School appeals

You have the right under the school standards and framework act 1998 (as amended by the education act 2002) to appeal to an independent appeal panel if your child has not been allocated a place at your preferred school(s). There is no right of appeal in respect of applications for nursery schools or classes.

If your child has not been offered a place at the school you prefer you can appeal to an independent appeal panel.

School places in Ealing are very limited and places are allocated according to admissions criteria.  We strongly recommend if you have been offered a place at an alternative school, that you accept the place that you have been offered whilst you await the outcome of your appeal.

In Ealing and across London it is not exceptional for siblings to attend different schools.

Ealing Council organises appeals for all community schools in the borough and the following voluntary aided, foundation, free and academy schools:

  • Ada Lovelace CE High School (in-year appeals only). Contact Ada Lovelace directly if you wish to appeal for a year 7 start in September 2024.
  • Alec Reed Academy (High) 
  • Alec Reed Academy (Primary)
  • Brentside High School
  • Brentside Primary Academy
  • Christ the Saviour CE Primary School
  • Dormers Wells High School
  • Dormers Wells Infant School
  • Dormers Wells Junior School
  • Ealing Fields High School 
  • Featherstone High School
  • Khalsa Primary School 
  • Northolt High School
  • St Mary's CE Primary School
  • The Edward Betham CE Primary School 
  • Twyford CE High School (in-year appeals only). Contact Twyford directly if you wish to appeal for a year 7 start in September 2024.
  • Villiers High School
  • William Perkin CE High School (in-year appeals only). Contact William Perkin directly if you wish to appeal for a year 7 start in September 2024.
  • Wood End Infant School
  • Woodlands Academy

Ealing Council organises the following types of appeals:

Coordinated admission appeal:

Year 7 appeals - September 2024 start

Download the year 7 (September 2024 start) appeal form and guidance notes.

All year 7 appeals received by the deadline of Tuesday 17 April 2024 will be heard by Wednesday 19 June 2024.

Reception appeals - September 2024 start

Download the reception (September 2024 start) appeal form and guidance notes.

All reception appeals received by the deadline of Wednesday, 15 May 2024 will be heard by Wednesday 17 July 2024.

The coordinated admission appeal timetable for May - September 2024 provides the tentative hearing dates for all community schools and the voluntary aided, foundation, free and academy schools mentioned above.

Infant class size appeal - reception, year 1 and year 2

Regulations made under Section 1 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 limit the size of an infant class (a class in which the majority of children will reach the age of 5, 6 or 7 during the school year) to 30 pupils per qualified school teacher. Not all appeals for infant classes are infant class size appeals. It only applies when the class has 30 children.

The appeal panel will consider the admission authority's reasons for refusing your child a place and your reasons for appealing against their decision.  There are limited grounds on which an infant class appeal may succeed for classes of more than 30.  The panel will consider, as specified in 4.4 of the School Admissions Appeals Code:

a. Whether the admission of an additional child/additional children would breach the infant class size limit
b. Whether the admission arrangements (including the area's co-ordinated admission arrangements) complied with the mandatory requirements of the School Admissions Code and Part 3 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998
c. Whether the admission arrangements were correctly and impartially applied in the case in question; and
d. Whether the decision to refuse admission was one which a reasonable authority would have made in the circumstances of the case.

For the decision to be 'unreasonable' the panel will need to be satisfied that the decision to refuse to admit your child was "perverse in the light of the admission arrangements", i.e. it was "beyond the range of responses open to a reasonable decision maker" or "a decision which is so outrageous in its defiance of logic or accepted moral standards that no sensible person who had applied his mind to the question would have arrived at it".  The panel will be reviewing the admission authority's decision in the light of the material available at the time when it made its decision.

Appeals for school years 3 to 11

The appeal panel will consider the local authority's reasons for refusing your child a place and your reasons for appealing against their decision. 

The appeal panel will initially decide whether the school's admission arrangements are lawful and were correctly applied and if the admission of an additional child would cause prejudice.  If the panel are satisfied that the arrangements are lawful and there has not been any error that led to a place being denied, they will proceed to considering whether the benefit to your child of going to your preferred school outweighs the prejudicial effect that admitting one more pupil will have on the school and the other children in the class

In-year admission appeals

All appeals for places that fall outside the main intake to primary and high schools in the autumn term, are called casual (in-year) admission appeals. If you do decide to submit a casual (in-year) admission appeal, please contact the in-year admissions team for an appeal form.

How to appeal for a place at a voluntary-aided, academy foundation or free school

To appeal for a place at any other voluntary aided, academy, foundation or free school not listed above, you will need to contact the school(s) directly for details of their arrangements and an appeal form.

High school admission arrangements

Primary school admission arrangements

Further information

For further information about admission appeals see the admission appeals code.

For further information on school admissions and the admission criteria for schools in Ealing see: primary  and junior school admissions

Organisations that provide information on the appeals procedure:

If you have any questions about the appeal form or the appeal procedure, please contact the committee section:

Telephone: 020 8825 6253 
Email: schooladmissionappeals@ealing.gov.uk

Appeals in other boroughs

To appeal for a place at a community school in a neighbouring borough, please contact the relevant local authority.