About admission appeals
Information about admission appeals, what to do if you are not offered a place at your preferred school, how to appeal, types of appeal, the appeals process, timetable for appeals and what happens at an appeal hearing.
If you are not offered a place at your preferred school
How to appeal
Appeal your school place offer
You must complete one appeal form per child
Clock Completing this form takes around 10 minutes
Paperclip To complete this form you will need; a valid email address and your childs name and date of birth.
Appeal onlineTypes of appeal
For school admission appeals up to and including year 2 there are two types of appeal, Key Stage 1 Class Size Appeals (CS) and General Issue Appeals (GI). The type of appeal depends on how the school arrange their classes and the year group your child is in.
For appeals for year 3 onwards in primary school and year 7 in secondary schools, these are always General Issue appeals (GI).
In year admission appeals
Appeals against a decision in any other year groups will be heard within 30 school days of the appeal being received by the Local Authority.
You will receive notification in writing of the date, time and venue of your appeal 10 school days before the hearing.
You will receive full appeal papers including the admission authority case and your submissions prior to the appeal hearing (approximately one week before).
Decision letters will be sent within five school days of the hearing.
School days are term time only. If an appeal is submitted in the holidays, the 30 school days starts from the beginning of a new term
We will however, try to hear it as soon as possible.
The appeals process
Notice of admission appeal
It is very important for you to stay within any timetable given for your appeal process and that you state all the information on which your appeal is based in your written statement of appeal. If you miss the last date to ask for an appeal it may result in a delay in hearing your appeal.
Appeals timetable
Appeal type | Appeals received by | Appeals will be heard by |
---|---|---|
Starting school for the first time | Monday 3 June 2019 | Friday 6 September 2019 |
Transfer to junior/middle school | Monday 3 June 2019 | Friday 6 September 2019 |
Transfer to high school | Friday 29 March 2019 | Monday 17 June 2019 |
Appeals submitted after these deadlines will be heard within 40 school days from the deadline for lodging appeals where possible, or within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged, this may not be before the end of the academic year. You will receive at least 10 school days' notice of your appeal hearing.
Please ensure any additional evidence you wish to submit in support of your appeal is received by the Pupil Admissions Team at least four working days before your appeal. Any material not submitted by the specified deadline may not be considered by the Independent Appeals Panel.
You must also let us know if you intend to call any witnesses or be represented at the appeal hearing.
Appeal hearing
The clerk of the appeal panel will write to you about the appeal hearing and explain the procedures. An independent appeal panel hears appeals.
It is made up of three people, including:
- At least one 'lay' member (a member of the public with no specialist education experience)
- At least one 'independent' person who has experience in education and who is familiar with educational conditions in our area or who is a parent of a registered pupil at a school.