Appeals for Secondary Schools
Secondary schools are in high demand and students may not always get their first choice. If a child's application is rejected, a parent can appeal the school's decision. According to the School Admissions Code, parents have the right of appeal against any application that has been turned down. After the first selection, local authorities can reallocate places that become available if some students move or have chosen a different school.
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Basis for Appeal
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The School Admissions code indicates the basis on which a child may be denied a place in a school of his choice. But the admission authorities and admission appeal panels must comply with the code to ensure equity and fairness in admission and appeals. Parents appealing for secondary schools should ensure that the full reasons provided for refusing admission are based on the admissions code. If the code has been followed, parents can still establish if there any other reasons for the rejection based on prejudice.
School's Capacity
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Schools may turn down some applications based on the physical capacity of the school to accommodate students. Parents can establish the average capacity of children in a classroom each year. They can also inquire about the number of children in each year group at the date their child would start school, if he were to be admitted. Other factors include the capacity of common areas such as sports rooms and dining halls, the width and safety of corridors and stairways. If the school shows the capability of accommodating more children than it is, then a parent can launch an appeal to the appeals board of the school.
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Teaching Capacity
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Parents may appeal on the basis of whether or not the school is capable of teaching larger groups of children. Factors that can be taken into consideration include the number of children with special educational needs in the relevant year group. If this group is small, then there may be spare teaching capacity. Also, if the classrooms can accommodate more than 30 children, then it is possible that a larger group can be taught without difficulty. A final consideration would be whether the school is fully staffed with teachers. Parents can forward their appeal to the board if these factors are firmly established.
Grounds for Refusing Appeal
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The appeals are not always successful. If the admission authority has applied an oversubscription criterion to the school then the appeal may not be successful. If some students have been admitted on the basis of priority as a sibling or due to overbearing medical conditions, it might also be difficult to challenge this.
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