Has your child been refused a place at their preferred secondary school?

If your child has not been offered a place at their preferred secondary school—or has not been placed at all—you may feel disappointed or uncertain about what to do next. The first thing to remember is that your child is not alone; in recent years, between 15% and 18% of children did not get offered a place at their preferred school. Fortunately, there are several legal
avenues available to challenge this outcome, and Eversheds Sutherland is here to help guide you through the process.

Here are the main options to consider:

1. Appealing to the School Admissions Appeal Tribunal

You can appeal the school’s decision by applying to the independent School Admissions Appeal Tribunal. This tribunal looks at whether the school followed its own admissions criteria
properly. Specifically, it must consider two key questions:

• Were the admission criteria applied correctly?
• If so, would your child have been offered a place?

If the Tribunal finds that the criteria were misapplied and that your child would have been admitted had they been applied correctly, the school must offer a place. However, if they determine that your child still would not have been admitted – even if everything had been applied properly – the appeal will be unsuccessful.

Importantly, the Tribunal can’t make a new decision or consider new information. It only looks at what was available to the school’s Board of Governors when they made the original
decision.

Most appeals we assist with relate to schools not fully considering special circumstances that may have affected a child’s performance, such as bereavement, illness, or undiagnosed
learning difficulties at the time of academic testing.

Note: Appeals must be submitted within a strict deadline, which will be stated in your child’s offer letter.

2. Applying to the Exceptional Circumstances Body (ECB)

If you believe your child must attend a specific school due to exceptional personal reasons, the ECB may be able to help. This body operates under a different set of rules and is not limited to Year 8 admissions—it can apply to placements up to Year 12.

To be successful, your application must meet all three of the following tests:

• Are the circumstances truly exceptional?
• Are they personal to your child?
• Do they mean your child needs to attend that specific school, and no other?

Please note that the ECB cannot consider factors such as the type of school (grammar vs. comprehensive), academic ability, or transport availability.

Unlike Tribunal appeals, there is no fixed deadline, though the application must relate to a recent refusal.

3. Judicial Review of the Admissions Criteria

This is a more complex and technical legal route. Judicial Review can be used to challenge the lawfulness of the school’s criteria or how they were applied, but it is not suitable in every
case. You should seek specialist legal advice before considering this option.

How We Can Help

Emily Paisley and our experienced education law team have successfully guided many families through these appeals and applications. We understand how stressful this process
can be and are here to provide clear, compassionate legal support every step of the way.