General question re appeal comment (kent)

[Frikadellen]

I am preparing the appeal for ds for 2ndary school and on reading the info I came across this

If your appeal is for a Kent school please ensure that your appeal is received by 16 April.
Appeals received after this date will need to be accompanied by a reasonable explanation as to why they are late. A late appeal may have to be heard after the others from the same school.

As I understood it you can appeal at any time of year (once pr school year) or do I have this wrong?

As I obviously will have the appeal in by the 16th this really is my being academic but it surprised me to read you needed an explanation.

This seems to be a growing trend by LAs to be getting more and more specific in saying there is a deadline. This is partially being caused by the wording in the current school admission appeal code which says Admission Authorities must set a timetable for organising and hearing appeals that includes a deadline for lodging appeals which allows appellants at least 20 days from the date of notification that their application was unsuccessful to prepare and lodge their written appeal. It was written this way so that appealants were being given sufficient time to reply, not so the admission authority could pick up on the first part that there is a deadline for submission of appeals.
However what the admission authority is tending to ignore is what it says in paragraph 2.4, which is that any appeal submitted after the appropriate deadline must still be heard, in accordance with whatever timetable is set out. So there is no legal deadline only what is a sensible deadline to allow the admission authorities to arrange the appeals in an efficient manner in accordance with the time limits. That is not an easy task in large authorities like Kent and is an administrative nightmare.

I agree with Tiggytape and Admission. If Kent refused to hear a late appeal because the parent hadn't stated a reason for being late or because they didn't think the reason was good enough they would clearly be in breach of the Appeals Code.

Thank you everyone.. I am kinda pleased to see I had understood it correctly even if it was only an academic question for me it may become something worth knowing for others at some point..