If you are not allocated a place at a school of your preference, you have the right of appeal to an independent School Appeals Panel. The Panel considers each case individually. All secondary schools in Bexley are Academies so request for an appeal should be made to the relevant school and not the Local Authority.

Appeals Panels are independent of the Council and the school and are set up in accordance with the Department for Education’s Code of Practice on School Appeals. Panels include people with experience of education and ‘lay members’. None of them will have been involved in making the original admission decisions nor will they have any connection with the school for which you are appealing.

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. 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 heard in private and be conducted in an informal atmosphere 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 secondary school to another and the request has been refused.

The table below shows the number of appeals heard and the numbers allowed for the past three years for pupils due to start in secondary school.

Number of appeals head and upheld for Bexley Secondary schools (as at July 2023)