School appeals

If your child did not get into a Redbridge school you wanted, you can appeal to an independent panel. This is your opportunity to explain your reasons for wanting to send your child to the school.

The independent appeals panel will decide if those reasons are strong enough to overturn the decision of the admission authority for the school.

You cannot appeal because you do not want the school that you have been offered.

Important: appeal deadline 

For places starting in September 2025, the deadline to submit an appeal for Year 7 is April 2025 and reception is 20 May 2025.

You can appeal after the deadline, but we may not hear your appeal before school starts in September.

If your appeal is for a reception or year 7 place starting in September, we’ll hold your hearing as soon as possible. This will be no more than 30 school days after the date your appeal was submitted.

 

Before you appeal

Before you appeal you:

  • should accept the place that you’ve been offered in case your appeal is not successful
  • should think about the reasons you’re appealing and check if it's likely to be successful
  • read the school’s admission arrangements carefully
  • read the advice for appealing school places on GOV.UK

If you don't want to appeal you can find out about school waiting lists.

 

Appeals data for last year 

Not all appeals are successful. In the last academic year, there were:  

  • 62 reception appeals heard and 1 was successful  
  • 204 secondary appeals heard and 6 were successful  

 

Will your appeal be successful

Your appeal could be successful if:

  • giving your child a place will not increase the class size above the limit
  • the admission arrangements have not been properly followed
  • the admission criteria do not comply with the school admissions code
  • you can evidence an exceptional reason why your child should get a place at the school

Reception, year 1 and year 2 classes are limited to 30 pupils per teacher by law. This means that appeals for these places are less likely to be successful.

Your appeal is unlikely to be successful if:

  • the school is already full and cannot admit an extra child without harming the education of the existing children
  • you’ve been allocated another school place reasonably near to your home
  • you want your child to go to a school because you think it is the best one in the area

 

How to appeal

Appeals happen in two parts. First you appeal in writing and then an appeal hearing takes place.

You need to:

  • give all the reasons why you think your child should be given a place at the school
  • provide any evidence from professionals such as doctors or social workers if you’ve shared bullying or medical issues

You can appeal for most Redbridge schools using our online form but some schools you’ll need to contact directly.

Schools that you need to contact directly:

Primary schools

  • Al-Noor Primary School
  • Atam Academy
  • Avanti Court Primary School
  • Clore Tikva Primary School
  • Isaac Newton Academy
  • St Aidan's Catholic Academy
  • St Antony's Catholic Primary School
  • St Augustine's Catholic Primary School
  • St Bede's Catholic Primary School
  • Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School
  • SS Peter and Paul's Catholic Primary School
  • Wohl Ilford Jewish Primary School
  • Wanstead Church School

Secondary schools

  • Atam Academy
  • Chadwell Heath Academy
  • Isaac Newton Academy
  • King Solomon High School
  • Mayfield School
  • The Palmer Catholic Academy
  • Trinity Catholic Academy
  • The Ursuline Academy Ilford

If the school you want to appeal for is not in Redbridge, you need to contact their local council.

Appeal against a school decision

 

What happens at the appeal hearing

Appeals are heard by a panel of three to five people.

The panel have knowledge about the education situation in the area. They are also not involved in decisions about school admissions in Redbridge.

A clerk will be there to make sure that everything is carried out fairly and legally.

It’s only the members of the panel who decide whether the appeal is successful or not.     

 

After the hearing

We’ll write to you with the panel’s decision within five school days of the hearing. The decision of the panel is final.

If you think the appeal process was not carried out properly, you can contact the Local Government Ombudsman. They cannot overturn the decision, but they can ask us to hear your appeal again.

If you appealed for a place at an academy you can complain to DfE.

 

Appeal for children with special educational needs (SEN schools)

You cannot use this process to appeal the school place for children with special educational needs. This is because your child’s school place is allocated through a different process.

See special educational need (SEN) schools in Redbridge

 

 

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