How to appeal a school place in England
How to appeal a refused school place in England: the independent panel, the deadline, the two-stage test, infant class size appeals, and how to prepare.
If your child is refused a place at a state school you applied for, you do not have to accept it as the end of the matter. You have the right to appeal to an independent panel whose decision is binding: if it upholds your appeal, the admission authority must admit your child. This guide explains how school appeals work in England: the deadline to lodge one, what the independent panel does, the two-stage test it applies, the narrower rules for infant classes, and how to build the strongest case.
When and how to appeal a school place
An appeal starts with a written submission to the admission authority for the school, which is usually the local authority for community and voluntary-controlled schools, the governing body for foundation and voluntary-aided schools, and the academy trust for academies and free schools. As GOV.UK explains, the admission authority must give you at least 20 school days to appeal from the date the decision letter is sent, and it must tell you the deadline.
Appeal each refusal separately, since you can only appeal once against each rejection in the same academic year. Put your reasons in writing, attach any supporting evidence, and submit by the deadline. Late appeals may be heard after the on-time ones, which can cost you time, so send yours in good time even if you are still gathering evidence. One exception: if your child has an education, health and care (EHC) plan, a dispute about the school named in it is handled through the First-tier Tribunal (SEND), not an admission appeal panel.
What happens at the appeal hearing
Appeals are heard by an independent panel of three or more people, independent of the admission authority and not involved in the original refusal decision. The panel must follow the School Admission Appeals Code, and its decision is binding: if the panel upholds your appeal, the admission authority must admit your child.
You must be given at least 10 school days' notice of the hearing, unless you agree to a shorter period. The hearing notice will tell you whether the hearing is in person, remote, or hybrid; you can present your case and answer the panel's questions. A representative from the admission authority explains why the place was refused. Hearings are not meant to be adversarial, and you do not need a lawyer, though you can bring someone to support you.
The two-stage test the panel uses
For most appeals, where a school is full, the panel works through two stages.
- First, it checks whether the school's admission arrangements were lawful and correctly applied, and whether admitting another child would prejudice the efficient provision of education or the efficient use of resources. The panel must uphold your appeal at this stage if the arrangements were unlawful or wrongly applied and your child would otherwise have been offered a place, or if it decides that one more child would not genuinely harm the running of the school.
- If the panel accepts there would be prejudice, it then balances that against your reasons for the place. If your case for your child outweighs the school's case for not admitting anyone else, the panel upholds your appeal.
This is why a strong appeal focuses on your child and the specific school, rather than on general unhappiness with the offer you received.
Infant class size appeals
Different, tighter rules apply to Reception, Year 1, and Year 2, where infant classes must not normally contain more than 30 pupils per school teacher, subject to limited permitted exceptions. These infant class size appeals can succeed only on narrow grounds:
- Admitting your child would not actually push the class above the limit.
- The admission arrangements did not comply with the rules, or were not applied correctly, and your child would have been offered a place if they had been.
- The decision to refuse was one that no reasonable admission authority would have made.
The panel cannot simply weigh up your reasons in the usual way, so these appeals are harder to win. It is still worth checking whether the criteria were applied correctly in your case, because a material mistake that would have won your child a place is a valid ground.
How to prepare a strong appeal
For an ordinary prejudice appeal, a good case is specific and evidenced. Set out clearly why this particular school is right for your child, and back it up.
- Explain your child's needs and how this school meets them, with evidence such as medical, social, or educational letters where relevant.
- Address practical points honestly, such as childcare, travel, or a sibling already at the school, with documents to support them.
- Where you can, point to anything that suggests the arrangements were not applied correctly in your case.
For an ordinary appeal, keep the case focused on your child and the school, stay factual, and bring copies of your evidence to the hearing. For an infant class size appeal, the panel cannot weigh up your reasons in the usual way, so your personal circumstances only help if they support one of the narrow legal grounds, in particular that no reasonable authority would have refused the place. Focus on whether admitting your child would breach the limit of 30, whether the arrangements were lawful and correctly applied, and whether the refusal was one no reasonable admission authority could have made, which is a high bar, not just a harsh or disappointing decision. Our guides to the primary and secondary timelines explain the admissions criteria and deadlines that matter when you check whether the arrangements were applied correctly.
After the decision
The panel's decision is usually sent within 5 school days of the hearing, in writing. If it goes your way, the place is binding and the admission authority must admit your child. If it does not, you generally cannot appeal again for the same school in the same academic year. The only exception is in exceptional circumstances, where the admission authority accepts a fresh application because of a significant and material change in circumstances, and then refuses it again.
Either way, keep your options open. Stay on the waiting list for the schools you preferred, because a place can come up at any time, and our guide to how school waiting lists work explains how those are ranked.
How FindMySchool helps
Your overall plan is stronger when an appeal sits alongside other realistic options, and that is where FindMySchool helps. We cover more than 25,000 school profiles, with FMS Inspection scores and catchment distance data where available, so you can line up waiting-list options and appeal plans against other schools that are genuinely within reach.
- Use the school search and the map to find other strong schools near you while your appeal is decided.
- Check the full admissions guide for how oversubscription criteria work, since they shape what a panel considers.
- Keep an eye on waiting lists as well as the appeal, so you have more than one route to a place you want.
Before the hearing, do three things: confirm your appeal deadline, write a focused case about your child and the school with evidence attached, and keep your waiting-list places active. That gives you the best chance on the day and a fallback if the appeal does not succeed.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. If your child is refused a place at a state school you applied for, you have the right to appeal to an independent panel. You appeal each refusal separately, normally once for each school in the same academic year, and you can appeal for more than one school.