A parents guide to school admission appeals

• The Chair of the Appeal Panel will welcome everybody to the appeal hearing and introductions will be made;
• The Admission Authority representative will explain the reasons why your child has not been offered a place at the school you applied for. You and the members of the Appeal Panel will be able to ask questions on what has been said by the Admission Authority representative;
• Occasionally, if there are a large number of appeals for the same school, the case made by the Admission Authority (stage 1) may be heard on a group basis with all the parents present at the same time. Where this happens, the remaining stages take place at separate hearings for each individual appeal as with all other appeals to preserve the confidentiality of each individual parental case.
• You will then be given the opportunity to present your case in support of your appeal (stage 2). The Appeal Panel will already have all the written information that you have submitted.
• The members of the Appeal Panel and the school's representative will then be able to ask you questions if they need clarification on any points;
• There will then be a summing up stage, where initially the Admission Authority representative will be given the opportunity to sum up their main points and you will then have an opportunity to sum up your main points;
• The Chair of the Appeal Panel will then ask you and the school's representative to leave the appeal hearing. The Clerk to the Appeal Panel will remain with the Appeal Panel to record its decision and the reasons for making that decision but the Clerk will not play any part in making the decision.

Full details of what happens at the appeals hearing can be found on the hearing process for appellants page.