About school admission appeals
When you can appeal
If your child has been refused a place at a school you applied for, you have the right to appeal.
You cannot appeal for a place at a school you have not applied for.
It’s important that you do not decline the school your child has been offered. Declining an offer does not affect the outcome of an appeal against another school.
Schools fill all their places from the admissions process and do not reserve places for successful appeals. If your appeal is successful, the school will have to admit your child by going above their admissions limit.
Reasons your child has not been offered a place
Your child has not been offered a place at your preferred school because the school received more applications than they have places, and other applicants were a higher priority. Priorities are set under the school's published admissions criteria.
For example, if your application was assessed using the distance criterion, children who live closer to the school than your child would have received a higher priority for admission.
Before you submit an appeal
Before you complete an appeal form, we recommend that you:
- consider the school's admission arrangements
- check where you need to submit your appeal to
- prepare your reasons and evidence