School admission appeals

Your right to appeal

If you have been refused admission to your preferred school, your child’s name will be placed on the waiting list and you have the right, by law, to appeal to an independent appeal panel.

It should be noted that the waiting list and your position on it have no bearing on the appeal process. Waiting lists are managed by the School Admission Team and are refreshed annually.

When considering whether to appeal, it is important to note that although the law allows you the opportunity to appeal against admission decisions, it does not give your child the right to a place at your preferred school. There is no guarantee that your appeal will be successful.

If you are appealing for a place at your preferred school, you should make arrangements for a place at an alternative school in case your appeal is unsuccessful.

Accepting a place at another school does not affect your right to appeal for the school you prefer.

If you do not wish to accept an offer of a school place, either because your circumstances have changed or you are unhappy with the alternative offer made, you must confirm this in writing to the school admissions team.

No offer will be made if you are currently attending a local school unless an alternative is requested

Children with an education, health and care plan cannot appeal through this process and must appeal through the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal

Who will deal with your appeal?

If your child has been refused admission to your preferred school(s) and you wish to find out more about available school places in your area, where your child is on the waiting list, or discuss how to apply for a school place please contact the School Admissions Team at admissions@devon.gov.uk or call 0345 155 1019.

If you have further questions on the appeals process after reading all the information provided, or you would like to speak to the School Appeals Clerk about your appeal, please contact appeals@devon.gov.uk or call 01392 381362.

Infant class size appeals (reception and year 1 and 2)

Government regulations limit the size of an infant class (reception, year 1 and year 2) with one teacher to 30 pupils.

The admitting authority can refuse to give a child a place if it would take a class over 30 pupils’. Only in very limited circumstances can admission over the limit of 30 pupils be allowed.

It may be more appropriate to consider these cases as reviews of the original decision rather than an appeal to which new evidence can be presented. This means that the panel can only review the decision to refuse admission based on the information that was known at the time of the application. The grounds for allowing an infant class size appeal are extremely restricted and the panel can only allow these appeals on very limited grounds.

Panels may consider:

  • Do the published admission arrangements comply with the School Admissions Code and the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (i.e. are they lawful)?
  • Have the published admission arrangements been implemented correctly and impartially applied in your case and, if they were not, would your child have been offered a place were they correctly applied?
  • Was the decision of the Admission Authority to refuse you a school place unreasonable (‘perverse in the light of the admission arrangements’) within the context of the KS1 legislation?

In relation to the definition of ‘unreasonable’ or ‘perverse,’ the courts have already established in previous cases that a decision that makes it impossible for you to transport all your family to school on time, or even impossible for you to continue working, is very unlikely to be considered a perverse decision.

Whilst you have a legal right to appeal and to make your case, it is important to note that these limits mean that independent appeal panels hearing an infant class size appeal have very limited power to uphold an appeal on the basis of personal circumstances such as childcare arrangements, children attending different schools, travel or work arrangements, academic performance, health or medical grounds.

Please bear this in mind when considering an appeal for reception and years 1 or 2 where there are 30 pupils in the class, or continuing with your hearing, as parents often find it frustrating when they realise the limited powers of the panel.

If you are considering an appeal for these year groups, you are advised to contact either the School Admission Team or the Appeals Office for further information about the law relating to infant class sizes.