Appeals

Year 7 – September 2024/2025 (main round) Appeals

After national allocations day, Friday 1st March 2024, you have the right to appeal for any school named on your application that hasn’t been able to offer your child a place.

You can appeal for more than one school named on your application, but you must appeal to each school individually using a new form for each. You will need to complete an appeal request form, available here and return it directly to Chatham Grammar at [email protected] or by post addressed to:

Clerk of the Independent Appeal Panel

c/o Chatham Grammar

Rainham Road

Chatham

ME5 7EH

Key Dates for your information:

The offer of a place in a school/academy will be given on Friday 1st March 2024

The deadline for submitting an appeal for Year 7 2024/2025 cohort is Thursday 28th March 2024.

Chatham Grammar appeals will be held during spring 2024

The date for Chatham Grammar appeals will be provisionally in May/June 2023.

What happens next?

After you submit your appeal a hearing will be set up and you will be invited to attend. You will be given at least 10 school days’ notice of the hearing and will be given a deadline to submit any further evidence you wish to provide. The academy is unable to guarantee that any original work/evidence/folders, submitted as part of the appeal, will be returned. Appellants may wish to submit copies in advance and then take important original documents verifying evidence to the appeal.

Appellants are respectfully asked to note that excessive amounts of supporting evidence should not be necessary. Guidance regarding this matter will be given once the appeal has been submitted.

Your child’s current school may also provide supporting evidence (e.g. a letter from the headteacher), but they aren’t obligated to. You will need to discuss this with them directly. Any evidence submitted after the deadline may not be considered at the hearing.

About the hearing:

· Your appeal will be heard by an independent panel who have no connection to the school.

· The panel will decide on whether or not to uphold your appeal and grant your child a place.

· Appeals are being held by written submission. This means that parents will not attend the hearing in person and so must give clear and full reasons for why they are appealing in their written statement and must provide written evidence that supports their arguments

What will happen at the hearing?

· The panel will decide on whether or not to uphold your appeal and grant your child a place.

· The admission authority will explain why they turned down your application.

· You’ll be able to give your own reasons why your child should be given a place.

· The appeals panel must decide if the academy’s admission arrangements were properly followed and are legal according to the academy admissions appeals code.

· If the arrangements are legal and were properly followed, the panel must decide if they were followed fairly and thoroughly.

· If the arrangements weren’t properly followed or are illegal, your appeal must be upheld.

· If your appeal has not already been upheld, the panel will decide if your reasons for your child receiving a place outweigh the academy’s reasons for not admitting another child.

· The panel will send you and the admission authority their decision within five academy days.

· A panel’s decision can only be overturned by a court. If there’s a change in your circumstances which could affect the decision, you may be able to appeal again.

The decision

· The independent panel will make their decision after all appeals have been heard.

· You will be notified of the decision in writing, usually within five working days of the last appeal, this may be more than 5 days later than your appeal.

· The decision of the panel is final and can only be overturned by a court. Full details of the appeals process and regulations are available in the School Admissions Appeals Code.

In-year (casual) admission appeals – all year groups

If Chatham Grammar is unable to offer your child a place, either because they have been assessed as non-selective (non-Grammar) or because we are full in the required year group, you have the right to appeal this decision. To appeal an In-Year admission outcome, please complete the In-Year admissions appeal form and return directly to the above address or to [email protected]. In-year admissions appeals will be heard on an ad-hoc basis, and you will be contacted to arrange a mutually convenient date for the hearing.

If you have any queries regarding appeals, then please contact our Admissions Team at the school who will be able to help you via [email protected] or telephone 01634 851262.