The 16th of April is National Offer Day, meaning that parents across the UK will be finding out what primary school place their child/children have been offered for the next school year, starting September 2020.
I hope that there are many parents across the country jumping with joy over their children’s offered school place, but there could be a small portion who are disappointed with their offer. As a result of this, there are ways that parents can appeal the decision.
What can schools do?
Firstly, this is a time more than ever where parents are in need of support. Ensure that you are a support network for parents and families who may just need some friendly reassurance regarding their child’s offered school place or advice on what to do if they are unhappy.
As a school, it might be a good idea to publish onto your school website the advice and guidance that is on your local councils website, such as how parents can appeal the decision/offer. You should be able to find this information under the school admissions section. I would also advise getting this information if possible added to a newsletter/email/letter/text going out to parents.
How to Appeal the Decision:
Government advice for schools across the UK:
Appealing a decision and Covid-19: what’s different?
The Department for Education has stated today that the usual process of an appeal will be relaxed due to the current outbreak of coronavirus. A temporary legislation is going to be released with the intent that appeals can go ahead with as little people face to face as possible and that the deadline for appeals will be amended.
You can find out more information about the changes due to Coronavirus here as well as a questions and answers sections at the bottom. (This would also be useful for schools to publish onto your website for concerned parents).
Here is an example of what you might want to include on your website for parents:
(These links are for Manchester schools admissions and are taken from the Manchester City Council website)
- If your child/children are due to be attending a Manchester school in September 2020 and you wish to appeal the place they have been offered, here is information on how you can appeal the decision
- Here is also a link to a PDF with in-depth information that is broken down on how to appeal and the process it includes.
Contact details:
If you wish to contact and speak to someone directly, then Manchester’s admissions team contact details are:
Phone: 0161 245 7166 Email: school.admissions@manchester.gov.uk By post: PO Box 532, Town Hall, Albert Square, Manchester M60 2LA
Finally, hopefully there are many parents who are very happy with today’s outcome, but let’s ensure that we are supporting those who are not as much as possible throughout this already difficult time.
Stay Safe Everyone.
