How the appeal panel makes their decision

After the appeal panel have heard and read the case for both parties, they will consider all the information available very carefully before making their decision.

In some cases, appeals can be spread over several days. If the panel is hearing several appeals for a particular school or academy, they will not make any decisions until all appeals for that school or academy have been heard.

The panel will make their decision in a 2-stage process.

At stage 1, the panel will consider whether:

• the published admissions criteria meet the requirements of the School Admissions Code and the School Standards and Framework Act 1998
• the published admission criteria were correctly applied to your child
• there would be prejudice caused to the school or academy by admitting another child

If the panel decides that admitting another child would cause prejudice, they go on to stage 2. The panel will then consider whether:

• the reasons given by you for wanting a place at that school or academy are strong enough to outweigh the prejudice which would be caused by admitting another child

Decisions of the appeal panel

• When all the appeals for a school have been heard, the panel will make decisions on each case.
• The clerk will write to you with the decision and the reasons, usually within 5 school days of the last day of an appeal hearing.
• The decision of the appeal panel is binding on all parties. It cannot be overturned by councillors, MPs or even the Secretary of State.
• If you feel that the process has not been carried out correctly, you can ask the Local Government Ombudsman to investigate. If the Ombudsman agrees that the process has not been followed correctly, they can request that a fresh appeal be heard. However, this will not necessarily result in a different decision.

Infant class size legislation appeals

It is important you understand that the circumstances in which an appeal panel may uphold an infant class size appeal (reception class, year 1 or year 2 only) are extremely limited.

For an appeal to be successful, an appeal panel must be satisfied that the:

• admission of additional children would not breach the infant class size limit (which requires that an infant class must not have more than 30 pupils with a single qualified teacher; if this is exceeded, the school will be required to take qualifying measures)
• child would have been offered a place if the published admission arrangements had been properly implemented
• child would have been offered a place if the arrangements had not been contrary to mandatory provisions in the School Admissions Code and the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, and/or
• decision to refuse admission was not one that a reasonable admission authority would have made in the circumstances of the case

It is important that parents and carers recognise this before spending what can be a significant amount of time and effort on an infant class size appeal.

For full information on the infant class size legislation, read section 4 Infant Class Size Appeals.

Page last updated: 17 April 2026