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 guidance 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 2025 are set out below:
| Appeal type | National Offer day | Deadline for lodging appeal | Appeals will be heard in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 7 appeals for September 2025 | 3 March 2025 | 31 March 2025 | late April to mid June 2025 |
| Reception appeals for September 2025 | 16 April 2025 | 19 May 2025 | June and July 2025 |
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:
- Wednesday 2 April 2025 (deadline 10 March)
- Tuesday 22 April 2025 (deadline 1 April)
- Tuesday 20 May 2025 (deadline 22 April)
- Tuesday 10 June 2025 (deadline 19 May)
- Tuesday 8 July 2025 (deadline 20 June)
- Wednesday 16 July 2025 (deadline 27 June)
- Wednesday 17 September 2025 (deadline 21 August)
- Wednesday 15 October 2025 (deadline 19 September)
- Thursday 6 November 2025 (deadline 15 October)
- Wednesday 3 December 2025 (deadline 7 November)
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