What happens after I apply
If the school you applied for has a place, your child will be offered a place at the school.
If the school you have applied for does not have a place, the school will add your child to their waiting list, and you have the right of appeal against the school’s decision to refuse your child admission.
The school will notify the School Admissions and Fair Access Service of your child’s details and the outcome of your application.
If your child is not in receipt of education and not on roll at another school, your child will be offered a place at one of the nearest schools to your home address that has a vacancy available. If there is no school place available within what School Admissions and Fair Access Service considers a reasonable distance, your child will be offered a school place under the Fair Access Protocol.
Waiting lists
Waiting lists are compiled in the same order as the school's oversubscription criteria, for example, siblings first.
Waiting lists are fluid and are not fixed, so your child's name could move down as well as up a waiting list. Having a place on the waiting list does not guarantee that a place will become available.
The school will send you an offer letter if a school place becomes available for your child from their waiting list.
Appeals
You can appeal against the refusal of a place in current Reception class to current Year 13 using our In Year appeal form.
Infant class size legislation appeals
It is important you understand that the circumstances in which an appeal panel may uphold an infant class size appeal (reception class, year 1 or year 2 only) are extremely limited.
For an appeal to be successful, an appeal panel must be satisfied that:
- the admission of additional children would not breach the infant class size limit (which requires that no infant class should contain more than 30 pupils with a single qualified teacher; if this is exceeded, the school will be required to take qualifying measures)
- the child would have been offered a place if the published admission arrangements had been properly implemented
- the child would have been offered a place if the arrangements had not been contrary to mandatory provisions in the School Admissions Code and the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, and/or
- the decision to refuse admission was not one that a reasonable admission authority would have made in the circumstances of the case
It is important that parents and carers recognise this before investing what can be a significant amount of time and effort in an infant class size appeal.
For full information on the infant class size legislation see section 4 .
For details about appeals and to submit an In-Year appeal form for the schools Birmingham City Council manages see the schools appeals process.
Page last updated: 3 April 2025