Details about admission appeals, including guidelines for attending the appeal hearing
You will be invited to attend the appeal hearing and present your case. If possible, you should do this as it’s very helpful for members of the independent appeal panel to hear, first hand, why you want your child to attend a particular school.
You may bring along your partner, a friend, adviser, interpreter or signer to the appeal with you (if you need an interpreter, please let us know when you appeal as we can organise this for you if you don’t have anyone who can do this for you). Your child is also allowed to attend the appeal if you feel this is appropriate.
If you do not wish to attend the hearing, your appeal will be heard in your absence and considered on the written evidence you have provided with your appeal form. This also applies if you do not arrive for your arranged hearing.
It is not permissible for a representative of the school you are appealing for to accompany you to the hearing or provide letters of support.
If you have a disability or need any special arrangements for the appeal hearing, please state this on your appeal form.
Your appeal will be heard by an independent appeal panel composed of three volunteers. All panel members are appointed and trained in accordance with the School Admission Appeals Code. There are two types of panel members, those with experience in education (e.g. a parent of a child at school or someone with experience in education) and lay members (i.e. those without any experience in education). The Panel must comprise of at least one member from each category. All panel members and the Clerk are completely independent of the school.
Either a school admissions officer or a school representative will attend the appeal hearing to present the case as to why your child cannot be admitted to your preferred school and answer any questions that you or the members of the independent appeal panel may have.
An appeals clerk will attend to take notes at the hearing and provide advice and guidance about the procedure and arrangements. The clerk will play no part in reaching a decision on your case but will remain with the panel members while they make their decision.
Please try and be on time on the day of your hearing. You will be admitted into the virtual hearing and the basic procedure of the hearing will be explained.
The appeal will be heard via Zoom. The Independent Appeals Panel have very robust practices in place to ensure only those entitled to be present at the hearing can access the Zoom call. Prior to the hearing you will be asked to provide the email address you will be using on the day of the hearing and if anyone will accompany you. If your support companion will be at a separate location to you, and using a different device, you will need to provide their name and email address in advance to Governance Support.
There will also be a host present at the hearing who will help the Clerk to move people in and out of the waiting room and run the Zoom.
Click on the link provided to you via email and follow the instructions on screen. If you are using a telephone, dial the Zoom number provided in advance and follow the instructions. (Note: if you are using a landline the call will cost up to 13p per minute and from a mobile between 3p and 55p if the number is not covered by your inclusive minutes.)
When you join the Zoom meeting you will enter a virtual ‘waiting room’. Stage 1 will be held with all the parents/guardians appealing for a place in the same year group as you present to consider the case for the school. This part does not look at your personal circumstances. The Panel and you will hear from the school about their admission arrangements, teaching space and other relevant matters. If the appeal proceeds to Stage 2, the Panel will admit you into the virtual hearing at your allocated time (or as close to) and the meeting will then be locked to ensure no-one else can access the meeting.