Appealing for a school place

When you apply for a school place for your child, you can express a preference for a school or schools. However, you do not have the right to a place at a particular school. Applications for school places are refused if there is no place for your child at your preferred school.

If you have applied for a school place for your child and the admission authority for the school has refused your application, you have the right to appeal the decision.

Your right to appeal

Acceptance of a place at a school does not affect your right to appeal for a place at another school. Our advice would be to accept the allocated choice while any appeal is being processed. This also means your child still has a school place if your appeal is unsuccessful.

Guide to appeals

Full details of the appeals process are explained in the document below.

• Guide to admission appeals (pdf format, 450 KB)

Schools we handle appeals for

We administer appeals for all state-funded schools in Oxfordshire, except those listed (pdf format, 66Kb). 

These are mostly voluntary aided, academies and foundation schools. If you would like to appeal for places at any of the schools on this list, please contact the school directly.

Who makes the decision?

An independent panel hears appeals. A decision by an appeal panel on whether or not to offer a school place is binding on the admissions authority. If your appeal for an Oxfordshire community school is unsuccessful, you may not appeal for the same school within one academic year unless there has been a material change in your circumstances and the admissions authority has accepted a second application to that school.

Timetable of admissions appeals

For secondary school entry into Year 7 in September 2025

For primary school entry into Reception in September 2025

We aim to hear other appeals, i.e., in-year appeals, within 30 school days of receipt, subject to the availability of Panel Members. School days do not include weekends, INSET days, or school holidays.

Primary school appeals

If you are applying for a place in an infant class (usually F1, Years 1 and 2) read these notes before you complete the appeal form.

Infant Class Size (ICS) Legislation - This refers to Government legislation that states that no child attending a maintained school or academy and who is in an infant class can be taught in a class of over 30 pupils (except where certain specific and exceptional circumstances apply).

In 2023-2024 only three per cent of those types of cases were successful.

Where the ICS limit of 30 applies, the powers of the Independent Panel are limited and an appeal is, in law, a review (see question 3 on page 22 of the guide to admission appeals document (pdf format, 203 Kb)). In ICS reviews, your case can only succeed where it can be shown that:

1. admission would not breach the ICS limit
2. your child would have been offered a place if the admission arrangements had not been contrary to the mandatory requirements of Part 3 of the SSFA 1998 or the School Admissions Code and/or your child would have been offered a place if the admission arrangements had been applied correctly
3. the decision to refuse admission was not one which a reasonable* admission authority would have made in the circumstances of the case.

*In the legal meaning of the word 'reasonable'.

Appeal online

Please use the online appeals form below. Depending on the reasons and complexity of your appeal, it will take around 20 minutes to complete.