Offer day, waiting lists and appeals

Offer days for September 2027: 1 March 2027 (secondary) and 16 April 2027 (primary). Your council emails you, or you can log in to your application.

1. Read the offer. It names one school. If it isn't your first choice, the schools you ranked higher didn't have room for you under their rules.
2. Accept it by the date given, usually within two weeks. Accepting doesn't stop you joining a waiting list or appealing. If you turn it down, the council doesn't have to find you another place.
3. Ask your council about waiting lists for any school you ranked higher. Some councils add you automatically and some ask you to apply.
4. Decide whether to appeal for any school you'd prefer.

• Your position depends on the school's admissions rules, such as distance or siblings, not on when you joined. You can move down if a child with higher priority joins.
• Lists must be kept until at least 31 December of the first school year. Places often come up over the summer and in September as families move or choose private schools.
• If you're offered a place from a waiting list, the place you already have is usually withdrawn when you accept.

1. You can appeal for any school that refused you a place. The letter tells you how. There's usually an online form on the council's or school's website.
2. Deadline: you get at least 20 school days from the date of your offer letter to lodge an appeal.
3. Write down why this school is right for your child. Be specific: a medical need, a subject or club only this school offers, travel problems with the school you were given, or a sibling there. Include evidence such as letters from a GP.
4. The hearing: an independent panel of three people hears your appeal, usually within 40 school days of the appeal deadline. The school or council explains why it's full, then you explain why your child needs the place. Most hearings take 30 to 60 minutes and many are held online.
5. The decision: the panel decides whether your child's needs outweigh the problems one extra pupil would cause the school. You get a letter, usually within five school days. The decision is final.

These are harder to win because infant classes are limited by law to 30 pupils per teacher. The panel can only say yes if:

1. the admissions rules were unlawful, or weren't followed correctly, and your child would have got a place otherwise, or
2. the decision to refuse was one no reasonable admission authority would have made.

If this applies to you, check carefully how the school measured distance and applied its rules.