If you are not allocated the school of your preference, then you can appeal against the decision.

The appeal will be heard by an Appeal Panel, which is independent and is set up in accordance with DFE School Admission Appeals Code of Practice. Members of Appeals Panels will include people with experience of education, but none will have been concerned with making the original admission decision. Appeals are normally heard in June and July, prior to when the child is due to start school in the following September.

The following is a summary of the current procedures:

• an appeal must be submitted in writing, setting out the grounds on which it is made
• an Appeals Panel must give parents an opportunity to attend and speak at the meeting. The majority of Appeals are now heard via Microsoft Team – Please check with the individual schools. They may allow parents to be accompanied by a friend or to be represented
• the matters to be taken into account by an Appeals Panel in considering an appeal will include:
  • any preference expressed by parents in respect of the child’s admission to schools; and
  • the arrangements for the admission of pupils published by the Admission Authority
• the conduct of the Appeals Panel will accord with the DfE Code of Practice on School Appeals
• the appeal will be held virtually via Microsoft Teams and in accordance with the principles of natural justice
• the Appeals Panel’s decision is binding on the admission authority for the school
• the appeal process and rules are the same for all types of schools. You should contact the admission authority for the school you wish to appeal to for further information

If you have been offered a place at another school, and you accept that place, it does not affect your right of appeal for your preferred school and will not influence the Panel’s decision.

The appeals procedure may also be used if a parent has requested a transfer from one primary school to another and the request has been refused. Because of the legal requirement to have a maximum of 30 pupils in infant classes, the power of Appeal Panels to allow appeals is very limited, therefore, very few are successful.

Parents are only likely to be successful with an appeal if they can show either:

• that the admission of their child would not breach the infant class size limit
• that a place would have been offered if the admission arrangements had complied with admissions law or had been correctly and impartially applied
• that the decision not to admit their child was not one which a reasonable Admission Authority would make in the circumstances of the case

When you are advised of the outcome of your application, if you have not been offered your first preference school, you will be given information on how to obtain a form on which you can register your appeal. Governors of voluntary aided and free schools and academies have their own appeal panels and deal with appeals against their decisions on admissions to their schools. Parents should contact the school for details of the appeal arrangements and an appeal application form.

Primary School Appeals Timetable 2026

Appeals timetable

Appeals for Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools

• you can request a Community and Voluntary Controlled School Appeals form by emailing the Schools Admissions Team - schooladmissions@bexley.gov.uk 

List of Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools in Bexley:

• Birkbeck Primary School – Community School
• Crook Log Primary School – Community School
• Danson Primary School – Community School
• Dulverton Primary School – Community School
• Foster’s Primary School – Voluntary Controlled School
• Longlands Primary School – Community School
• Orchard Primary School – Community School
• Parkway Primary School – Community School
• Upton Primary School – Community School