Admissions appeal hearings – What to expect?

With national offer day now passed for secondary schools, and fast approaching for primary schools, it is a busy season for admissions teams. School staff work incredibly hard all year round to drive and maintain high standards at school. 

As a result of this hard work, many will find themselves oversubscribed for the relevant year group. Inevitably, some prospective pupils will not be offered a place and will go through the admission appeal process. In this article, we will take an overview of what you can expect from an admissions appeal hearing. 

This article is intended as an overview only. Should you require support with your admissions appeals, or training for your admissions panel, please contact Liam Ellwood or another member of the Hill Dickinson Education team. 

Who hears the appeal? 

Admissions appeals will be heard by an appeal panel. Each member of the panel must have received training on admission appeals in the two years prior to the appeal, and must not be disqualified under the School Admissions (Appeal Arrangements) (England) Regulations 2012. For example, a member of the local authority must not sit on the panel. This is either a member of the local authority which is the admission authority or in whose area the school in question is located. 

The panel will consists of a minimum of three members from the following categories:

• Lay members (with no personal experience managing a school or with the provision of education)

• People with education experience

The panel will appoint a chair from its number. The chair will lead in conducting the hearing. They will introduce the parties and explain the roles of the clerk and the panel. A chair should ensure that the parties have sufficient opportunity to state their case and ask questions.

Also present will be the clerk to the panel. The clerk is an independent and impartial figure, responsible for administrative arrangements. They will respond to queries from appellants ahead of any hearing, keep an accurate record of proceedings, and provide the parties with written notification of the panel’s decision. 

Order of proceedings

An appeal hearing is split into Stage 1 and Stage 2. Broadly speaking, a hearing can be conducted in one of two ways:

1. Stage 1 is generally heard collectively with all parents, followed by individual meetings for Stage 2 (multiple appeals); or

2. Stage 1 can be done on an individual basis. 

The admissions authority (the local authority for a maintained school or the trust for an academy) presents its case, and the panel then breaks to make a decision whether to uphold the appeal at Stage 1. If they do not, the panel will then hear the appellant’s case at Stage 2. 

What is considered at Stage 1?

Infant class appeals are considered in more detail below. For other appeals, the panel will consider the following points at Stage 1:

1. Did the admissions arrangements comply with the mandatory requirements of the Admissions Code and Part 3 of School Standards and Framework Act 1998?

2. Were they correctly applied?

3. Whether the admission of additional children would prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources if the child was to be admitted. This is an objective test, and not a consideration of the individual child. 

If the panel finds that:

• the admission arrangements did not comply with admissions law or the arrangements had not been correctly and impartially applied, and the child would have been offered a place if the arrangements were compliant or had been correctly and impartially applied; or 

• that the admission of additional children would not prejudice the provision of efficient education or efficient use of resources

Then the panel must uphold the appeal at Stage 1. In multiple appeals where a number of children would have been offered a place, and to admit that number would seriously prejudice the provision of efficient education or efficient use of resources, the panel must proceed to Stage 2. This means that even if admissions arrangements are not compliant, or have been misapplied, Stage 1 will not be upheld where the volume of pupils to be admitted would seriously prejudice the provision of efficient education or efficient use of resources.  

What is considered at Stage 2?

Stage 2 is focused on the appellant’s particular case for admission. The panel must:

1. Balance the prejudice to the school against the appellant’s case for the child to be admitted to the school.

2. Take into account the appellant’s reasons for expressing a preference for the school. 

The panel must uphold the appeal if it considers that the appellant’s case outweighs the prejudice to the school. When considering prejudice to the efficient education and use of resources, the panel should consider factors, including the following: 

• The school’s PAN

• The impact on the organisation and size of classes 

• The availability of teaching staff 

• The effect on existing pupils

• The effect the additional admission would have in the current and subsequent academic years

• Changes to the school’s facilities

What about infant class appeals? 

Unlike secondary schools, infant classes (those where the majority of children will reach the age of 5, 6 or 7 during the school year) are subject to a statutory cap of 30 pupils to a class. So in a one form entry primary school, the PAN cannot exceed 30. Additional children may only be admitted under limited exceptional circumstances.
At Stage 1 then, different considerations apply. The panel can only uphold the appeal at this stage if:

• admission would not breach the infant class size limit

• it finds that the admission arrangements did not comply with admissions law or were not correctly and impartially applied and the child would have been offered a place if the arrangements had been complaint or had been correctly and impartially applied 

• the panel decides that the decision to refuse admission was not one which a reasonable admission authority would have made in the circumstances of the case. 

In most cases, Stage 1 will rest on the available places capped by statute. Having gone through Stage 1, at Stage 2 the panel must compare each appellant’s case for their child to be admitted and decide which of them, if any, to uphold. If there is evidence the school could admit a certain number without breaching the infant class limit then that is the amount of appeals which must be upheld. The prejudice balancing exercise won’t apply to the infant classes. 

Further appeals

The decision of the appeal panel is binding on all parties. Most appellants have no right to a further appeal, unless in exceptional circumstances where there have been a significant and material change to the circumstances. Appellants may complain to the Secretary of State (for academy admission only) if it is alleged there has been maladministration on the part of the appeals panel.  An admissions authority cannot appeal. 

This article is intended as an overview only. Should you require support with your admissions appeals, or training for your admissions panel, please contact me or another member of the Hill Dickinson Education Team.