Grouped appeals

If there are a large number of appeals for a school, the school can decide to hold a grouped appeal for all the children to look at the issue of 'fullness' (e.g. the school's case is that they're full and can't give places to any more children).

Only the school can decide on whether or not to hold a grouped appeal. You can't request for them to have one.

All those appealing for a place at the school are invited to a joint meeting.

What happens at the joint meeting

An independent panel will listen to the case put forward by the school and the responses to questions put forward by the panel, parents and their representatives. There will be no discussion at this point on individual cases.

Appeals are not heard unless the school has admitted children up to its published admission number (or where the appeal is for a grammar school and the child is assessed as non-grammar), but an appeal panel can decide to admit further children into the school and place the school over its published admission number.

The panel will also make sure the school's admissions arrangements meet the legal requirements and have been correctly applied in your child’s case.

The decision

If the panel decides that all the children could be given a school place without causing impact on the school, it must uphold all of the appeals.

If, however, the panel is satisfied that the school has proved it would be impacted if it gave places to any more children (e.g. the school is full), the panel will begin to hear individual appeals. Parents will be given a date for their individual appeal.

The panel must not make decisions on individual appeals until all cases have been heard.