School admission appeals

Is there a right of appeal for all year groups?

You can appeal against the decision not to offer your child a place, in any year group, in a school of your choice.

However, you should be aware of limits on infant class sizes (reception class, year one and year two).  This means that no more than 30 pupils can be taught by one teacher.

As a result, there are restrictions placed on the circumstances in which an independent appeal panel can grant an appeal for admission of a child to an infant class at school.

Appeals against refusal to admit a pupil on the grounds of infant class size legislation can only be granted in the following circumstances:

1. That the admission of an additional child would not breach infant class size limits.
2. That the decision to refuse admission was not one which a reasonable local authority would make in the circumstance of the case. The panel will need to be satisfied that the decision to refuse admission was ‘perverse in the light of the admission arrangements’, i.e., it was ‘beyond the range of responses open to a reasonable decision maker’ or ‘a decision which is so outrageous in its logic or of accepted moral standards that no sensible person who had applied his mind to the question could have arrived at it’.
3. That the child would have been offered a place if the admission arrangements had been properly implemented.
4. That the child would have been offered a place if the arrangements had not been contrary to mandatory provisions on the School Admissions Code (2021) and the School Standards and Framework Act (1998)

Many parents rely on point 2 above for their appeal.  The Local Government Ombudsman has published some useful information on this.  The following is taken from their website:

"Most parents who have been refused a place at their preferred school consider this refusal to be perverse. But the word has a stronger meaning in its legal sense. It means ‘beyond the range of responses open to a reasonable decision maker’, or ‘a decision which is so outrageous in its defiance of logic or of accepted moral standards that no sensible person who had applied his mind to the question could have arrived at it’. A decision that makes it impossible for you to transport all your family to school on time, or even impossible for you to continue working, is very unlikely to be perverse. The courts have established this.

If the admissions authority had refused a place to a child whose family had had to move house under a witness protection scheme, a panel might decide that the decision was perverse. But it is the panel’s decision. We will not question that decision if the panel followed the correct procedures in reaching it."

You may wish to consider this information carefully when submitting an appeal for an infant class.

Can I appeal for a place in a school sixth form?

Appeals for sixth form places in schools and academies can be lodged by the young person and/or the parent/carer, but where they are made separately the appeals must be heard together.