Please note this information is for all community and voluntary controlled schools in Surrey and some of those foundation, trust and voluntary aided schools, free schools and academies that the Surrey Schools Appeals Service organise appeals for.
All parents have the right to appeal against any decision made by or on behalf of an admission authority as to the school your child attends under legislation produced by the Department for Education (DfE).
It is important that you submit your completed form within the time period or closing date specified, in order for your appeal to be heard in the first round of appeals. Please see the Directory of Surrey schools how to submit the relevant appeal form and for details of the closing date for lodging your appeal. If you are making an in-year appeal you should submit your appeal as soon as possible to minimise any delay.
You should submit one form per child, per school.
Page contents
- What information you should provide
- Submitting your evidence
- Can you know why previous appeals were upheld for your preferred school
- Can you withdraw your appeal
- What happens if my ex-partner wants a copy of the paperwork/detailed decision letter
- What happens after you submit an appeal
What information you should provide
Your appeal form will be an important part of your case and you need to fill it in as fully and carefully as possible. The appeal panel will be sent a copy of this before the hearing.
Please ensure you complete all the relevant information when you submit the appeal form and read the appropriate guidelines below:
- Completing your school admissions appeal form - Key Stage 1, or
- Completing your school admissions appeal form - Key Stage 2 and 3.
and read our webpage: How the appeal panel makes its decision.
You are responsible for presenting your case and for deciding what written information you want the appeal panel to have. You also need to decide if you are going to attend your appeal hearing and what you would like to say to at the hearing.
Your appeal form, when first submitted, must contain the written grounds of your appeal, in accordance with the School Admission Appeals Code.
You must include at least a brief summary of your case. You will have the opportunity to submit additional evidence and information at a later date.
Any appeal form received without any grounds of appeal will not be considered to have been lodged properly and will be returned to you.
Any information or evidence received after the stated deadline or submitted on the day of your appeal hearing, written or electronic, might not be considered by the appeal hearing.
Firstly, it is really important that you complete all sections of the appeal form and make sure that the details you supply are correct.
It is for you to decide what information and documents you wish to include in your case. However, if your appeal is based on medical grounds, you should, where possible, provide written evidence from a medical practitioner to support this. If your case is based on a house move you should provide official confirmation of your new address.
The appeal panel will not contact people on your behalf, for example; if you want the appeal panel to see a medical report or consider the views of a Social Worker or a previous teacher you will need to get that information yourself and submit it as part of your appeal.
Please do not submit original documents that you wish to keep as all the information and documents you submit as part of your appeal will be retained.
If you submit information or photographs that include other children please make sure you have parental approval and you are not in breach of any data protection rights.
Information that you submit will need to be photocopied so it can be submitted to the appeal panel. It is your responsibility to ensure that any documentation you are submitting is clear and can be easily copied. All appeal papers are copied in black and white. If you wish to submit information in colour you will need to supply seven copies.
Submitting your evidence
When you first submit your appeal form, it must contain the written grounds of your appeal. However, you might find that you wish to submit additional evidence and information at a later date.
Supporting information or additional evidence must be received by the stated evidence deadline. This deadline will be clearly highlighted in your appeal notification letter and again when you are sent your appeal pack. The evidence deadline cannot be changed.
Any information received after the stated evidence deadline might not be considered as part of your case or the appeal panel may adjourn your appeal hearing. It will be the appeal panel's decision whether or not it should accept any late information.
If you are considering submitting digital evidence please take into account that a copy of this must be supplied in an accessible format that can be kept as part of the official record. At your appeal hearing you will be responsible for supplying a laptop etc for showing any digital information to all parties at the appeal hearing.
If you decide to submit information using email, please ensure that your attachments are in either PDF form or Microsoft Office compatible.
It is not permissible to include any letters of support from representatives of the school you are appealing for. Such support can create conflicts of interest and unfairness to other appellants.
Can you know why previous appeals were upheld for your preferred school
Previous decisions on school admission appeals do not set precedents so no-one can predict whether your appeal will be successful or not. In addition, school admission appeals are confidential so you cannot ask to see copies of previous appeals or know why other appeals were successful. Your appeal will be considered on your own individual circumstances.
Can you withdraw your appeal
If your circumstance have changed and no longer wish to go ahead with your appeal you can withdraw your appeal. To do this you will need to contact the Surrey Schools Appeals Service.
What happens if my ex-partner wants a copy of the paperwork/detailed decision letter
All correspondence is sent to the named appellant who has completed the notice of appeal form for their child. However, where an estranged partner, with parental responsibility/rights, requires a copy of any of the appeal paperwork, including the detailed decision letter, we would first inform you, as the appellant. Please note that we cannot refuse to send information regarding your child to an ex-partner who is a parent of that child and has parental rights. We can, however, exclude any information regarding yourself if you wish.
What happens after you have submitted an appeal
Once you have submitted an appeal form, if the appeal is for a community or voluntary controlled school or for a school which has delegated the responsibility of organising appeals, the Surrey Schools Appeals Service will arrange an appeal hearing.
