School admission appeals

You have the right to appeal against the decision to refuse your child a place at any of the preferred schools on your application form.

You should read the admission appeals booklet before completing the appeal form. You can also find national guidance for parents on school appeals on GOV.UK

Appeals timetable

Transfer appeals

School appeals for applications for places in Reception and Year 7 are heard during the summer term. You will be notified of the date and time for your appeal at least 10 working days before the appeal. 

The timetable and deadlines for submitting a transfer appeal for the beginning of the academic year 2024 are set out below: 

Late appeals lodged after the above deadlines will be heard within 40 school days but may not be heard before September 2025.

In-year appeals

School appeals for applications within a school year are heard throughout the year, within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged. 

To give you an idea of when your appeal might be heard, below are scheduled dates for upcoming in-year appeals this term:

• Tuesday 19 November (deadline 31 October)
• Wednesday 11 December (deadline 25 November)
• Thursday 16 January 2025 (deadline 9 December)
• Tuesday 4 February 2025 (deadline 14 January)
• Wednesday 5 March 2025 (deadline 11 February)
• Wednesday 2 April 2025 (deadline 10 March)
• Tuesday 22 April 2025 (deadline 1 April)

Infant class size appeals

Government regulations limit class sizes to 30 pupils per class teacher in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. There are very limited grounds on which appeals to these year groups can be allowed. To allow an infant class size appeal, the panel must find that:

• the infant class size limit (30 pupils per class teacher) would not be breached if your child were admitted to the school
• the admissions arrangements were not correctly and impartially applied in your case
• the decision to refuse your child a place at the school was unreasonable

The threshold for concluding that it was unreasonable to refuse your child a place is high. 

To find that a decision to refuse your child a place was unreasonable, the panel will consider whether a decision:

• was beyond the range of responses open to a reasonable decision-maker
• was outrageous in its absence of logic
• defies accepted moral standards

The panel must be certain that no reasonable authority would have made the same decision.

It is very rare for an infant class size appeal to be allowed.

Our School admission appeal statistics page gives data on appeal outcomes.

How to make an appeal

Fill in our school admission appeal form to submit an appeal.

Make a school admission appeal

If you want to include supporting documents with your appeal, you can either:

• upload them to the form
• email them after you have filled in the form to appeals@bracknell-forest.gov.uk - you must include your child's name

If the school you would like to appeal for is not listed in the form or if you have a general query, contact us using the details below.

School admission appeals panel

If you are interested in applying to be a volunteer member read our information page.

More information

If you have any queries regarding school admission appeals or would like more information, contact us by:

• email: appeals@bracknell-forest.gov.uk
• phone: 01344 352000