Nearly all Gloucestershire parents are offered their preferred primary school place

This year a total of 6,370 Gloucestershire children have been offered a primary school place for September, with 98 per cent being admitted to one of their preferred schools and 91 per cent of pupils receiving a place at their first preference school.

“We aim to ensure that as many children as possible are able to attend a school of their choice. We’re pleased to have been able to achieve this for the vast majority,” said Cllr Philip Robinson, Gloucestershire County Council Cabinet Member for Economy, Education & Skills.

Parents and carers who applied online should have received an email on Tuesday, April 19, confirming their school place which they will be invited to accept online. Those who did not apply online are due to receive a letter including the place on offer and the reasons why.

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This letter is specific to each pupil and contains an explanation for the decision made. Parents are encouraged to accept their place online or return their reply forms as soon as possible, and have until April 26 to either accept their school place or request an alternative school.

If parents ask for their child’s school place to be reconsidered, they will be placed on the waiting list for their preferred schools. If places then become available as some parents change their preferences over the coming months, they will be offered a place in line with the school’s admission policy.

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Parents unhappy with their initial offer are encouraged to keep their place as this will ensure that, whatever the outcome of the reconsideration, their child will have a place at a school in September.

The county council will write to parents with the result of the reconsideration after 17 May and parents will have until the 24 May to reply. Those who are still not satisfied with their given school will be advised of the appeals procedure.

How to appeal a pupil place

The majority of parents and pupils in Gloucestershire have the school place they wanted. But the few who haven’t there is the option to appeal. Here’s how it works.

Parents and carers can get an appeals form from the council for completion and return. They can appeal for a place at any school even, if they did not include the school in their original choices – but can only do so once per application.

New appeals are considered if there has been a substantial change in circumstances for the family. There is also an option if new information comes to light that affects their case.

Appeals are heard within 40 school days of the closing date for cases to be raised for normal-round admissions. Appeals relating to in-year admissions are held within 30 days.

Cases are heard by an Independent Appeals Panel in line with the School Admission Appeals Code and relevant laws. Parents and carers can attend their hearing in person, where a representative of the admission authority would also be present. Both sides can ask questions.

Where a parent or carer can’t attend in person – or doesn’t want to – the panel can hear the case in their absence by considering submitted written information. In such circumstances, the The panel clerk – who has no part in making the final legally-binding decision – the point of contact for parents and carers.

There are two types of appeals: standard appeals and infant class size appeals. Standard appeals are heard in two stages, the factual stage and the balancing stage.

In the first stage, the panel must decide whether allocating a place to a child in a family’s preferred school would stretch resources or affect the efficiency of education there. The balancing stage sees the panel weigh the case of the council and the family to rule on which is stronger.

There’s a separate process for infant class size appeals. Here, the panel considers the law on infant class sizes, which states that the reception class, and classes in years one and two, cannot have more than 30 children per teacher. Panel members have to decide whether the admissions authority was right to refuse a place to a child by taking into account the size of classes at their preferred school.

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