A parents guide to school admission appeals

Academies, voluntary aided and foundation schools have their own waiting list arrangements, so if the school you are applying for fits one of those categories please contact the school regarding waiting lists or to find out about appealing.

Waiting lists and appeals for community or voluntary controlled schools are managed by the local authority. Parents must request to place their child's name on the waiting list, it will no longer automatically be added. Parents who wish to appeal for a community or voluntary controlled school must complete an appeals form and return this to the local authority as well as selecting the option to appeal on the online system.

If you have applied for the main round entry in September 2024 and you are refused a place at your preferred school, then Waiting lists for the 2024/25 school year will close on the last day of term in July 2025.

If you have applied for the main round entry in September 2025 and you are refused a place at your preferred school, then Waiting lists for the 2025/26 school year will close on the last day of term in July 2026.

The government's School Admissions Code requires that positions on a waiting list must follow the same order as the local authority's published admission criteria. For community and voluntary controlled schools in Wiltshire these criteria can be seen in the admissions arrangements which can be downloaded from this page: Forms, guides and policy documents. In summary, these are:

1. Looked After Children / Previously Looked After Children;
2. Vulnerable children (specific criteria apply, please see the full admissions arrangements);
3. For junior schools only, children currently attending the linked infant's school;
4. Designated area siblings and shared area siblings;
5. Other children from the designated area or shared area;
6. Other siblings;
7. Children of staff at the school;
8. Other children to whom none of the above apply.

Please see the admissions policy for full details. For academies, voluntary aided and foundation schools, their admissions criteria and therefore oversubscription criteria may be different so please check the schools website.

The straight-line distance from the home address to the school is used as a tie-breaker within each of the above criteria with the nearest children accorded the highest priority.

The School Admissions Code goes on to state that waiting lists should not give any priority based simply on the date a child's name was added to the waiting list. It is possible therefore that over time a child's position on a waiting list can change. There are two reasons for this.

• A waiting list can be lengthened. This happens when any future applications for new pupils are refused. It is important to understand that these pupils are not added to the end of the waiting list but inserted in accordance with their criterion for admission and distance of the home address from the school. Thus a new application for a child with a higher priority for admission than any of the children already on the waiting list would force all those other children down by one position each.
• A waiting list can be shortened. This would happen if any places were freed at the preferred school. Any freed place would be offered to the child at the top of the waiting list. If the place is accepted, then all the other children on the waiting list would go up by one position. If the place were declined, then the child in top position would be removed from the waiting list and the child in next position offered the place.

The position of a child on a waiting list can also change as the result of a change of address. It should be noted, however, that the change in position takes effect only when definite evidence of the house move has been received by the local authority.

The local authority will accept the following as evidence of a future house move:

• a solicitor's letter which confirms that an exchange of contracts has been made;
• a tenancy agreement of at least six months' duration; or
• a letter from the Defence Housing Association that confirms a service family's new address.

Parents or guardians must notify the local authority of any material changes in their circumstances, such as an intended house move, as this may affect their child's position on the waiting list.

Parents or guardians can ask for their children to be removed from the waiting list at any time.

The operation of a waiting list does not affect the parent or guardian's right of appeal for the child. The appeal process offers a separate course of action that parents and guardians can undertake. Neither lodging nor withdrawing an appeal changes the child's position on the waiting list. Equally the child's position on a waiting list does not affect the outcome of an appeal.