Appeals

Infant class size rule

The Government has set a limit on the size of infant classes (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2), as described below. Only 1 in 9 appeals for reception are successful because of the infant class size law.
 

Infant class size

Infant classes (those where the majority of children will reach the age of 5, 6 or 7 during the school year) must not contain more than 30 pupils with a single school teacher. Additional children may be admitted under limited exceptional circumstances. These children will remain an ‘excepted pupil’ for the time they are in an infant class or until the class numbers fall back to the current infant class size limit. The excepted children are:

a) children admitted outside the normal admissions round with statements of special educational needs or Education, Health and Care Plans specifying a school;

b) looked after children and previously looked after children admitted outside the normal admissions round;

c) children admitted, after initial allocation of places, because of a procedural error made by the admission authority or local authority in the original application process;

d) children admitted after an independent appeals panel upholds an appeal;

e) children who move into the area outside the normal admissions round for whom there is no other available school within reasonable distance;

f) children of UK service personnel admitted outside the normal admissions round;

g) children whose twin or sibling from a multiple birth is admitted otherwise than as an excepted pupil;

h) children with special educational needs who are normally taught in a special educational needs unit attached to the school, or registered at a special school, who attend some infant classes within the mainstream school.

Reception appeal timetable

Allocation letters / emails sent to parents
Wednesday 16 April 2025

Deadline for parents to submit appeal
Tuesday 20 May 2025

Appeals received by deadline date to be heard within 40 school days
Tuesday 22 July 2025

Last appeal date in summer term
Week beginning 21 July 2025

For late applications, appeals will be heard within 40 school days from the deadline for lodging appeals where possible, or within 30 school days of being lodged.

In-Year appeals

These appeals are for children transferring between schools mid-year.

Before you can make an appeal you must first have applied to the Academy by completing an In-Year Application Form for the local authority. Details of how to do this can be found on the Admissions page under the heading In-year admissions. Once you have received a letter advising you that a place cannot be offered, you can then proceed to make an appeal for our academy if you wish to.

You can make a formal appeal to an independent appeal panel, for any school that you have applied for where admission has been refused. This is a legal process and places are not ‘reserved’ for appeal panels to offer.

As a guide, only 1 in 9 appeals for Reception, Year 1 & Year 2 are successful because of the infant class size rule described above, and only 1 in 5 appeals for Years 3 to 6 are successful.

Appeals made during the academic year (in-year) will be heard within 30 school days, or as soon as reasonably practicable.

Appeal forms and information

The local authority (Council) processes the applications & appeals for this Academy. Details of the appeals process and the appeal form can be found here.

If you need to speak to someone about the appeal process, you can contact the local authority via:

Telephone: 01274 089 930

Email: schoolappeals@bradford.gov.uk