School admission appeals

This ‘how to guide’ is designed to help parents explore their options and navigate their way through the school admissions appeals process for both infant class size appeals and standard class size appeals.

There is DfE guidance governing school admission appeals and these documents are listed below:

• School Admissions Code
• School Admissions Appeals Code
• Guidance to help admission authorities advise those involved with school admission appeals to understand their roles and responsibilities

My child has not been offered a place at my preferred school, what are my options?

Waiting lists

A child’s name can be added to the waiting list for any school that the parent has applied for but have not been offered a place. Admission Authorities must keep a waiting list for at least one term and parents can ask the Admission Authority how the waiting list is to be ordered. It is important to note that children can move down the waiting list if other children who have greater priority join the list, for example looked after children, previously looked after children and those given a school place under the Fair Access Protocol. Parents must renew their child’s place on the waiting list every school year.

Applying to other schools

If you would prefer your child to attend a school that you did not previously apply for rather than the school that your child has been offered a place at, you can ask your Local Authority Admissions Department if there are places available at that school. If there are no spaces you can still apply and join the waiting list and/or appeal for a place at that school.

Appealing for a school place

Parents have the right to make an appeal to an appeal panel and state why their child should attend their chosen school even though it is at capacity. School admission appeals must be carried out in accordance with the School Admission Appeals Code 2012 for maintained schools and most Academies.

Finding the relevant Admission Authority

Type of School	Who is the admission authority?	Who is responsible for arranging/ providing for an appeal against refusal of a place at a school?
Academies	Academy Trust	Academy Trust
Community Schools	Local Authority	Local Authority
Foundation Schools	Governing body	Governing body
Voluntary aided schools	Governing body	Governing body
Voluntary controlled schools	Local Authority	Local Authority

The appeals system

Right to appeal

Parents will receive a letter stating that their child has been turned down for a school place. This letter must tell them of their right of appeal and include details of how they can make an appeal and where to get further information.

An appeal form may be included with the letter. However it may be the case that the parents have to contact the Admissions Authority, in writing, stating they wish to appeal. All appeals must be made in writing, this will start the appeal process.

Parents should send a letter of appeal to the Admissions Authority for the school. Parents must be given at least 20 school days to send in written appeals. There is no legal time limit regarding late submissions, but as a result there may be a delay to any appeal being heard.

Parents must set out clearly in writing when lodging their appeal why they are appealing i.e. their grounds of appeal, and enclose any supporting documents/evidence.

The first thing to consider is whether you have been refused on grounds of infant class size prejudice or another reason. If you have been refused a place on grounds of infant class size prejudice then you will need to lodge an infant class size appeal. For any other refusal you will need to lodge a standard class size appeal.

Appealing about a place in an infant class

Reception classes and years 1 and 2 are known as infant classes. There is a legal limit for class sizes in these year groups of 30 children per teacher. When children are refused a place in these year groups on the basis that admitting them would breach the legal limit of 30 parents can make an infant class size appeal.

Additional children may be admitted under limited exceptional circumstances. These children will remain an ‘excepted pupil’ for the time they are in an infant class or until the class numbers fall back to the current infant class size limit. The excepted children are:

• children admitted outside the normal admissions round with statements of special educational needs or Education, Health and Care Plans specifying a school;
• looked after children and previously looked after children admitted outside the normal admissions round;
• children admitted, after initial allocation of places, because of a procedural error made by the admission authority or local authority in the original application process;
• children admitted after an independent appeals panel upholds an appeal;
• children who move into the area outside the normal admissions round for whom there is no other available school within reasonable distance;
• children of UK service personnel admitted outside the normal admissions round;
• children whose twin or sibling from a multiple birth is admitted otherwise than as an excepted pupil;
• children with special educational needs who are normally taught in a special educational needs unit attached to the school, or registered at a special school, who attend some infant classes within the mainstream school.

Panels must follow the two stage decision making process below when considering infant class size appeals

First stage – examining the decision to refuse admission

The panel must consider all the following matters:

• whether the admission of an additional child/additional children would breach the infant class size limit;
• whether the admission arrangements (including the area’s co-ordinated admission arrangements) complied with the mandatory requirements of the School Admissions Code and Part 3 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998;
• whether the admission arrangements were correctly and impartially applied in the case(s) in question and had they been correctly applied the child would have been offered a place; and
• whether the decision to refuse admission was one which a reasonable admission authority would have made in the circumstances of the case.

The panel must immediately refer to the local authority and the admission authority (if the appeal is for a school that is its own admission authority) any aspects of the admission arrangements it identifies as unlawful.

Parents can submit succinct reasons for appeal initially and then submit further more detailed grounds of appeal at a later stage if they require time to gather further evidence. However, any further grounds of appeal and/or documents they wish to rely upon should be submitted to the appeal panel by the deadline for the submission of any further evidence as set out in the notification from the admissions authority.

Legally ‘unreasonable’ has a narrow meaning, parents would need to be able to demonstrate that the decision not to admit the child was ‘perverse in light of the admissions arrangements.’ The panel will review the admission authority’s decision in the light of the material available at the time when it made its decision. The panel will also consider evidence submitted by parents to show what their circumstances were at the time the decision was made in order to support their claim that no reasonable admission authority would have made that decision.

The panel may only uphold the appeal at the first stage where:

• it finds that the admission of additional children would not breach the infant class size limit; or
• it finds that the admission arrangements did not comply with admissions law or were not correctly and impartially applied and the child would have been offered a place if the arrangements had complied or had been correctly and impartially applied; or
• it decides that the decision to refuse admission was not one which a reasonable admission authority would have made in the circumstances of the case.

In multiple appeals where a number of children would have been offered a place under the grounds above, and to admit that number would seriously prejudice the provision of efficient education or efficient use of resources, the panel must proceed to the second stage.

The panel must dismiss the appeal at the first stage where:

• it finds that the admission arrangements did comply with admissions law and were correctly and impartially applied; or
• it finds that the admission arrangements did not comply with admissions law or were not correctly and impartially applied but that, if they had complied and had been correctly and impartially applied, the child would not have been offered a place;
• and it finds that the decision to refuse admission was one which a reasonable admission authority could have made.

Second stage of infant class size appeal- comparing cases

The panel must compare each appellant’s case for their child to be admitted and decide which of them, if any, to uphold. Where the school could admit a certain number of children without breaching the infant class size limit (or without needing to take measures to avoid breaching it that would prejudice the provision of efficient education or efficient use of resources) the panel must uphold the appeals of at least that number of children.

If an Infant Class Size appeal is successful and the class will have 31 pupils in it the Admission authorities have to take measures for the following year to ensure that the class falls within the infant class size limit e.g. employing another teacher and creating a new class.

Multiple appeals

If there are a large number of appeals for one school it is common for these appeals to be dealt with together.

Multiple appeals are when a number of appeals have been received in relation to the same school. Admission authorities must take all reasonable steps to ensure that multiple appeals for a school are heard by one panel with the same members. Where more than one panel has to consider appeals for the same school, each panel must make its own decision independently.

For Infant Class Size appeals, the admission authority’s argument that admitting additional pupils would cause infant class size prejudice can be heard once in the presence of all appellants. If the panel is satisfied that the infant class size conditions are met, the panel proceeds to consider the appeals of the individual parents, without the presence of the others. If infant class size prejudice is not proven, the panel must decide which children should be admitted before infant class size prejudice arises, and then consider all remaining appeals as infant class size prejudice cases. Panels must not make decisions until all the appeals have been heard.

Standard class size admissions appeals

When parents are appealing against a decision not to admit a child to a school between Years 3-11 (and in a very limited number of appeals for Reception-Year 2), the appeals panel will complete a two-stage process.

Stage 1

At Stage 1, the panel must consider the following matters:

• whether the admission arrangements (including the area’s co-ordinated admission arrangements) complied with the mandatory requirements of the School Admissions Code and Part 3 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998; and
• whether the admission arrangements were correctly and impartially applied in the case in question.

Parents will need to consider the admissions arrangements for the school and Local Authority and assess whether any of the provisions do not comply with the mandatory requirements of the Code or legislation. However, in our experience, most admissions arrangements are compliant with the mandatory requirements.

If parents feel that the admissions arrangements have not been applied correctly in their child’s case then they should raise this and set out the reasons for this.

If the panel finds that the admission arrangements did not comply with admissions law or had not been correctly and impartially applied, and the child would have been offered a place if the arrangements had complied or had been correctly and impartially applied, then the appeal must be upheld at Stage 1.

However, if after considering these points the panel does not conclude that the admissions arrangements are unlawful/have not been applied correctly, then the panel must then decide whether the admission of additional children would prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources.

In most cases the admissions authority will be arguing that to admit an additional child to the parents preferred school/s would cause prejudice to the efficient education and the efficient use of resources. To try and challenge this argument, parents should obtain the following information from the admissions authority:

• the admission number for each relevant age group;
• the actual number of pupils in each age group;
• the number of pupils on special educational needs register;
• the average capacity of classrooms;
• the width and safety of corridors and stairwell;
• the capacity of common areas;
• whether school is fully staffed with teachers;
• ask for a copy of the school’s Net Capacity Assessment

The above obtained information can be used to challenge refusal in following ways:

• if each year group is not full – school building has capacity for more pupils;
• if some year groups larger than others, school has been able to manage larger groups in the past – should be able to manage larger groups now;
• if fewer pupils with special educational needs than usual in relevant year group – may be spare teaching capacity;
• if classrooms generally accommodate more than 30 and the forms in year group are less than 30, larger groups could be taught without difficulty.

Where the admissions authority is arguing prejudice, the admission authority must be able to demonstrate this over and above the fact that the published admission number has already been reached.

At this stage the characteristics and circumstances of the particular child in question will not, except in extreme cases, be relevant to the question of whether the admission will cause prejudice (R (on the application of M) v Haringey Independent Appeal Panel [2010] EWCA Civ 1103).

The panel must uphold the appeal at the first stage where it finds that the admission of additional children would not prejudice the provision of efficient education or efficient use of resources.

However, in multiple appeals where a number of children would have been offered a place, and to admit that number would seriously prejudice the provision of efficient education or efficient use of resources, the panel must proceed to the second stage (for information regarding these appeals please see below).

The panel must proceed to the second stage where:

• it finds that the admission arrangements did comply with admissions law and that they were correctly and impartially applied to the child; or
• it finds that the admission arrangements did not comply with admissions law or were not correctly and impartially applied but that, if they had complied and had been correctly and impartially applied, the child would not have been offered a place; and it finds that the admission of additional children would prejudice the provision of efficient education or efficient use of resources.

Stage 2

At this stage the panel must balance the prejudice to the school against the parent’s case for their child to be admitted to the school. It must take into account the parent’s reasons for expressing a preference for the school, including what that school can offer their child that the allocated or other schools cannot.

Parents may argue that the needs of their child are so significant that they override the needs of the school to maintain classes of a particular size. In other words, the problems faced by their child if they do not go to the school outweigh the problems faced by the school if the school has to take an extra child. Arguments should be based on reasons why their child’s needs outweigh the needs of the school to maintain classes of a particular size.

If the panel considers that their case outweighs the prejudice to the school it must uphold the appeal.

Arguments including the child’s talent, suitability for school, type of education offered at the school, deficiencies of alternative schools or the disappointed expectations of parents may not be relevant and may not be taken into account by the appeal panel when arriving at their decision. We would advise parents only to make these arguments if it demonstrates why their child’s needs outweigh the needs of the school to maintain classes of a particular size.

To satisfy the panel that their child’s needs outweigh any prejudice caused to the school, parents will need proof. Parents should think how to prove their points and may wish to consider:

• any reports that back up their case;
• will anyone independent, like a doctor, send a letter that agrees with their case
• will anyone like a youth worker come as a witness;
• does the school profile, school prospectus, inspection report or any school policies help support the parent’s case

In multiple appeals, the panel must not compare the individual cases when deciding whether a parent’s case outweighs the prejudice to the school. However, where the panel finds there are more cases which outweigh prejudice than the school can admit, it must then compare the cases and uphold those with the strongest case for admission. Where a certain number of children could be admitted without causing prejudice, the panel must uphold the appeals of at least that number of children.

Preparing an appeal case

Checking admissions arrangements

A schools admission arrangements must comply with the School Admissions Code 2014 and the relevant law; The School Admissions Appeals Code 2012, School’s Standards and Framework Act 1998, Equality Act 2010 and Human Rights Act 1998, to be lawful.

The admission arrangements must be published in the Local Authority guide or Prospectus to local schools. This can also be known as oversubscription criteria. This must also be available on the Local Authority website. Parents are entitled to request the Local Authority Admissions Department provide a printed copy.

For most schools, the oversubscription criteria are only used if there are more applications than number of places available. Schools which are fully selective on academic grounds may refuse an application if a child has not met the school’s selection criteria, even if the school is not full. Faith schools can give priority to children of the same faith as the school but may also have criteria which allow children of other faiths and denominations or children in the local community to be offered places.

Although schools can take into account any selection and faith criteria, they must give first/top priority to children in care, or Looked after Children. From September 2013 onwards they must also give priority to children that have been previously looked after but have been subsequently adopted or made subject to a Special Guardianship, Residence Order, or a Child Arrangements order.

Other oversubscription criteria could include:

• Measurement of distance from the school: how home to school distance is measured must be clearly set out in the oversubscription criteria
• Catchment Area: this must be reasonable and clearly defined. Parents who live outside the catchment area may still apply for school places
• Medical/social reasons: the oversubscription criteria must explain clearly how the admission authority will define this need and give clear details about what supporting evidence will be required (e.g. a letter from a doctor or social worker)
• Having a brother or sister at the school
• Attending a feeder school : Admission authorities may name a primary or middle school as a feeder school but this must be transparent and made on reasonable grounds.

The 2014 School Admissions Code gives admission authorities the freedom to give priority in their admission arrangements to children eligible for pupil premium or service premium funding.

Unlawful discrimination

Admission Authorities cannot discriminate at any stage of the admissions process. Under the Equality Act 2010 the Admission Authority will have acted unlawfully if they refused to grant a child a place on the basis of protected characteristics, such as race, disability or gender. There are some exceptions to this for single sex and faith schools.

If a parent believes that an Admission Authority has dealt with their child’s application differently to any other child because of a disability their child may have, they may be able to make a claim for disability discrimination. Parents that believe their child has been treated less favourably for such a reason can include this as part of their appeal.

If any mistakes have been made

If a parent believes that a mistake has been made with regards to a child being given correct priority and their child should have been offered a place, they should contact the Admissions Authority immediately. This could be if the child has not been considered properly with regards to any medical need, sibling, catchment or religious criteria.

If the Admission Authority agrees that a mistake has been made, the child may be given a place in the school without an appeal. If the Admission Authority doesn’t agree or parents do not agree with what is written in the appeal papers when they receive them they can present these reasons as part of an appeal case.

Checking information about the school

The set number of places to fill by the school is called the Published Admission Number (PAN). Parents can request this information from the Admission Authority. This can also be found in the Local Authority prospectus for schools. Unless the school is a fully selective school, all places must be filled before a child can be refused a place.

If a child has been refused a place based on prejudice this is because the school is full, and the school will argue that another child will mean larger classes which will increase teachers’ workload and overstretch equipment and space.

When putting together an appeal the parent should consider the capacity and layout out of the school and whether or not this shows that the school can actually take extra pupils above the Published Admissions Number, or in Infant Class Size appeals accept pupils up to the limit of 30. Parents can also try to find out if there are any future alterations planned, such as differing use of existing facilities or building new ones, that may affect a schools capacity.

Parents can also check the number of pupils in each year group to check whether or not the school has successfully managed to take extra pupils previously. Information on how many appeals were successful in previous years can also be requested from the Admission Authority to show that extra pupils can be admitted without causing prejudice.

Gathering and considering the schools information is important as the admissions authority must be able to demonstrate that prejudice will be caused over and above the fact that the published admission number has already been reached.

About your child

Parents may argue that the needs of their child are so significant that they override the needs of the school to maintain classes of a particular size. In other words, the problems faced by their child if they do not go to the school outweigh the problems faced by the school if the school has to take an extra child. Arguments should be based on reasons why their child’s needs outweigh the needs of the school to maintain classes of a particular size.

Parents need to provide the panel with a description of their child to demonstrate why they need to attend the school in question. Points may include:

• Health problems
• Social problems e.g. shyness, victim of bullying
• Family problems
• Emotional problems e.g. anxiety, low self esteem
• Difficulties with learning such as any special educational needs or a disability
• Previous problems at school e.g. difficulties attending school, bullying
• Any recent changes

Arguments including the child’s talent, suitability for school, type of education offered at the school, deficiencies of alternative schools or the disappointed expectations of parents are not relevant and may not be taken into account by the appeal panel when arriving at their decision. We would advise parents not to make such arguments at the appeal. Parents should think how to prove their points and may wish to consider:

• any reports that back up their case
• will anyone independent, like a doctor, send a letter that agrees with their case
• will anyone like a youth worker come as a witness
• does the school profile, school prospectus, inspection report or any school policies help support the parent’s case e.g. special educational needs policy or bullying policy

The appeal hearing

Appeal panels must operate according to the principles of natural justice. Those most directly relevant to appeals are:

• members of the panel must not have a vested interest in the outcome, or any involvement in an earlier stage, of the proceedings; 
• each side must be given the opportunity to state their case without unreasonable interruption; and
• written material and evidence must have been seen by all the parties.

Having support at a hearing

Parents must take all steps to attend the appeal hearing. If a parent wishes to have someone with them they could request a friend, an adviser like a Choice Adviser, a locally elected politician, or someone who works for the Local Authority like a social worker or a mentor. This person must not have a conflict of interest.

If a parent wishes to bring someone with them or if they are represented they should inform the Clerk in advance of the meeting. If a parent needs a translator or signer the clerk should also be contacted. The necessary arrangements must be made and funded by the Admissions Authority.

Children can attend the hearing as a witness if parents feel it is necessary. The panel will then decide whether it is appropriate for the witness to remain after their evidence has been given.

Procedure at the hearing

There will be at least three people on the appeal panel who will have received training. There are legal rules with regards to who can or can not be a member of an appeal panel. One or more members will have experience in education, or be the parent of a child at school. A Clerk will be there to explain procedures, take notes and to ensure that the hearing is conducted properly and fairly.

Admission authorities may make arrangements for appeal hearings to be held in person or remotely by video conference or a mixture of the two.

Where appeal hearings are held in person, admission authorities must take all reasonable steps to ensure the venue is appropriate, accessible to appellants, and has a suitable area for appellants and presenting officers to wait separately from the panel before and between appeals.

Where appeal hearings are held remotely, admission authorities must be satisfied that the appeal is capable of being heard fairly and transparently. In doing so they must be satisfied that the parties will be able to present their cases fully and that each participant has access to video or telephone facilities allowing them to engage in the hearing at all times.

A typical hearing would be ordered as follows:

1. The Clerk will explain the procedure and answer questions the parent may have.
2. Everyone present will be introduced.
3. The Admission Authority representative will put their case forward. The Parent will be able to ask questions. The head teacher/governor from the school will also attend the hearing in order to answer specific questions about the school.
4. The parent will present their case. The Admission Authority representative can then ask the parent questions. Panel members can ask questions at any time.
5. Both parties sum up their case.

The panel’s decision

When making a decision, the panel must have consideration of all relevant circumstances, including:

• Published admission arrangements
• Parents stated preference
• A family’s and child’s particular circumstances
• The practical consequences for the school if an appeal was successful

If more than one child is successful in an infant class size appeal for the same class the panel must proceed to a second stage where they will compare the cases.

If an Infant Class Size appeal is successful and the class will have 31 pupils in it the Admission authorities have to take measures for the following year to ensure that the class falls within the infant class size limit e.g. employing another teacher and creating a new class.

Informing parents of a decision

Parents should be sent a letter as soon as possible after the panel has made their decision. The letter must give detailed reasons for the decision reached and give parents details of how they can complain if they believe the hearing has not been conducted properly. If an appeal is successful the child will be offered a place at the school. The panel cannot attach any conditions to this offer.

Time frame for appeals

Admissions authorities must publish an appeals timetable on their website by no later than the 28^th of February each year. Admissions authorities can set their own dates within the constraints of the Admissions Appeals Code.

Any appeal deadline must be at least 20 school days from being informed that an application was unsuccessful.

Type/date of application	Hearing to be held within:
Normal admissions round (primary and secondary)	40 school days of deadline for lodging appeals
Late applications in normal admissions round	40 school days of deadline for lodging appeals if possible or 30 school days of appeal lodged
Sixth form (offers conditional on exam results)	30 school days of confirmation of exam results
Sixth form (unconditional offers)	40 school days of deadline for lodging appeals
In year admissions	30 school days of appeal being lodged

Parents can expect to receive notification of their appeal and information related to the hearing according to the following timetable:

Notification duty	Time limit (at least)
Deadline for lodging appeals calculated from the date of notification that the application was unsuccessful	20 school days
Written notice of appeal date and arrangements for hearing	10 school days before hearing
Further evidence to be submitted by appellant; deadline to be notified with date of appeal	According to timetable published by Admission Authority
Admission Authority must supply all relevant documents to the clerk	According to timetable published by Admission Authority
Clerk must send papers to all parties, including names of panel members	A reasonable time before hearing – According to timetable published by Admission Authority
Clerk or chair must send decision letter to all parties	As soon as possible and not later than 5 school days without good reason

Key terms

• Admissions Authority: this is body that deals with admissions for the school (see below for who the admissions authority is for different types of schools)
• Published Admissions Number or PAN: this is the number of pupils that the school can admit into each year
• Net Capacity: the total number of pupils the school has been assessed as being able to admit
• Admissions Criteria/Policy: these polices set out the admissions number for the school and the over-subscription criteria which will set out how applications will be prioritised if the school is oversubscribed.
• Choice Advisors/Advice: the Local Authority have a legal duty to provide advice and help to parents who are applying for a school place. They may employ Choice Advisers to carry out this role

If an appeal is unsuccessful

Can a parent appeal again?

Parents do not have the right to a second appeal in respect of the same school for the same academic year unless, in exceptional circumstances, the admission authority has accepted a second application from the appellant because of a significant and material change in the circumstances of the parent, child or school but still refused admission.

Appellants may apply for a place in the same school in respect of a later academic year and have a further right of appeal if that application is unsuccessful.

Complaints about the appeals process

Schools Adjudicator

An objection to the admissions arrangements of an authority can be made to the Schools adjudicator if you think that a school’s admission arrangements do not comply with the School Admissions Code or the legislation. You must raise your objection by 15 May after the admissions arrangements have been determined.

You will need to complete the school admission arrangements objection form. The Schools adjudicator will send its decision in writing to all parties involved and this will be published online. The adjudicator’s decision is binding on the admissions authority and the authority must implement the decision without undue delay. If a school fails to implement a decision of the adjudicator, the Secretary of State for Education may direct the admission authority to do so.

If you are dissatisfied with adjudicator’s decision then it is possible to bring a Judicial Review of the decision. This must be brought within 3 months of the decision and we recommend that you seek independent legal advice before taking this action.

Local Government Ombudsman (Maintained schools only)

If a parent believes that the Admission Authority has been guilty of maladministration by failing to follow procedures correctly or not acting in a fair and independent manner they can make a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO). The LGO can only deal with complaints regarding maladministration and not with issues where the parent believes the wrong decision had been reached. Parents must lodge their complaint within a year of the issue subject to the complaint i.e. the panel’s decision.

The LGO is not in a position to overturn any appeal panel’s decision, but they can recommend that the parent be allowed a new appeal. They can be contacted on 0300 061 0614.

Complaints about academies

Parents may complain to the Secretary of State in respect of appeal panels for Academies. Admission authorities must inform parents about the arrangements for making a complaint.

The Secretary of State cannot review or overturn an appeal decision relating to a maintained school. An appeal panel’s decision can only be overturned by the courts where the appellant or admission authority is successful in applying for a judicial review of that decision. However, under sections 496, 497 and 497A of the Education Act 1996, and under an Academy’s funding agreement, the Secretary of State may consider whether:

1. the panel was correctly constituted by the admission authority; and
2. the admission authority has acted reasonably in exercising functions in respect of the appeals process or failed to discharge a duty in relation to that process.

Judicial Review

If the parent or guardian feels that a panel has made a clear mistake of law, has been unreasonable or has breached the rules of natural justice, they may be able to apply for Judicial Review. The court will look at the lawfulness of the decision and could overturn any decision or direct a new appeal hearing. Any application for judicial review should be made promptly but at least within three months of the date of the decision. Parents would be strongly advised to consult with an education law solicitor over any potential application for Judicial Review.

If you are eligible for legal aid you might be able to get a solicitor to help with Judicial Review and should contact Civil Legal Advice.