Information for Families

Understanding How School Places Are Allocated

It helps to understand how school places are allocated and why your child didn’t get a place at your preferred school. When a school receives more applications than places available, it uses its admissions criteria (or oversubscription criteria) to decide who gets a place. These criteria set out the order in which places are offered. Most refusals happen because the school is full and other children had higher priority for a place according to the school’s oversubscription criteria.

Alongside the oversubscription criteria set out in our Admissions Policy – which can help you see how offers were allocated – you can also view our Admission Defence Statement. Together this will give you a clearer picture of why your application was unsuccessful your child did not get a place.

My child didn’t get a place at the school we wanted. What can I do?

You have the right to appeal if your child was refused a place at any school you listed on your common application form (CAF).

As Kent based schools we follow the national Schools Admissions and Admissions Appeals Codes and as our Local Authority Partner, Kent County Council’s Coordinated [admissions] Schemes for Secondary Admissions 2026-27 and Primary Admissions 2026-27 – See Helpful Links below for more details.  

Tip: Accept any school place offered to you, this won’t affect your appeal and ensures your child has a place if your appeal isn’t successful.

How do I make an appeal?

Visit [insert Trust admissions page link] to complete the appeal form and lodge your appeal with the Clerk to the Independent Appeals Panel via email: [insert email] 

Tip: You may wish to incorporate answers to some of the following questions that panel members will consider:

• Have you visited the school?
• What did you like about the school?
• When you looked round other schools what was it about this school that makes you believe it’s the right/only school for your child?
• What can the school you want provide for your child that the offered school cannot?
• How will you get your child to the school allocated?
• What’s the journey like to the school allocated?
• Are there any health/equality act issues raised in the case?
• What are the problems you will face if they do not get a place at the school?
• What support do you have locally?

It is suggested that you provide all of your information at the time of appealing, however if you cannot send all the information and supporting evidence you want to at the time you submit your appeal, it’s important you send it at your earliest convenience – See also: ‘If I appeal, what happens next?’.

If I appeal, what happens next?

• Secondary Appeals: You must submit your appeal before 30th March 2026 for it to be considered by 16th June 2026.
• Primary Appeals: You must submit your appeal before 19th May 2026 for it to be considered by 21st July 2026.

• Late appeals: For late applications, appeals should be heard within 40 school days from the deadline for lodging appeals, where possible, or within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged.

Once you have submitted your appeal, the Clerk to the Independent Appeals Panel will write to you to confirm the arrangements for your appeal hearing (an online meeting), where you’ll present your case for the panel’s consideration. You are welcome to bring someone to help you put forward your case.

You will be supplied with a copy of all of your appeal case papers (all documents relating to your appeal, including the individual statement as to why a place was not offered to your child) at least 10 calendar days in advance of the date when the Panel will meet to decide your appeal. Within the first 5 calendar days of these papers being issued to you, you will have an opportunity to add any further information. Please note: After that time, there may not be a chance to provide additional information as the Panel would require sufficient time to consider your case.

How will my appeal be considered?

Appeals are heard by an Independent Appeal Panel. Usually, a panel of three – at least one member will have experience in education, and at least one will be a lay person- they are independent of the school, Trust and Local Authority. They will decide whether to uphold or dismiss your appeal. Appeal hearings are usually held online; details of how to join will be included in your invite letter. The Clerk will also attend to manage the process, keep the official record, and give impartial advice on the appeals process and admissions law to the Panel Members.

Note: If you can demonstrate an equality consideration that prevents you from accessing the hearing virtually, and you do not have reasonable support to do so, please email [insert email] setting out your reasons. There would need to be clear grounds to identify an alternative format for the appeal to be heard.

What information should I include in my appeal/appeal evidence? The Panel can only consider evidence you submit, so please send everything you want them to see. Explain clearly why the school is the best fit for your child. Strong reasons give your appeal the best chance. Consider:

• What this school offers that others cannot.
• The impact on your child if they don’t attend.
• Any health or equality issues.

You can also appeal if you believe the admissions criteria weren’t applied correctly— and if they had your child would have been offered a place at the school. In this event,  you should explain why you believe this is the case and refer to the part of the admission arrangements that you believe has not been applied correctly.

What shouldn’t I send? Schoolwork samples won’t be accepted; the Panel can’t judge their quality fairly. Members would have nothing to measure it against and would not know the depth of the work submitted, nor be able to verify the work had been carried out unaided.

What happens at the Appeal hearing?

On the day of the hearing, you will be asked to wait in an online waiting area and will be brought into the meeting via the clerk. Along with the three Panel Members and the clerk, there will also be a representative from the School/Admission Authority.

The panel will listen to your statement and ask any questions they may have. They will also hear from the Academy on their admissions policy and how admitting additional children would affect the quality of education or the efficient use of resources. The agenda for the hearing will runs as follows:

• Welcomes and introductions
• Case for school/admission authority and questions
• Your case and questions
• Summing up by the admissions authority
• Summing up by the appellant

At the end of the hearing you and the school/Admission Authority representative will be removed from the meeting while the Appeal Panel considers the case in private. The Panel will weigh up your case for wanting your child to attend the school against the school’s arguments for not being able to admit another child. The Panel will then discuss and make a decision to either uphold or dismiss your appeal.

The Panel will uphold your appeal if it finds that the negative impact on your child of not attending your preferred school outweighs the case put forward by the school’s case as to why it cannot admit any more pupils.

The decision of the Appeal Panel is binding, and only the courts, by way of judicial review, can overturn it. If the Panel upholds your appeal, the school must admit your child. If the Panel does not uphold your appeal, you still have a number of options you may wish to consider – See also: ‘If my appeal isn’t successful, what next?’

Please note:

• The individual appeal should last approximately 30 minutes, the panel hearing multiple appeals per day.
• Your ‘friend’ or adviser at a hearing can be a locally elected politician, or an employee of the local education authority provided that this will not lead to a conflict of interest.
• If you do not wish to, or find that you cannot attend your appeal on the day, for whatever reason, the Panel may hear the appeal in your absence and make their decision based on the information available to them at the time.
• At no time must either yourself or the school/Admission Authority representative be left alone with the Panel, unless the clerk is present. If there are any technical issues and any party drops out of the hearing, the clerk will ask you to leave and re-join the meeting, you will remain in the waiting area until all parties are present.

When will I know the outcome?

You’ll be notified electronically within 5 school days after the last appeal for that school is heard.

If my appeal isn’t successful, what next?

• You may wish to put your child’s name on the waiting list (if you have not already done so), even where you have accepted a place at another school. All schools must operate a waiting list for at least the first term of each school year of admission (until 31December). Children who are on the waiting list are ranked by how closely they match the school’s oversubscription criteria, not how long they’ve been on the list.
• If your child is without a school place, contact your Local Authority’s Admissions Team (where you are located), who will be able to advise and inform you of other available places in the area. This is important, and the LA Admissions Team is there to assist you in your responsibility to secure suitable education for your child.

Helpful Links

• KCC Coordinated Secondary Admissions Scheme 2026-27 – www.kent.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/188999/Secondary-Admissions-Scheme-for-2026-27.pdf
• KCC Coordinated Primary Admissions Scheme 2026-27 – www.kent.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/188997/Primary-Admissions-Scheme-for-2026-27.pdf
• School Admissions Code 2021 – https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1001050/School_admissions_code_2021.pdf
• School Admission Appeals Code 2022 – www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-admissions-appeals-code
• Guidance for parents/guardians from the DfE on the appeals process –

www.gov.uk/government/publications/admission-appeals-for-school-places