About making a primary school admission appeal
You should read all the guidance on these pages before you submit an appeal.
Appeal hearings are held online using Zoom. You’ll need access to a computer, tablet or phone with microphone and camera facilities to join the hearing remotely. You don’t have to attend the hearing, in this case the appeal can be heard using your written application.
You’ll be contacted about your appeal by email.
Why hasn't my child been given a place?
If your child hasn't been allocated a place at your preferred school, it's because the school received more applications than the places available.
Where a school is oversubscribed, the admission authority for the school has to apply its published admission criteria to decide in which order the available places should be offered.
You’ll only be refused a place at your preferred school if the school is oversubscribed, and it was not possible to allocate your child a place when the admission criteria were applied.
Our Allocation and Appeals guide provides information about how the available places were allocated and provides further information and guidance about the appeals process.
Key Stage 1 (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2)
When allocating places in Key Stage 1, the school must take into account what the law says about the sizes of infant classes (Infant Class Size Legislation). In most schools in the borough, if any additional child was admitted above the school's published admission number, the school would not be able to comply with the law regarding infant class sizes without making accommodating measures, such as employing an additional teacher.
Key Stage 2 (Years 3–6)
The number of places available for Key Stage 2 classes is based on each school's physical size, the number of classrooms and what they're used for. This determines the Published Admission Number (PAN), the number of students that can properly be accommodated within the constraints of the school buildings.
Exceeding this number would damage the quality of education received by all students and could be unsafe. It would also cause what is known as prejudice to the provision of an efficient education and the efficient use of resources.