National Offer Days 2022: How can I appeal for primary school place once the decision has been made?

Every year parents find out what primary school their children will be attending on National Offer Day.

This year, parents or guardians will receive letters from local councils in England revealing primary school places on Tuesday, April 19 2022.

Normally National Offer Day is April 16, however, since this day falls on a Saturday this year, the government is announcing the results the next working day which happens to be Tuesday due to the Easter bank holiday on Monday.

But what is the process in the UK if your child is not accepted in your preferred school of choice?Here’s everything you need to know about how to appeal for your first choice after a decision has been made.

How can I appeal for my preferred primary school choice for my child?

In England, you will be sent a confirmation letter with the decision and if your child is refused a place, parents or guardians can appeal against the decision. Instructions on how to do this will be in the letter.

Each rejected place must be appealed against individually and you can only appeal once against each refusal.

Parents or guardians have at least 20 days to appeal from when the decision letter is sent by the admission authority for the school.

The admission authority will also set a deadline for submitting information and evidence to support your appeal.

If anything is submitted after the deadline, it might not be considered and may result in delays to your hearing.

The admission authority must give you at least 10 school days’ notice of the hearing and appeals must be heard within 40 school days of the deadline for making an appeal.

You can appeal if you think the school didn’t apply their admissions criteria or didn’t apply them correctly, but you can’t appeal a decision about a place in a voluntary or private pre-school setting.

Parents or guardians whose child has not been offered a school place which had considered the application will be advised of where they can access information about how to appeal the decision through The Education Authority (EA).

You can also appeal a decision about a pre-school, primary or post-primary school place if you think the school didn’t apply or correctly apply its published admissions criteria.

To appeal a school’s decision that has refused your child a place, go to the EA website where you can send the appeal form (AT1 Form).