What to do if your child is refused their preferred secondary school place

Friday March 1st marks the official secondary school placement allocation deadline. The day when thousands of families across the country will learn which school their children will start when making the transition from primary to secondary in September 2024.

However, year on year many parents and carers receive the unwanted news that they have been refused their first choice, leaving them anxious about what the future holds.

Here, leading education law expert Sarah Woosey, from Simpson Millar, explains what can be done if you are unhappy about the school your child has been allocated including submitting an appeal to the local authorities, and pursuing legal action if the appeal is unsuccessful.

“If you’ve expressed a preference for a particular school and your child didn’t get a place, you have a right of appeal”, Sarah explains.

“You will be sent an appeal form with the letter telling you whether or not your child got a place at a particular school. Send this back within the timescale given (usually at least twenty school days), giving reasons why your child should have been awarded a place.

“Don’t worry if you don’t have all the information that you’d like to submit to support your appeal, as this can be lodged at a later date. If the letter doesn’t enclose the form, contact the admission authority immediately to get details of their appeal process.”