Before you appeal a school admission decision

Children with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan
If your child has a full, final EHC plan, do not use this process. You must appeal through the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Tribunal.
Contact your SEND case worker:
if you are unsure whether your child’s EHC plan is final
for advice about the SEND Tribunal
You can still use this process if your child is being assessed for an EHC plan or the plan is not yet final.

Think it through before you appeal

Appeals can be stressful and may mean more waiting for you and your child. Before you decide, it helps to understand how appeals work and how often they succeed.

For infant class size appeals (reception, year 1 and year 2), the law makes appeals very hard to win because class sizes are limited to 30 children per teacher.

Fewer than 1% of infant class size appeals succeeded in 2024 to 2025 (�� School Appeals Service annual statistics).
Fewer than 10% of all other appeals succeeded in 2024 to 2025 (�� School Appeals Service annual statistics).

Read the School admission appeal - parent guide before you decide to appeal for a full explanation of how appeals work and what to expect. It can help you decide if appealing is the right choice.

What an appeal is

You can appeal if:

you applied to the school, and
your child didn’t get a place

An independent appeal panel will look at the decision again.

Why you did not get a place

Admission authorities refuse places when:

more children apply than the school can admit
you applied in-year and the school had no places
taking more children would break class size laws
taking more children would cause serious problems for the school

Your refusal letter explains why your child did not get a place.

Things to try before you appeal

Before you appeal, you should:

join the waiting list for your preferred school
accept another school so your child has somewhere to go
visit the school your child has been offered and talk to staff
Contact schools and learning for advice

You can still appeal or stay on waiting lists even if you accept another place.

Accepting another offer will not affect your appeal.

Who can appeal

You can appeal if you have parental responsibility.

When you can appeal

You can appeal after you get a refusal letter or email, even if you applied late.

You can only appeal:

for a school you listed on your application
once for a place in the same school in the same academic year

Check your refusal letter for details and submit your appeal.

Children with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan

If your child has an EHC plan you cannot use this process.

Contact your SEND case worker for advice on appealing to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Tribunal.

Appeal deadlines

Appeal panels hear September entry appeals after the closing date.

We will hear on time appeals within 40 school days.

Check the school admission appeals timetable to see the deadlines.

Appeal panels hear appeals outside normal entry times within 30 school days of when you submit your appeal.

We do not hold hearings in school holidays.

If you appeal near the end of term, we may hear it in the next term.

If you appeal near the end of the summer term, your hearing may be in the new school year.

Need help?

Read the School admission appeals - parent guide to understand how appeals work.

If you still want to appeal

If you have read the parent guide and still want to appeal, go to Find and complete the appeal form.

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