Making an Appeal

Although the majority of children are offered a place at one of their preferred schools; this is not always the case - especially when all the schools on the preferred list are regularly oversubscribed. If you are unhappy with the school place allocated to your child, you have the right to appeal to an independent panel. Information about the appeals process will be given in the letter you receive from the admission authority for the school, along with any given deadlines.

Appeals Procedure

In most admission appeals, the appeals panel goes through two stages:

Stage 1

• The admission authority puts a case forward to the panel to explain why it did not offer you a place at your preferred school.
• The panel then decides whether there was a good reason for the school to turn down your application. This is often decided on "whether the admission would be prejudicial to efficient education or efficient use of resources". In other words, whether offering your child a place would have been detrimental to the other pupils due to lack of space or resources.

If the panel decides that the school had a good reason for refusing you a place, then the second stage of the appeal will begin.

Stage 2

• You will put forward a case forward to the panel to explain why you are appealing against the decision.
• The panel will want to hear why you believe that school would be the best for your child, and what special factors justify your child being given a place, despite the good reason for turning you down.
• The panel then looks at both sides of the case and makes a balanced judgement. They need to decide whether the benefits for your child being given a place at the school outweigh the negative effects on the school and the other children.

Rules for Infant Classes

If your child has been refused entry to a primary school because the infant class has reached its maximum of 30 pupils, then different rules apply. The panel is only allowed to look at two things:

1. Did the admission authority stick to its own published admission rules?
   If the authority broke these rules (deliberately or mistakenly) and your child would have been accepted if the rules had been applied properly, then your appeal may succeed.
2. Did the admission authority act unreasonably?
   If the authority made an irrational decision not based on the facts of the case, then your appeal may succeed.

Decisions

• If the panel decides in your favour, then the admission authority must offer your child a place at the school.
• If your appeal is rejected, then you can still ask the school to put your child on their waiting list, as places sometimes become available after the start of the school year.
• If you are unhappy about the way the appeal hearing was carried out, you could complain to the Local Government Ombudsman, who could recommend a new appeal.