How do I make an appeal?
If you wish to appeal against an admission decision and appeal for a place at a community, voluntary aided, trust or foundation school or academy please complete the appeal form (at the bottom of this page) for the school and return it to the address stated on the appeal form.
You may want to appeal for more than one school. You will get a different appeal hearing for each appeal which may be on different days sometimes a few weeks apart. You will also need to complete a separate appeal form for each school.
For appeals within the 2022/23 academic year (for your child to move from one school to another between September 2022 and August 2023), please return your form within four weeks of the date of your refusal of the school place, wherever possible. Once we receive your appeal we will hear it as soon as practicably possible.
For appeals for your child to start primary / infant school for the first time (Reception), move up from an infant to a junior school (Year 3) or start secondary school for the first time (Year 7) in September 2023, you should return your appeal form by:
The 2022 deadlines for when we will hear your appeal by are set out below:
| Deadlines | Offer date | Appeals lodged by | Appeals to be heard by |
| Primary | 19 April | 18 May | As soon as practicably possible |
| Secondary | 1 March | 29 March | As soon as practicably possible |
Note:- Appeals lodged after the appeals lodged by’ date will still be heard as soon as practicably possible.
For appeals within the 2022/23 academic year (for your child to move from one school to another between September 2022 and August 2023), please return your form within four weeks of the date of your refusal of the school place, wherever possible. Once we receive your appeal we will endeavor to arrange and hear it as soon as practicably possible.
You will be sent a letter telling you when your appeal hearing will be, at least 14 days before it (unless you have agreed to a shorter period than this). If you appeal for more than one school, you may get a separate date for each appeal hearing, which can be some weeks apart.
Before your appeal, we will also send you the paperwork relating to your case, which will include all of the written information we have received from you and all of the written information the admission authority have submitted to us. We do not expect you to provide a written response to the admission authority’s case as you will have the opportunity to ask questions of their representative at the hearing. This information is often sent to you at the same time as your appointment letter, or it may be sent out a few days later.
Please note that if the panel has agreed that your appeal needs to be considered on the written information only, we will follow a different procedure for arranging your appeal. More information on this can be found in the Types of appeals section.
If you wish to submit any information which wasn’t included with your appeal form, please send it at least ten days before your appeal hearing. This helps us get the information to the panel members and the presenting officer before the hearing, so that they can read it in advance. If significant information is received less than ten days before the appeal, we may have to move your hearing to a later date. Please send your information to us by using the account you will have set up when you first made your on-line appeal. If you are unable to do this, please email - but please note there is a 10MB limit. If you send more than this limit, we will not get your information and will not know that you have tried to send it to us. If you need to send more than 10MB, please either split it across more than one email or contact us to discuss an alternative way it can be submitted.
Please note that as appeals are currently being heard by telephone wherever possible or being considered using the papers provided, you cannot submit information to the appeal panel on the day of the hearing. Further information on this will be included in your appointment letter.
How much notice of the appeal hearing date will I have?
You will be sent a letter telling you when your appeal hearing will be at least 10 days before it (unless you have agreed to a shorter period than this). If you appeal for more than one school, you may get a separate date for each appeal hearing, which can be some weeks apart.
Before your appeal we will also send you the paperwork relating to your case, which will include all of the written information we have received from you and all of the written information the admission authority have submitted to us. We do not expect you to provide a written response to the admission authority’s case as you will have the opportunity to ask questions of their representative at the hearing. This information is often sent to you at the same time as your appointment letter, or it may be sent out a few days later.
You will be sent the decision in a letter which will be posted out within five school days of the panel making their decision wherever possible.
If your appeal is part of a group appeal hearing with two appointments, the panel will not make their decisions until all of the appeals have been heard. The clerk will tell you when you can expect to receive your letter.
Remember to read the guidance which includes information about the whole process.