Appeals

If you wish to appeal against a decision to refuse a place for your child at this school you can appeal in writing using the form below. Information on how to appeal can be found by clicking here.  Please ensure that you read the guidance notes published online before submitting your appeal.  As The Whitstable School is part of Swale Academies Trust all appeal forms must be submitted to the school.  The Whitstable School uses an externally appointed Independent Appeals Panel.

The Appeal Form

The panel would prefer the form to be typed, but handwritten forms, in black ink, are acceptable. Please ensure that the Clerk can read your details including telephone numbers and email addresses. ‘Signatures’ may be typed. You should include any evidence or supporting material with your appeal form, and you must give the grounds for your appeal at the time you lodge your appeal.  Your appeal form will not be accepted unless you state the grounds for your appeal. You may appeal for more than one school.

If you decide to send in additional information after you have sent your appeal form, you must provide 5 copies for the panel.

Do not send your appeal to the local authority.  Please send your form to Mrs J Croucher, Admissions Officer: either by email or by post.

For appeals during the 2024/2025 admissions round (to start September 2024), you should return your completed appeal form to The Whitstable School by Tuesday 26th March 2024.

Appeals relating to late applications for a place

If your application was made after Tuesday 31 October 2023 (closing date for applications for secondary school places) appeals will be heard as soon as practically possible and ideally before the start of the new school year.  

Appeals Timeline - 2024/25 Admissions

Date Details
Friday 1st March 2024 Offer Date
Thursday 28th March 2024 by 4pm

Last day for lodging appeal forms for a place in Year 7 to start in September 2024.

Note: Appeals which are received after this date will wherever possible be heard together with those appeals lodged before the deadline.  Where this is not possible, they will be heard as soon as practicably possible and ideally before the start of the new school year.

W/C Monday 13th May 2024 An invitation letter giving details about your hearing will be sent to you from the Independent Appeal Panel, this will be at least 10 school days before the stage 1 hearing.
Friday 17th May 2024
by midday

Deadline for any supporting evidence.

Additional paperwork received on the day of the appeal hearing will not be taken into account.

Tuesday 11th June 2024  Stage 1: Part of the hearing (with other parents present) will take place remotely via zoom meeting.
11th June onwards  Stage 2: Individual private hearings, will take place remotely via zoom.  Due to the high number of appeals these are likely to take place over several days.
Up to 2 weeks after the hearing A letter will be sent form the Clerk informing you of the decision of the independent appeal panel.

The Appeal Hearing and Decision

Appeal hearing
The hearing lets you explain to an independent appeal panel why you think your child should be given a place at the school and lets the school explain why it could not offer your child a place.
Appeal hearings usually take 30 minutes and are held Monday to Friday between 9am and 4.30pm.
We will send you the details and a copy of the school’s case at least 10 school days before the hearing. If you want to send us any additional evidence you must make sure that we get it at least 5 school days before the hearing date.

Decision
We will write to tell you the panel’s decision as soon as possible. We cannot tell you the decision by telephone.
If your appeal is unsuccessful, you can’t lodge another appeal to the same school for the same school year, unless you can show your circumstances have changed since the first appeal.

Waiting List

Parents of children who have not been offered a place at the school may ask for their child’s name to be placed on a waiting list. The waiting list will be operated using the same admissions criteria listed in the Admissions Policy. Placing a child’s name on the waiting list does not guarantee that a place will become available. It is possible that when a child is directed under the Local Authority’s fair access protocol they will take precedence over those children already on the list.

Parents will be contacted as soon as a place becomes available

In-Year (Casual) Admissions

For other appeals such as transfer and in-year admissions (moving from one school to another during the school year) please complete and return an appeal form to the school within 4 weeks of the date of your refusal letter. These appeals will be heard as soon as practicably possible.

For more information please click here.