is to hand, online, from the schools and the local authorities. You have a preference of six secondary schools, so why not choose schools of equal standing for all six, whether they are just around the corner or in other boroughs! I also sit on an Appeal Panel as a parent governor member and it is quite surprising to see the attitude of parents when they come to the Appeals especially when they haven't prepared for it. Choose your preferences wisely whether your child is offered the first preference or the sixth and remember to do your own "homework"!!!
- Pearl, London, 02/03/2009 17:19
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For goodness sake, so the middle classes suffering from the recession pull their little darlings from the private sector, and use some of the savings to get them into a good state school at the expense of some poor working class kid who's parents have not the money or probably the nous to fight back. Typical. let's hope one good thing will come out of it and that is the demise of the private sector, and those awful teachers thrown out of work or forced to work in a real school instead of the smugfest they have had.
- Kerry Trubee, Purley,, 02/03/2009 16:32
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Well said, Rob. My grandson went to a "sink" comp. where he was failing dismally, being bullied and getting in with a bad crowd. I cashed in my retirement money & sent him private. He graduates from Uni this summer. If I hadn't paid for him we could very well be visiting him in prison instead of going to watch him graduate. This and previous governments should hang their heads in shame at the mess they have made of what used to be a superb educational system, envied throughout the world.
- Maire, London, 02/03/2009 16:13
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oh for goodness sake, I left school with 3 O'levels and not much else. When I got older and had a better idea of what I wanted to do, I got off my bum and got the education I wanted as opposed to the one that my parents thought I should have. People who think they can pay for a better education and give their children a better chance in life are deluded, you cannot pay for talent, you cannot pay for intelligence, you cannot buy common sense. My parents bought me up to think about my choices and to appreciate that what ever happens to me, I'm ultimately responsible so I need to be responsible about the choices I make. Schools cannot teach that, loving, responsible, caring parents can.
- Nu, london uk, 02/03/2009 15:10
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And Rob's children will probably have a small house, tatty car etc so that their children can go to a better school. And their children... And who makes money out of this??
There seem to be so many parent wanting the few lawyer services, I'm surprised none of them have wondered if their lawyer isn't acting for other sets of parents trying to get into the same school. Conflict of interest anyone? This one could run and run.
- Gc, London, 02/03/2009 13:43
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I am fed up with my local council wasting £1000s on appeals about school places. All the parents want their children to go to one of two schools - a physical impossibility! The other four are nearly as good (we are talking 1 or 2% in 'A' level rsults). Many of the appeals are more to do with Peter and Paul wanting to go to the same school rather than education. If all schools were brought up to the same level and rubbish teachers sacked children could go to their nearest school.
- Michael, London, 02/03/2009 12:45
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The only people who believe comprehensive schools are great is the socialists, and they ALL send their own children to private schools - without exception.
- Neil M., london uk,, 02/03/2009 12:42
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If parents actually spent time with their kids teaching them before they went to school in the early years and spent time with them learning at weekends and after school they wouldn't necessarily need to pay for private schools. My parents did just that, I went to a dive of a comprehensive and still managed to get good grades, a red brick university eductaion and a job as a city lawyer. I also went to uni with those from more priviledged backgrounds from top public schools and if your kids are a "bit average" then they do get a leg up otherwise its not that important...
- Lucy, London, 02/03/2009 12:41
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Well said, Rob.
- Bloke, London, 02/03/2009 12:32
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Rob
I just don't see why people who can afford lawyers should get preference because they can afford a lawyer who can put their case over those who barely have money to put food in their children's mouths and cannot afford to get the same attempts at justice.
- Andy, London, 02/03/2009 12:12
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People make extraordinary sacrifices to avoid the depredations of state, comprehensive schooling. If you've ever seen the inside of an inner London comprehensive you will understand why.
- Neil M., london uk,, 02/03/2009 11:52
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I send my kid to private school because its offers him a better chance of a better start in life. I live in a small house, have a tatty car and only one one week holiday a year to do this, as well as numerous other sacrifices. Most people who send their kids to these schools aren't 'little darling' type people but just parents who care and are fortunate enough to be able to choose to make a sacrifice. That is not my fault but the hand I have built for myself. Now some can't do this anymore and all they are doing when they hire lawyers to fight for a decent place for their kids is showing that with a bit of nouse you can maybe go farther than you would otherwise imagine.
Ask yourself this Andy - if the Govt, with their politicized agendas, hadn't screwed up the education system so badly would people feel a need worry about which school their kid goes to. You seem like you would rather we all risk our kids future on the back of some kind of idea of socio-educational equalibrium. Well I won't and they won't and we shouldn't have to apologise for it either.
- Rob, london, 02/03/2009 11:31
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At a time when the government bans on about being green, where is the logic in an allocation system that forces children to travel out of their neighbourhood to go to school, while at the same time, children are being bussed in to their local school from outside the area?
There should be more focus on improving the poor schools rather than this typical Zanu Labour social engineering project that is intent on wrecking the few good schools that do exist.
- Inoff The Red, London UK, 02/03/2009 11:28
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I would definitely consider using a lawyer to get my son into the best school - if that's what it takes, so be it!
- Tory Boy, London, UK, 02/03/2009 10:52
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Pity the poor parent/child who can't afford legal fees/don't know any lawyers and have no choice but to accept a place at a so-called 'sink school'. But how can a school be a consistently 'sink school' if it has qualified, professional teachers as is Ofsted-inspected, as in any other state school?
- Suzyq, Essex, 02/03/2009 10:18
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What makes parents who have money (but less money than last year when they sent their little darlings to public school) have any right to the best schools over those parents who have always sent their children to state schools?
- Andy, London, 02/03/2009 09:43
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