National Offer Day lans on April 16 this year.
That means hundreds of thousands of families across England are anxiously waiting to hear whether their child has been offered their first choice of primary school.
Official data shows that 90.2% of pupils last year were offered their first choice of primary school, which was down slightly from 90.6% in 2019.
Hopefully the majority of families will this year find out that their children have been accepted by their Primary school of choice.
But if you’re unhappy with the decision you might be considering appealing. Here is what you can do as a parent.
What to do if your child doesn’t get offered their school of choice
The most important thing is not to worry. If your child hasn’t been offered their school of choice, you are entitled to appeal the decision.
You’ll be sent a letter about the decision, and it will usually tell you how to appeal.
Keep in mind that you have to appeal each rejection separately, and you can only appeal once against each.
The first thing you should do if find out who to appeal to, this will depend on the type of school.
The appeals form is provided by the local authority, or should be submitted to the school itself, if they aren’t run by a local authority.
Then check the admissions policy of the school by referring to their website, or local authority website.
Ensure you have followed their appeal policy correctly.
Filling in the appeals form is your opportunity to make a strong case.
You don’t need to go into great detail at this stage, but outline the main grounds for the appeal.
You can include any supporting documentary such as a letter from your GP or child psychologist.
When is the deadline to appeal?
If you do want to go ahead and appeal, you should do this as soon as you receive a refusal letter.
The appeal should be submitted no later than 5pm on Friday, May 14.
The admission authority for the school have to allow at least 20 school days to appeal.
If you submit anything after the deadline it might not be considered, resulting in delays to your hearing.
What will happen after I appeal?
You should receive confirmation of receipt of your form within a week, and then be notified when the appeals panel hearing will take place.
After you’ve sent in your appeals form you will have the chance to present your case in front of a panel.
This will be very different this year.
Last year, the Department for Education (DfE) changed its rules amid the coronavirus pandemic so that parents unhappy with their school place would not have to make an appeal in person.
The temporary change has been extended until the end of September 2021 due to restrictions.
Appeal panel hearings will be able to take place "either in person, by telephone, video conference or through a paper-based appeal".
It’s helpful to bring any documentary that supports the statements you made in your form.
