Admissions Appeal Services

This service is statutory for Community, Voluntary Aided & Foundation Schools in Enfield

The School Admission Appeals service is offered to all non-local authority maintained / voluntary aided controlled schools. These schools are responsible for arranging an Independent Panel to hear a parent appeal against a decision not to admit their child to the school.

Appeals are heard for either primary schools or secondary schools. They can be for children starting school in September, or for children wishing to enter the school at any point throughout the academic year. 

Appeal hearings are required to follow a prescribed format of the admission authority or their representative presenting their case, and then being asked questions. The parents/carer will then present their case and questions can be asked of them. The aim of the hearing is to hear all the evidence in a fair, but firm, manner and allow both parties an opportunity to state their case.

The Council’s service operates well established procedures and practices for arranging School Admission Appeals and has planned hearing dates throughout the academic year, thus giving schools as much notice as possible. The Council’s service has a proven track record of successfully arranging admission appeals within the requirements of the School Admission Appeals Code and has built up a large pool of experienced and trained independent panel members.

We provide a full service which covers matters such as contacting the parents and dealing with all queries and bookings relating to the hearing so we require little from the school aside from producing necessary paperwork and attending the hearing on the day. We can also provide tailored quotations based on your specific service needs.  

• For each appeal lodged with the School Appeals Service, the school will be invoiced for the sum for each individual appeal. However, a discount is applied for schools who are signed up to our service which offers a saving on every fourth hearing (admission or exclusion) held. There is also a tiered pricing structure to reflect reduced costs for cases which do not proceed to full hearing

• The cost includes the provision of panel members and covering all the necessary administration such as clerking by a legally trained person; compiling, printing and send out paperwork bundle; providing the venue and refreshments for hearings

• Should an interpreter be required to attend the hearing, the cost of this will be payable by the school and is avaialble as another traded service

• Hearings scheduled outside Enfield borough, may incur additional charges such as travelling costs for visits offsite or external room hire costs

This service is statutory for Community, Voluntary Aided & Foundation Schools in Enfield