Tony’s Volunteering Story
School Appeals Panel Members help to ensure all the appeals for maintained schools and academies are conducted in a fair and transparent way. These appeals can include admissions, exclusions, and transport. Panels are held all year round, but particularly busy periods tend to be between April – July and again in September.
Panel members can be either lay people (someone without personal experience in the management of any school or provision of education in any school) and people who have experience in education, who are acquainted with educational conditions in the local authority area, or who are parents of registered pupils at school.
Jenny Oliver of the Central Volunteer Team spoke to Tony to speak about his experience of being an Independent School Appeals Panel Volunteer. Tony has been volunteering for twelve years.
What does your volunteering role involve Tony?
I chair a panel of three which is made up of myself, a lay member, and an ex-educational member. We hear admission appeals. We bring the parents of the child in for discussion remotely and they put their case forward, as does the school afterwards. The panel discusses the child’s allocated school and the parent’s appeal against it. We then make the decision.
Why did you start volunteering?
I was a magistrate before I retired. Somebody asked me if I would be interested in the role, and I said yes!
What keeps you volunteering?
It’s something to keep my brain going and I am contributing to the community, I like to know that I am making a contribution.
What is your favourite thing about volunteering?
It’s black and white and very simple. We come to a yes or no decision on the same day. It’s not prolonged and is final.
What difference has volunteering made to you? For example, making new friends or enhancing your skills.
It has kept me up to date with current legislation and allowed me to keep up with modern thinking on education.
What would you say to someone who has never volunteered?
I would encourage them to providing that they don’t think that it’s an extension of social work. It is about the parent and the school and not any other interests. We consider very carefully the number of children in the class; it is crucial as space is always an issue along with teacher pupil ratio. The panel takes all day, and we usually have five cases which are across County, both secondary and primary schools.
Can you think of a good strapline to describe your volunteering?
It is a unique volunteering position as you are both judge and jury on each appeal.
You can find more information on this role and others here. What are you waiting for!