What actually counts as grounds for appeal
An appeal panel is not deciding whether you should have the school you wanted. It is answering two specific questions in a fixed order, and most appeals fail because the case in front of it answers neither. These pages set out what the panel is permitted to act on — and, just as usefully, what it is required to ignore.
Across England 19.4% of appeals heard were upheld (22,402 of 115,695 appeals heard in 2024–2026). Secondary appeals run at 20.1% and infant class size appeals at 9.4% — the same process, but judged on completely different tests.
of appeals heard in England were upheld
22,402 of 115,695 appeals heard in 2024–2026
The two stages, and why the order matters
For every appeal except infant class size, paragraph 3.1 of the Appeals Code requires the panel to work through two stages. You can win at either, but they ask for completely different material.
First stage
Was the decision lawful and correctly made?
The panel asks whether the admission arrangements complied with the Admissions Code, and whether they were correctly and impartially applied to you. If they were not — and you would have been offered a place otherwise — the panel must uphold your appeal. No balancing, no discretion.
This is an argument about the admission authority's paperwork. Your child barely features.
Second stage
Does your case outweigh the harm to the school?
Reached where the arrangements were fine, or where the error would not have got you a place. The panel weighs the prejudice to the school against your reasons for wanting it — including, in the Code's own words, what that school can offer your child that the allocated school cannot.
This is the argument about your child. It is also the one most often written as preference rather than as consequence.
Infant class size appeals do not work this way. If your child is going into Reception, Year 1 or Year 2 and was refused because admitting them would breach the 30-pupil limit, a separate and much narrower test applies — and how much your child needs the place is not part of it. Read infant class size before anything else on this page.
Grounds that bite at the first stage
First stage — was the decision lawful and correctly made?
- Infant class size
Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are capped at 30 pupils per teacher by law. A panel can only overturn a refusal on three narrow grounds, and how much your child needs the place is not one of them.
- A mistake in how the decision was made
The strongest ground there is, and the most underused. If the admission arrangements were unlawful or were applied wrongly — and you would have got a place otherwise — the panel must uphold the appeal.
- Distance and catchment
How the distance was measured, from where to where, and whether the same method was used for everyone. Measurement disputes are first-stage arguments, and they are checkable in a way most grounds are not.
- Siblings
Whether a brother or sister counts is decided by the school's own definition, not by common sense. Half-siblings, step-siblings, fostered children and a sibling in the sixth form are treated differently by different schools.
- Faith and religious criteria
Faith schools rank applicants on evidence of practice — attendance records, a form signed by a minister, baptism dates. Most faith appeals turn on whether that evidence was gathered and scored the way the published arrangements say.
- A late application
Two first-stage questions a panel can act on: whether it was right to treat your application as late at all, and whether your reason for being late is one the published arrangements say must be accepted anyway.
- In-year admissions
Applying outside the normal round — a house move, or a school that is not working out. The ordinary two-stage test applies on a much shorter timetable, and the year group will usually already be full.
- Grammar schools and the 11-plus
A selection appeal and an oversubscription appeal are different things judged on different tests. If your child missed the qualifying score, the panel is asking whether they are of the required academic standard — not whether the school has room.
- Sixth form places
Post-16 admission runs on published entry requirements as well as oversubscription criteria, and the student gains a right of appeal of their own alongside their parents'. Where the refusal was about grades, the panel may not form its own view of the student's ability.
- Twins and multiple births
Where one twin is offered a place and the other refused, the excepted-pupil rule can admit the second over the infant class size limit rather than separate them. Above the infant years the limit falls away and it becomes an ordinary sibling or second-stage argument.
Grounds that bite at the second stage
Second stage — does your case outweigh the harm to the school?
- Medical and social need
The ground most parents lead with, and it is a second-stage argument almost every time. It works when it shows what this school can do for your child that the allocated school cannot — not how much you want it.
- Special educational needs without an EHC plan
A child on SEN support has no automatic route to a named school, and it is an admission panel that hears the case — not the SEND Tribunal. It works as a second-stage argument about provision this school has and the allocated one does not.
- In-year admissions
Applying outside the normal round — a house move, or a school that is not working out. The ordinary two-stage test applies on a much shorter timetable, and the year group will usually already be full.
The deadlines
Each admission authority sets its own appeals timetable and must publish it by 28 February each year. Within that, the Appeals Code fixes the following minimums:
| Stage | Timescale | Code |
|---|---|---|
| To lodge your appeal | at least 20 school days from the date on your refusal letter | 2.1(a) |
| Notice of the hearing | at least 10 school days' notice of the hearing | 2.1(b), 2.7 |
| Heard — normal admissions round | within 40 school days of the deadline for lodging appeals | 2.3(a) |
| Heard — in-year applications | within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged | 2.3(d) |
| Decision letter | within 5 school days of the hearing, wherever possible | 2.1(d), 2.27 |
A late appeal must still be heard (paragraph 2.4), on whatever timescale the published timetable sets out. And an admission authority must not limit the grounds on which you may appeal (paragraph 2.5) — if you are told a particular argument is not allowed, that is wrong.
Things worth knowing before you start
- It is free, and you can appeal for more than one school. You have a right of appeal for every school you applied to and were refused.
- The panel is independent of the school and the council, and its decision to admit is binding on the admission authority under section 94(6) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.
- You can bring someone with you. Appellants may be represented or accompanied by a friend (paragraph 2.13). Hearings may be in person, remote or hybrid.
- Decisions are by simple majority, with the chair holding a casting vote (paragraph 2.26). The decision letter must give clear reasons (2.28).
- There is normally no second appeal for the same school in the same academic year, unless your circumstances have significantly and materially changed (paragraph 5.1). You can apply again for a later year with a fresh right of appeal (5.3).
- Staying on the waiting list costs nothing and runs in parallel. It must be kept until at least 31 December and ranked by the published criteria — not by when you applied.
Your council's figures
Success rates vary enormously between councils — far more than any difference in the strength of local cases can explain. That is context rather than a forecast, and it is worth having before you decide how to spend the next few weeks.
Official DfE figures for all 151 councils →
Everything on these pages is drawn from the School Admission Appeals Code 2022 and the School Admissions Code 2021, with paragraph numbers cited so you can check us. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice.