Schools appeals timetable
Hearing dates 2025
Each type of appeal has its own arrangements:
- reception appeals: for children under 5 who will begin school on or after 1 September 2025
- infant to junior cohort appeals: for children who will be entering Year 3 in September 2025, appealing for a place in a junior school
- secondary transfer appeals: for children aged 11 who will transfer to secondary school in September 2025
- sixth form appeals: for Year 11 students who want to move to sixth form education in a school in September 2025. Note: appeals for admission to a sixth form college are dealt with by the college itself
- in-year appeals: for children of any age changing school, including a school sixth form
Timetable for appeals
| Secondary appeals | Primary appeals | Sixth form appeals | |
| National Offer date | 3 March 2025 | 16 April 2025 | |
| Deadline appeals MUST be received by (*20 school days)* | 31 March 2025 | 16 May 2025 | Subject to review, to facilitate earliest possible hearing |
| Appeal hearings held | May to July 2025 | June and July 2025 |
*Appeals submitted after the deadline date will be heard within 40 school days of the appeal being lodged.
In-year admission appeals, for people applying for school places in the middle of a school year, will be heard within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged.
Sixth form appeals will be heard within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged or, if the offer of a place would have depended upon exam results, 30 school days after those results are received.
Appeals will be heard in accordance with the revised Government Guidance that was issued in October 2022. Visit the GOV.UK website for further information on the Appeals code.