Entry to Reception or Year 7 bulk appeals

Entry to Reception or Year 7 bulk appeals 

At certain times appeal panels will hear appeals from a number of parents who all wish their child to attend the same school and same year group these are known as bulk appeals. A bulk school admissions appeal is a group hearing for parents appealing for places at the same school. It's usually held in the summer for entry to primary reception or secondary Year 7.  Parents should be aware that there can be a long wait between National Offer Day and the outcome of bulk appeals which are typically heard in June or July. It’s important to be realistic about why you are appealing and the chance of your appeal being successful. The majority of school admissions appeals are refused.

The closing dates for receipt of bulk appeals are detailed on the following webpages and updated annually.

• Starting infant or primary school ages 4 - 5
• Starting and applying for secondary school - age 11

Not all appeals will reach the appeal hearing stage. The most common reasons for an appeal to be settled or withdrawn are: 

• The child is offered a place from the school waiting list
• The child is offered a place at another preferred school from their waiting list and no longer wishes to appeal
• The family have since determined that the appeal process is going to be too stressful or don’t think they will be successful and have decided to withdraw

Entry to Secondary School (Year 7) bulk appeal statistics

The following statistics are for LA maintained schools or academy schools who use the school admissions appeal service. 

Entry to Primary or Infant school (reception) bulk appeal statistics

September 2025 Intake:

September 2024 Intake:

September 2023 Intake:

Format for bulk appeals

Bulk appeals are typically heard over the course of a week due so that all appeals can be heard by the same appeal panel. Decisions will not be made until the final appeal has been heard.  

Stage 1 (Examining the decision to refuse admission) 

All parents are invited to attend.

• Welcome
• Chairperson introduces the Appeal Panel
• Chairperson outlines the procedure to be followed
• The Admission Authority Officer presents the case for the school - here the Officer will go over the reasons for not admitting your child to your preferred school
• Questions – you and the Appeals Panel will have the opportunity to ask any questions about the Admission Authority’s case 

This can take up to 2 hours. At the end the panel will adjourn and decide if the School’s Admissions Arrangements have been correctly and impartially applied. If the panel agree that they have the appeal moves onto stage 2. 

Stage 2 (Balancing stage - Individual cases) 

This is no longer a group stage. You will be appointed a separate time slot to attend and present your individual case. 

• The Admission Authority Officer will briefly outline your application
• You present your case
• Questions – members of the Appeals Panel and the Admission Authority Officer have the opportunity to ask you questions about your case or to ask you to clarify issues
• Admission Authority Officer sums up
• You sum up
• Chairperson asks you if you have said everything you wish to
• You and the Admission Authority Officer leave the room