Introduction
You cannot make an appeal until you have applied for a place at your preferred school and received a formal refusal letter, either by post or email, from the Admission Authority. If your application for a school place has been refused, you will be informed in your outcome letter of your legal right of appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel. Do be mindful when considering appealing that the school may have made the difficult decision to refuse an application for a very good reason. This is likely to be because; admitting more pupils into the school will have an impact on the quality of education that the teachers can provide.
If you have been offered a place at a school which is not your most preferred, we suggest that you arrange to visit the school. You may change your opinion of the school once you have spoken to staff, seen what the school does and addressed any specific concerns you may have about your child’s education.
Submitting an in-year school admissions appeal
Only the original applicant can lodge an appeal, and the appeal must be made using the email address listed in the school place application. Another individual can be listed as a second appellant if required. If you have any queries regarding this, please contact the appeals team at: appealcoordinator@somerset.gov.uk
Please note that the School Admission Appeals Code requires that an appellant sets out their grounds for appeal. Therefore, when lodging an appeal and for it to be considered valid, you must include your reason(s) for appeal.
If your application was refused under the Infant Class Size legislation, you must select at least one of the ‘Infant class size appeal reasons’ on your appeal form, and explain why you feel the selected reasons apply.
Admission Authorities allow an appeal form to be submitted within 20 school days of the date of your refusal letter. Some will accept a form, however several do not and would expect a new application be submitted. Once in receipt of a formal refusal letter you are advised to submit your form as soon as possible. You must include all information requested on the form for your form to be valid.
To appeal, you will need to use the link below.
Appeal a school admission refusalPreparing for your appeal
Please see the School Admission Appeal Booklet in the Downloads section at the bottom of this page for more information on the appeals process.
PLEASE NOTE: if the grounds for your appeal include bullying, issues or concerns regarding your child’s current or previous school, the school will likely be contacted for their views or a response. The Admission Authority may then choose to include information provided as part of their case at appeal. All parties involved in the appeals process, including the appeal panel and appellants, are provided with the Admission Authority’s case within their appeal paperwork.
Further information on the appeals process
Once your appeal form has been submitted you will receive confirmation of receipt of appeal, including a reference number for your appeal. You will also receive an email from the Democratic Services team outlining the next steps for your appeal. If any further action is required, you will be contacted.
The Democratic Services team are responsible for the scheduling of appeals and arrangements for appeal hearings and will contact you via the appellant portal regarding your hearing arrangements. This team will arrange for your appeal to be heard as soon as possible and will write to you to inform you of the date of your hearing – you will be given at least 10 school days’ notice (unless you indicate on your form that you would not need this much notice).
A reasonable time before your hearing the appeal statement, which sets out the reasons why a place at your preferred school was refused and why a further pupil cannot be admitted, will be uploaded to the appellant portal. This information will also be sent to the Appeal Panel and the Presenting Officer, as well as any school representatives who will be present at the appeal hearing.
For more information on how appeal hearings are conducted, please see the School Admission Appeal booklet in the Downloads section of this page.
Somerset Choice Advice Service
You may wish to ask for help from the Somerset Choice Advice Service. The Somerset Choice Advice Service is a free impartial service to help families with school admissions, appeals and transitions.
For more information on this service, or to request the support of this team, please see below:
- Leave a voice message on the Choice Advice helpline – 01823 356903
- Send an email – choiceadvice@somerset.gov.uk
- Complete the Contact Somerset Choice Advice form, and we will aim to respond within 3 working days.
You can find more information about this service on the Somerset SENDIAS website.
If you require a paper appeal form, please email schoolappeals@somerset.gov.uk to request one be sent to you. Please do note that this may result in a delay to your appeal.
