About admission appeals

Community and voluntary controlled schools

If we refuse a place at your preferred school or if you are not happy with the school we have offered your child, please complete the online appeal on the link below.

If we had to refuse all three of your preferences you could appeal for each of them. There would be a separate hearing for each school for which you are appealing.

The right of appeal is suspended for children who have been permanently excluded from two schools.

You may only appeal once per school year for a particular school. For example, if you appeal for Year 1 at a school and your appeal is unsuccessful, then you can't appeal again for that school until Year 2.

Voluntary aided schools, free schools, trust schools and academies

If we refuse a place at your preferred voluntary aided school, free school, trust school or academy on behalf of the governing body, you should contact the school to enquire about the appeal process.

Kirklees Pupil Admissions processes the appeals for some voluntary aided, trust schools and Academies. A full list is provided below under types of appeal.

You may only appeal once per school year for a particular school. For example, if you appeal for Year 1 at a school and your appeal is unsuccessful, then you can't appeal again for that school until Year 2.

Schools outside Kirklees

If we refuse a place at your preferred school on behalf of another local authority, you should contact the other local authority to enquire about the appeal process.

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).

• Primary school appeal types
• Middle school appeal types
• Secondary school appeal types

There are two different type of appeal hearings and the type of appeal depends on how the school arrange their classes and the year group your child is in.

In both circumstances the independent appeal panel are responsible for checking that the admission arrangements and co-ordinated schemes were published on time, are lawful and have been correctly and impartially applied to each application.

There are regulations made under Section 1 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 that places a legal limit on the size of an infant class; 30 pupils per 1 school teacher. If an additional child were to be admitted, then the school would need to employ an additional school teacher for that class unless this child was an excepted pupil. The list of cases where a child would be an excepted pupil will be listed in your appeal pack but include multiple birth children (twins), children with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) naming the school.

If the panel decide that the Admission Authority has not proved its case or the admission of another child would not breach the infant class size limit, the appeal will be allowed at this stage and all children appealing will be offered a place at the school and admitted as excepted pupils.

If the panel decide that the Admission Authority has proved its case and that a further admission would breach the infant class size limit, the appeal will proceed to your individual appointment where you will get the opportunity to present your case as to why you believe the decision to refuse admission was not one which a reasonable admission authority would have made in the circumstances of the case.

There are two different type of appeal hearings and the type of appeal depends on how the school arrange their classes and the year group your child is in.

In both circumstances the independent appeal panel are responsible for checking that the admission arrangements and co-ordinated schemes were published on time, are lawful and have been correctly and impartially applied to each application.

All appeals for Year 3 onwards are considered as General Issues appeals but some appeals for Reception, year 1 and year 2 could also be considered as General Issues appeals (if the admission of a further child would not breach the infant class size limit of 30 children to 1 school teacher). These appeals are split into two parts as follows:

Part 1: the Factual Stage (also known as the school's case)

The Admissions Authority will be invited to present their case as to why they were not able to allocate a place for your child at the school. The Panel will ask the Admission Authority questions about their case and parents will be invited to ask questions also.

If the panel decide that the Admission Authority can accommodate additional children, the appeal will be allowed at Part 1 and all children appealing will be offered a place at the school.

If the panel decide that the Admission Authority can't accommodate any additional children (it is full) or that the school can only accommodate some of the children, then the appeal will proceed to Part 2 (the parent's case).

Part 2: the Balancing Stage (also known as the parent's case)

This will be your opportunity to explain to the Panel the reasons why you would like a place at the school for your child. The Admissions Authority and the Panel will be able to ask you questions about your case.

The panel will then balance the arguments and make a decision about whether they feel that, even if the school is full, the family's personal circumstances outweigh those set out by the school.

Please ensure any additional evidence you wish to submit in support of your appeal is received by the School Appeals 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. For academic evidence, please bear in mind that the schools may not be able to help you during holidays and school closures.

Information can be submitted to school.appeals@kirklees.gov.uk. Please provide your child's initials and date of birth and the school you are appealing for on your email.

The Department for Education advises parents that:

• The stronger your reasons the better chance you have of your appeal being successful. For example, wanting your child to go to a particular school because it's the best in the area is not likely to convince the panel that your child should get a place at the school over another child.
• You should focus on what the school can offer that meets your child's needs, this can include what the school can offer that other schools cannot and what the impact will be on your child not attending the school of your choice.

Appeals are usually only successful where parents can provide exceptional educational, social or medical reasons for appealing for the particular school, with supporting evidence.

What you can send

You can send:

• letters of support from your child's current or previous school
• evidence supporting your medical, social or educational reasons for appeal
• house move evidence if the change of school is required due to a house move e.g. tenancy agreements, exchange of contracts

Do not send the following

You should not send:

• any documents you have submitted before
• original documents via post
• highlighted documents - copies will be illegible
• video, PowerPoint or other audio/visual presentations
• letters of support from the school you are appealing for
• schoolwork or certificates - they will not be taken into consideration by the Appeal Panel as part of their decision-making
• any documents that use staples or treasury tags, document wallets, files or file dividers
• password-protected documents (unless previously agreed)
• photos/videos of your child or other children (this is due to safeguarding rules, Data Protection and GDPR regulations)
• anything which identifies an individual, such as photos, videos, names, etc.

From the beginning of October 2022, appeals are being heard virtually by video call. The clerk of the appeal panel will email you about the appeal hearing and explain the procedures approximately 14 days prior to the date of your appeal hearing.

An independent appeal panel hears appeals and 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.

There will also be a Local Authority representative, a clerk to the appeal panel and possibly a school representative at your appeal.

It is recommended that you attend both parts of the hearing to get an understanding of the process, the school case and to have the opportunity to put your own case forward. If you are unable to attend, please email pupiladmissions@kirklees.gov.uk and school.appeals@kirklees.gov.uk. You must also let us know if you intend to call any witnesses or be represented at the appeal hearing.

The Clerk will email a decision letter to you within 7 calendar days of the date when the decisions on all appeals have been made by the panel.