HOW APPEALS WORK

How appeals work

Appeals for children refused admission will be heard according to the regulations in the School Admission Appeals Code (October 2022). 

Your appeal will be heard by an independent panel of three people who will consider two main questions:

• Was the school’s decision made properly and in accordance with admissions law and its own policy?
• Are your child’s individual circumstances so exceptional that it would be worse for them not to have a place at a specific school than it would for that school to accept an additional child? This is called the balance of prejudice test.

The Process

Your appeal is made Portfields Primary Schools via a form; a clerk will then manage the case. Once the appeal deadline date has passed, all appeals have been checked for eligibility and panel dates have been confirmed, the clerk will write to you with further information.  You will therefore not hear from the clerk until after the appeals deadline and once hearing dates have been confirmed.

The clerk will outline to you how the process will work. Appeals will take place via video conferencing. 

The appeal form can be collected directly from the school or downloaded from the appeal section on the school website.