Appeals

Parents/carers have the right to appeal if a place is not offered to their child. Appeals will be handled in line with the School Admissions Appeals Code.

If your child is due to start Primary school in September 2026, you can appeal if you are refused a place at one of your preferred schools on National Offer Day (Thursday, 16 April 2026).

You must submit your appeal before Monday 18^th May 2026 for it to be considered by Monday 20 July 2026. Any appeals received after this time will be heard within 40 school days from the deadline, or where reasonably possible in line with updated guidance from the Department for Education.

For late applications, appeals should be heard within 40 school days from the deadline for lodging appeals where possible, or within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged where reasonably possible in line with updated guidance from the Department for Education.

Appeals for infant classes

In Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, the class size is limited to 30.

Your application can be turned down if all the classes already have 30 children.

You can still appeal if you are able to prove that the:

Admission arrangements have not been properly followed.
Admission arrangements are not legal according to the School Admissions Appeals Code.
Decision to refuse your child a place was unreasonable.

Appeal panels can only consider infant class size appeals on these grounds.

After you submit your appeal

After you submit your appeal, a hearing will be set up and you will be invited to attend. You will be given at least 10 school days’ notice.

You will be issued with a deadline to submit any further evidence you wish to provide (any evidence submitted after the deadline may not be considered at the hearing).

Your appeal will be heard by an independent panel with no connection to the school.

The panel will decide whether to grant your child a place or not.

You will be invited to the hearing to explain why your child should be given a place and the school will be invited to explain why a place cannot be offered.

There will be a clerk present who will make sure correct procedure is followed and will keep a full record of the hearing.

You can bring a friend or family member to the hearing to support or represent you. However, this person cannot have a connection with the school (such as a member of staff from the school).

At the appeal:

The panel will decide whether to grant your child a place or not.
The admission authority will explain why they turned down your application.
You will be able to give your own reasons why your child should be given a place.
The panel will decide if the school’s admission arrangements were properly followed and are legal according to the school admissions appeals code.
If the arrangements are legal, the panel will decide if they were followed fairly and thoroughly.
If the arrangements were not properly followed or are illegal, the panel may uphold your appeal.
If your appeal has not already been upheld, the panel will decide if your reasons for your child receiving a place outweigh the school’s reasons for not admitting another child.

Decisions

The panel will make their decision in private after all appeals have been heard.

The panel will send you and the admission authority their decision within 5 working days.

The decision is final and can only be overturned by a court.

Full details of the appeal process and regulations are available in the School Admissions Appeals Code .