School admission appeals guidance

Introduction

If your child has not been offered a place at one of your preferred schools, you may want to appeal against the local authority's decision. To do this, the local authority arranges an Independent Appeal Panel to consider the case. The panel is not part of the local authority or any admission authority. An appeal is your chance to explain to 3 independent people why you think you should be offered a place at your preferred school.

Your appeal will be heard privately and all paperwork relating to your appeal will be confidential.

This page has been produced to give you an overview of the appeals process and answers some frequently asked questions. This is not a full statement of the law or guidance. If you need more information, use the contact details at the end of this page.

The government have published a helpful guide for parents on school appeals on GOV.UK.

This page contains information on the following which is specific to Bracknell Forest and appeals for Academy Trusts who have commissioned Bracknell Forest to deliver their 
school admission appeal service.

Before the appeal

How to appeal

You can only appeal once the Admission Authority has refused an application.

Your appeal must be submitted using the online appeal form.

Contact Customer Services on 01344 352000 if you need help with the form.

We also conduct school appeals for a number of academy trust schools outside of Bracknell Forest.

Appealing for more than one school

You can appeal for any school that you listed as a preference on your application form. You will need to complete a new appeal form for each of your appeals. 

Get advice from the appeals team if you wish to appeal for a school that was one of your lower preferences. For example if you have been offered a place at your highest preference school and then wanted to appeal for a place at a lower preference school.

What to include in the grounds or reasons for submitting the appeal

You should set out your reasons why you want your child to attend your preferred school and what the school can offer your child that other schools cannot.

You can also provide any other documents and evidence to support your case.

After submitting your appeal

You will get an email from Customer Services to acknowledge receipt of your appeal form.

Approximately 10 days ahead of the appeal you will get an email confirming the date, time and venue for your appeal hearing. You will get all the paperwork for your appeal in the week before the meeting.

You can submit additional information in support of your appeal up until at least 3 working days before the day of your appeal hearing. However, we would encourage you to submit all information as soon as possible after lodging your appeal, to allow all parties to have sufficient time to consider it.

When appeals are heard

Appeals lodged for children to start secondary school in September are usually heard in the preceding May.

Appeals lodged for children to begin school at primary school in September are usually heard in the preceding June and July.

Appeals lodged for children to start or change schools during the year are heard within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged.

Notice

You are entitled to 10 school days’ notice of the date and time of the appeal hearing.

At the appeal

Location of appeal

Appeals are usually held in the council’s Time Square, Market Street offices in the town centre.

We have the facility to enable hybrid meetings, which means you can choose to attend the meeting remotely using Microsoft Teams. Contact us if you would prefer to attend virtually.

Length of appeal

Your appeal will usually last for about 45 minutes. However you will be given as much time as you need to present your case to the panel so an appeal can take longer than this.

Your attendance

We encourage parents to attend if possible as it helps panel members to understand the circumstances of your case. If you choose not to attend, the panel will make their decision based on the written information they have on your circumstance.

Whether you are present or not, the panel will carefully consider all the written information which had been submitted.

Bringing someone with you to help present your case

You can ask someone to attend to help you put your case to the panel. 

You may be accompanied or represented by a family member, a friend or adviser provided they are not an employee of the school in question.

Bringing your child

Attendance at appeals can be distressing for some children. Therefore unless there are exceptional reasons, your child should not attend.

Special arrangements or an interpreter

If you have a disability, need the services of a translator or need any other arrangements to help you attend the hearing contact appeals@bracknell-forest.gov.uk so that these can be arranged in good time. 

You can also indicate any special requirements on the appeal form.

Who will be at the appeal

The Appeals Panel will include 3 people who are independent of the local authority and the school. At least one member of the panel will be ‘experienced in education,’ such as a retired teacher and at least one member must be a ‘lay member’ with no connection to schools. One of the panel members will act as Chair and will explain the proceedings to you.

The Presenting Officer for the Admissions Authority will also be present to explain the authority’s case for refusal. The Presenting Officer may also bring a representative from the school.

The Clerk to the Appeal Panel will be present to administer the appeal and advise the panel on points of law, but they are independent of the panel and do not take part in decision making. The Clerk will be the person who sends you all the documentation before and after the appeal, including your decision letter.

On occasion, there may also be an observer present for training purposes. If so, you will be asked whether you are happy for an observer to be present.

What happens at the appeal hearing

The Chair will explain the procedure to you and how the appeal will be considered:

1. Welcome and Introductions
2. School’s case is put by the Admission Authority Presenting Officer
3. Questions for the Admission Authority
4. Parents’ case
5. Questions for the parents
6. Sum up
7. Parents and Presenting Officer leave the meeting
8. Panel then make the decision in private (the Clerk will remain with the panel while they make their decision)

How to prepare

To prepare for the hearing, you should:

1. Submit any additional information at least 3 working days before the appeal hearing. It is useful for the panel to have all the key information on your case in advance of the appeal in case you are unable to attend.
2. Make a note of any questions you have for the Admission Authority.
3. Be prepared to respond to questions at the hearing from the Presenting Officer and from the panel.
4. Be ready with any factual clarifications of your case such as the dates of previous changes of address or school.

How appeals are determined

For ordinary appeals (not infant class size), the panel will consider appeals under a 2-stage process.

At stage 1, the panel will consider whether:

• the admission arrangements were legal and correct
• the admission arrangements were applied impartially
• the admission of an additional child would prejudice the provision of efficient education or use of resources at the school

If it is found that the admission arrangements were not legal or correctly applied, or that there would be no prejudice if additional children were admitted to the year group, your appeal will be allowed at stage 1. If not, the panel will move on to stage 2.

At stage 2, the panel will weigh the school’s case and your case and if the prejudice to your child is greater than that to the school, your appeal will be allowed.

Infant class size appeals

The term ‘infant class size’ refers to classes in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. Local authorities must comply with the legal requirement that there should be no more than 30 pupils in an infant class with a single qualified teacher.

There are a number of exceptional circumstances where a local authority may admit more than 30 pupils to a Reception, Year 1 or Year 2 class, these are as follows:

• a) children admitted outside the normal admissions round with statements of special educational needs specifying a school
• b) looked after children admitted outside the normal admissions round
• c) 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
• d) children admitted after an independent appeals panel upholds an appeal
• e) children who move into the area outside the normal admissions round for whom there is no available school within reasonable distance
• f) children of UK service personnel admitted outside the normal admissions round
• g) children whose twin or sibling from a multiple birth is admitted otherwise than as an excepted pupil
• h) 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

Decision making process for an infant class size appeal

Where infant class size prejudice has been put as a reason for refusing a child a place at a preferred a school, there are very limited grounds for appeal.

An appeal can only be upheld if the appeal panel is satisfied that one of the following points apply:

• a) the admission of additional children would not breach the infant class size limit
• b) 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
• c) the decision to refuse admission was not one which a reasonable admission authority would have made in the circumstances of the case

For an appeal to be allowed under c) above, the panel must decide whether the decision was so perverse or outrageous that no reasonable Admission Authority could have make that decision to refuse admission.

Statistics show that it is rare for an infant class size appeal to be upheld.

Get more details on infant class size appeals on GOV.UK.

Grouped stage appeals

Where there are multiple appeals for the same school, you may be invited to a ‘grouped stage’ in addition to your individual appeal. This means that all parents appealing for the school are invited to hear Stage 1 (described above) at the same time. This means that all parents hear the same information from the Admission Authority and can hear the authority’s answers to other parents’ questions. You can ask questions of the Admission Authority in person, or submit written questions in advance which will be read out by the clerk.

It is important to note that no individual cases or situations will be considered at a grouped stage appeal, which will only consider the case of the Admission Authority.

You will also be invited to a Stage 2 appeal where your case will be considered individually by the panel.

After the appeal

Getting results of the appeal

You will receive a decision letter from the clerk on behalf of the Panel, usually within 5 working days of the appeal hearing.

Unsuccessful appeals

The appeal panel’s decision is legally binding on all parties. There is no further right of appeal against the panel’s decision.

Where there is a material change of your circumstances since your original appeal, you may be able to submit a further appeal in the same academic year.

What to do if you are unhappy with the outcome of the appeal

If the school is a local authority maintained school, you can submit a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman.

If the school is an academy, you will need to submit your complaint to the Department for Education.

You can only make a complaint if you consider that the procedures were not properly followed. You cannot complain about the decision itself.

If you consider that the decision of the panel was legally flawed, you may seek to apply for a judicial review. This means making an application to the High Court. In such circumstances, you will need to seek your own legal advice. The council cannot help you with costs.