Secondary School Appeal

[Secondaryschool2027]

Hi all. We are in the process of looking around secondary schools for September 2027. Our first choice school has told us that, as we are outside of catchment, we are very unlikely to get a place and would be relying upon an appeal.

I had a few questions about the appeals process, hopefully for those who have sat on panels and know about the actual inner workings 🤞🏻

Does a child's behaviour or support needs at primary school have any impact upon whether the secondary school will or won't admit that child. For example, if child A has ADHD, has taken up considerable teaching time due to disruptive behaviour or is autistic etc, are the school more likely to say they cant accommodate that child over child B who has been a model student? I'm thinking about the arguement of the school saying it will prejudice them more to accept the child than to the child not being accepted.

Next question....🙈 The school is applying to increase their PAN. If the local authority don't agree to the increase, then could it still be used in an arguement that they must feel they have space etc, otherwise why would they be applying to increase it?

Thanks for any insight anyone might have.

A few thoughts from a governor - a generalist not an expert.

Does the child have an ECHP? Clearly the child is on the SEN register but if the child is only at 'SEN register' level without an ECHP it would be difficult for a school to refuse a child, or to argue it can't meet their needs...or conversely for a parent to argue that school X is going to be better at meeting needs than school Y.

With the PAN question, I've never heard of an appeal quite on those lines before. The school may be aiming to increase PAN but there's more to it than physical space - there's staffing as well. If the school did decide or get LA permission to go over PAN it would presumably have to offer places to the next pupils on its oversubscription criteria, not just the ones who had who had appealed.

Thank you for getting back to me ☺️ I'm just trying to get my head around the possibilities and likelihood. Although I appreciate nobody can know until the actual day, based on who else appeals and what their reasons are!

A state school cannot refuse a place on basis of Additional Needs or behaviour unless it requested as part of an EHCP placement and they cannot meet those needs. The admissions criteria are applied to all applicants and all ranked accordingly, there is no primary school input. Pupils are offered their highest preference for which they qualify for a place within PAN. It seems unlikely any current consultation on PAN would be for 2027 entry and even then it may involve addition of classrooms and building works to facilitate expansion.

The admissions policies (including the PAN) for 27-28 have already been decided. Has the school applied for an in-year variation / PAN increase due to a major change in circumstances (see the admissions code);or has the LA asked them to take a bulge class / admit over PAN?

PAN isn’t just about physical space but whether they can deliver the curriculum, do they have sufficient teachers etc.

I'm not sure about the details of the PAN increase other than we were told there would be a consultation process between October and January with a decision made in January for September 2027.

If they are consulting on a change in the admissions policy / PAN from October it will be for AY 28-29, starting Yr. 7 in September 2028. The oversubscription criteria in the admissions policy tells you how places will be allocated and you can usually check back on previous years to compare applications with offers. I would advise you to name a realistic option among your preferences.

When schools defend against appeals, they are usually focusing on capacity. They may argue on a few points:

• overall capacity in the school e.g. in corridors, lunch hall etc. This could be weakened by them raising PAN, as they are saying they could cope with more students. However the school could argue that either a) they are going to increase PAN so they really will be at their limit or b) if they raise PAN they will manage things differently e.g. building work, staggered lunch breaks, but for now the points are valid.
• classroom capacity and impact on teaching/other pupils of larger classes. This would be unrelated to the PAN in other years.

The panel can't take into account 'my child is a perfect student and would cause no bother' in an appeal.

Have you considered moving?

@Secondaryschool2027 as a pp said, the impending consultation will be for the Sept 2028 policy. Their Sept 2027 policy should have been determined and published by March 15th 2026.

What type of school is it? Academy? Voluntary Aided? Or LA-run? Only the latter has to consult on a PAN increase (and even then, the LA only needs to consult the school governing body, not the public). Schools that are their own admissions authority can increase their PAN without consultation..They can also admit above their PAN if they feel they have space. This is all set out in the national Admissions Code claused 1.2-1.5.

To win an appeal, your case will need to be stronger than the school's case for being full. If they are planning to increase their PAN it is reasonable to ask about this at the appeal, but you might find that they are already admitting the max number anyway, pending the formal PAN increase. They are allowed to do that under clause 1.4.

Don't assume that a random teacher at an open evening knows much at all about the admissions process or policy - they are likely to be paraphrasing something they heard in a meeting.

Thank you all so much for your help. It's an academy school but the admissions are administered by the council.

@smudgedy That's really useful info thank you. I've checked their website and the 2027/2028 policy isn't available yet. Do you know how exactly they can admit above their PAN without permission from the LA? Thanks again.

As they're an academy they just tell the LA before National Offer Day how many extra they want to admit above PAN. They don't need permission.

Their 27/28 policy should be published. If its not on the Admissions page look on their Policy page. It might also be on the LA website.

If it's not there, email the school and ask for it. If necessary, quote the relevant section of the code which says it should have been published online by March 15th.

"Does the child have an ECHP? Clearly the child is on the SEN register but if the child is only at 'SEN register' level without an ECHP it would be difficult for a school to refuse a child, or to argue it can't meet their needs...or conversely for a parent to argue that school X is going to be better at meeting needs than school Y."

If the child has an EHCP they wouldn't use the normal admissions process to secure a school place and would not appeal using the Schools Admissions Appeals process.

If they don't have an EHCP, it's a one way road - the school can't say 'we can't have that child because their SEN puts pressure on resources'. They can only say 'we can't take any child because it puts pressure on resources. Conversely, the appellant absolutely can cite additional needs as a reason for a particular school being necessary at appeal. However, the reasons would have to be that the school has a particular feature or offering that benefits the child over that offered by the allocated school.

If a school did increase PAN, they would have to allocate from the waiting list in oversubscription order. However, if the school argued that it was full, the panel decided it wasn't, and decided 3 appellants could be admitted, it would be a case of weighing the relative strength of prejudice and oversubscription criteria wouldn't feature.

@Secondaryschool2027 bear in mind that if they do go over PAN then they will have an even stronger argument that they are full. There is a difference between increasing PAN and admitting over PAN.

Thanks both. I hadn't appreciated the difference between the two. If their published PAN is 210, can they say to the LA before offers day "we will take 270" or are we talking about a few extra children here and there? The amount of knowledge you guys have is incredible!

They can take 270 if they have the space. Most schools want to take as many students as possible to maximise their funding.

I would presume they do have space as they reduced their PAN 2 years ago due to low numbers, but they've since had a good Ofsted report and now interest has increased. They said at the open evening they wanted to increase their PAN and intake. The gov website shows them as being several hundred under the buildings capacity. Although I appreciate that doesn't mean they can have a massive intake in one year group.

Whatever you do be sure to list this school as your first preference on the common application form if, as you say, it is your favourite school.

Such listing has no impact on the likelihood of being offered a lower preference school. They are considered as separate applications, and each one is considered without reference to the others.

You say you are out of catchment. Is this a defined catchment, eg a group of postcodes or a distance? Or is the word being used more loosely to mean "where our students usually come from"? If the latter then this can differ significantly from year to year.

I sit on an appeals panel, which took very seriously the documented advice from a school to a parent not to bother applying because no-one that far away had ever got in before. They would have got in on offer day had they named the school.