Thousands lodge appeals as children miss out on places at best schools

Tens of thousands of families lodged appeals last year after their children were refused places at their favoured school.

Statistics published by the Department for Education (DfE) show that 42,070 appeals were lodged against primary school admissions in 2009/10, a 10.5% rise on the 38,080 appeals in 2008/09.

The figures also show that the numbers of appeals against primary places have almost doubled since 2005/06, when they stood at 21,995.

It is thought that intense pressure on primary school places, due to the rising birth rate, is fuelling the hike in appeals.

Today’s statistics show that 85,165 appeals were lodged by parents against primary and secondary school allocations in 2009/10, slightly down from 88,275 the previous year.

Of these, 60,855 were heard by independent panels, with 18,110 cases decided in favour of the parents.

Schools minister Nick Gibb said: “It is clear that rising birth rates are increasing demand and pressure on primary places, with more parents unhappy with the lack of choice open to them.

“The education system has rationed places in good schools for too long, which is why our reforms are designed both to drive up standards in the weakest performers and allow more children to go to the best.”

The Government is encouraging more groups to set up free schools, and 200 of the worst primaries are to be turned into academies, he added.

All parents have the right to appeal if any school they applied to refuses their child a place.

The system allows parents to argue that schools broke official admissions rules or that there are “compelling” extra reasons why their child deserves a place.

Today’s figures also show:

• Of the primary school appeals, 28,715 were heard by independent panels, with 7,045 decided in favour of the parents. This is a 9% increase on the 6,460 decided in favour of parents in 2008/09;

• Families lodged 43,095 appeals against secondary school admissions, a drop from 50,195 in 2008/09;

• Of these, 32,135 were heard by appeals panels;

• A total of 11,065 secondary school cases were decided in favour of the parents, down slightly from 12,600 the year before.