If your application for a school is refused, you have the right of appeal against this decision to an independent appeal panel.

This is known as a school admission appeal. This is governed by legislation produced by the Department for Education (DfE).

You can only appeal against a refusal of a place. You should not make an appeal to the school or the local authority until you get a formal refusal letter or email.

What you can appeal

Your legal right of appeal is against a particular admission authority’s refusal of a place for your child.

You are not lodging an appeal against the school that has offered you a place. You are also not appealing against the planning and admissions policies of the schools – as long as they are legally correct and applied correctly. School admission policies are determined at least 18 months in advance – the appeals process is not the forum to raise issues with a valid legal admission policy.

You're unable to appeal against your position on a school’s waiting list. If you lodge an appeal and it is not successful, your place on the waiting list is unaffected.

When you can appeal

In most cases you need to submit your appeal by a certain date.

Read the appeal timetables for our community schools.

Timetables for all other schools should be published on the schools' own websites.

For September entry appeals, no appeals can be heard until after the specified closing date. They are normally heard from May through to July on weekdays during term-time only.

If you lodge your appeal after the deadline, we may not hear the appeal until after the start of the school year in September. 

If you wish to make an appeal for immediate entry, you'll need to lodge your appeal as soon as possible. We'll aim to hear your appeal within 30 school days from the date your appeal is lodged. This will be on a weekday during term-time.

It's worth noting that many schools receive multiple appeals for entry in September. Schools do not keep spaces open to allocate to appeals. Unless it's proven that the school has spare teachers, budget and classrooms to take all the children appealing, successful appeals will mean that those children will be added to existing classes. This will be limited to the children with the most need to attend the school concerned. 

How to appeal

Before you lodge your appeal, we suggest that you read all the information on this page and the hearing information page to understand your legal rights and the proceedings ahead.

Your appeal must be made in writing and must explain the reasons why you are lodging an appeal.

The School Admission Appeals Code requires that reasons for lodging your appeal are clearly stated at time of submission. If you attempt to lodge an appeal without giving your grounds, you will not be able to proceed with your appeal, as you will not have lodged your appeal correctly. We will reject any submissions that say that the grounds are 'to follow'.

You can appeal for a place for your child at more than one school, provided you have been refused a place at each school. You will need to submit a separate appeal for each school.

There is specific legislation around infant class sizes which may affect your appeal.

Accept the place your child is offered even if you appeal

If your child has been a offered a place, we recommend that you accept it.

You will still be able to appeal or affect your child’s position on a waiting list even if you accept it. Accepting it means that your child has a school place if no places are available at your preferred school.

We also recommend that you visit the offered school or other schools in the area with available places, as you may find that they are acceptable. 

Put your child on waiting lists for your preferred school and any other schools you would be comfortable sending your child to. Waiting lists are not on a first come, first served basis. They are based on the school’s admissions criteria. This means a child’s place on a list can go up or down if other children join or leave the list.

It's sometimes possible to change your child’s allocated school, provided that the alternative school still has vacancies.

Please contact the School Admissions Team to discuss how to do this. They can also help you with waiting lists for other schools in the area too.

Reasons why your child did not get a place at your preferred school

Parents have a right to express a preference for the school they would like their child to attend. The admission authority must offer a place at the school unless there is a legal reason for refusing a place.

However, while parents have a right of preference, they do not have a right of choice.

The most common reason that a school does not offer a place is that the school received more applications than places available, and other children had a higher priority for a place at the school when the school’s admission policy was applied.

For in-year applications, a place may be refused because the school has already reached its published admission capacity. The school will not want to admit more pupils than they have spaces available, as this will affect resources and the education of other children at the school.

For main entry admissions – in September to Reception Year, Year 3, Year 7 and so on - details about the numbers of preference stated for each school are shown on our apply for a school place page.

Appeals for children with Special Educational Needs

If your child has an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and your application is not successful, you should contact the SEND team to start an appeal.

The School Appeals Service is unable to hear your appeal under current legislation.

If your child is currently being assessed for Special Educational Needs or an EHCP, you can lodge an appeal up until the point the EHCP is issued to your child.

Previous appeals at your preferred school

Previous decisions on school admission appeals do not influence current decisions, so no-one can predict whether your appeal will be successful or not. You cannot ask to see copies of previous appeals or know why other appeals were successful.

Your appeal will be considered on your own individual circumstances.

Withdraw your appeal

If no longer wish to go ahead with your appeal, you'll need to withdraw your appeal via your account.

Appealing more than once

Schools do not normally consider a second or subsequent appeal in the same academic year unless you can prove that there has been a significant change in your circumstances.

Some examples of a change in circumstances are:

• a sibling link is created at the preferred school after the original appeal
• you have changed address and now live much closer to the school, or have moved into its catchment area
• new evidence is introduced that was not introduced in the original hearing, supported by a letter from a medical professional or social worker

All requests linked to a change in circumstances should be sent to the school, as it is the admission authority’s decision on whether they accept a second application.

Contact us

You can contact appeals officers:

• by phone: 01202 118 911
• by email: schoolappeals@bcpcouncil.gov.uk

You can contact admissions officers:

• by phone: 01202 127 963
• by email: school.admissions@bcpcouncil.gov.uk

You can contact the Children's Information Service (CIS) for Bournemouth and Christchurch:

• by phone: 01202 123 222
• by email: edu.cis@bcpcouncil.gov.uk