School Admission Appeals
If your child is refused a place at your preferred school you have a right of appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel. This is known as an Admission Appeal.
For Community and Voluntary Controlled schools, admission appeals are organised by the Legal and Democratic Services Unit of the local authority. Foundation and Voluntary Aided schools are responsible for organising their own appeals.
If you are refused a place at your preferred school the admission authority will advise you of your right of appeal and will inform you how to go about submitting an appeal.
Types of Appeal
There are two distinct types of admission appeal. Appeals for an infant class (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2) and for other year groups (Year 3 to Year 12).
The school admission appeal process is regulated by the DfES' Admission Appeals Code of Practice.
Infant class appeals (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2)
Government legislation states that infant classes may not contain more than 30 children. Therefore, an admission authority must refuse to offer a child a place if it would take a class over 30 pupils.
The Independent Appeal Panel's powers are limited by legislation. An appeal can only be allowed if the Appeal Panel is satisfied that:
The decision was not one which a reasonable admission authority would have made in the circumstances of the case; or
The child would have been offered a place if the admission arrangements had been implemented properly.
If the decision not to admit your child was made because doing so would require the admission authority to take measures to prevent an infant class going over 30, then the Appeal Panel will not be able to decide in your favour on any grounds other than those mentioned above.
In relation to (1) above it is important to understand what it meant by the legal term "reasonable". The decision must be one that no other authority would ever have made, in other words it was totally irrational, absurd or insane. Therefore you will not have grounds for appeal on the basis of, for example, distance to the next nearest school, the child's medical condition, child friendships, lack of transport or recently moved to the area.
In relation to (2) above it is not enough to prove that there was a mistake in implementing the school's admission arrangements. In order to allow your appeal the Appeal Panel must also be satisfied that, if the arrangements had been carried out properly, your child would have been admitted to the school.
This is Government policy and admission authorities are legally bound to follow it in order to keep infant classes sizes to no more than 30 pupils. Government guidance anticipates that there will be very, very few, if any, admission appeals allowed for Year R, Year 1 and Year 2.
Appeal for other year groups (Year 3 to Year 12)
The appeal process for these year groups is different from that for infant classes.
Admission authorities are not allowed to admit more pupils into a year group than its Published Admission Number. That is the maximum number that the year group can accommodate.
If you appeal against the decision not to admit your child you will be asked set out the reasons why you believe that your child should be admitted to the school. The admission authority is also asked to set out its reasons for refusing admission.
The appeal hearing is usually in two stages
The First Stage is when the Appeals Panel hears the reasons why the admission authority refused to offer you a place. This is likely to be because the year group is full and that the admission of another child would prejudice the provision of an efficient education and/or the efficient use of the admission authority's resources. Both you and the Panel members can ask questions of the admission authority's representative on any aspect of its case.
If the Panel finds that the admission authority has proved prejudice the hearing moves on to the Second Stage. However, if the Panel decides that the admission authority has not proved prejudice then the your child is automatically admitted to the school and the appeal hearing is at an end.
The Second Stage is when you make your case as to why you believe that your child should be admitted to the school. The Panel will have read any information you have submitted prior to the hearing. You will be given the opportunity of explaining in detail any of the issues you have raised. The Panel and the admission authority will have an opportunity to ask you questions about your case.
The admission authority may submit details of any previous correspondence or contact you have had concerning your application for a school place.
Once the panel has heard your reasons it then has to weigh up both the admission authority's case and your case and decide which of the two is the stronger. It then decides accordingly.
The decision of an Appeal Panel is final and binding on both the admission authority and you. There is no further right of appeal.
You may only appeal once in each academic year for an individual child. Further appeals may be heard if you can prove that there have been significant and material changes in either the child your circumstances since the last appeal. The Borough's Head of Legal and Democratic Services will make such decisions.
If you do decide to appeal for a school place you will be sent details explaining how the process works and what you can expect at the hearing.
Directgov