Primary and infant classes
The primary level data is further split into infant (reception and years one and two) and other primary classes. There are regulations in place which require infant classes (reception and years 1 and 2) to be limited to 30 children[1] (opens in a new tab). This reduces the possibilities for appeal for these years.
The rate of appeals heard is 0.9% for infant classes and 2.9% for other primary classes.
As would be expected, there is also a contrast in the success rates, with 10.2% of heard infant class appeals being successful (614) compared to 29.4% of other primary classes (1,234).
[1] (opens in a new tab) The School Admissions (Infant Class Sizes) (England) Regulations 2012 prescribe certain limited circumstances in which pupils may be admitted as lawful exceptions to the infant class size limit of 30 for one-teacher classes. This means that a class of, for example, 32 pupils is lawful if two or more of those pupils have been admitted under lawful exceptions.
Primary timeseries
The number of primary school appeals heard and successful have been fairly stable over the last few years after a period of substantial drops. In 2015/16 (start of comparable timeseries) 22,820 appeals were heard and 4,152 were successful, compared to 10,238 and 1,848 respectively in 2023/24.
New admission numbers have also dropped over the timeseries, but at a much slower rate, meaning the proportion of appeals heard has decreased from 2.6% to 1.3% over the same time period.
The proportion of appeals which are successful has fluctuated over the time period, rather than showing a consistent decline. At 18.1% in 2023/24 they are the same as in the first couple of years of the timeseries. However, there has been bigger fluctuation in recent years, as the declines in the number of appeals heard and successful have happened unevenly.
Primary geographic variation
Figures are provided at local authority level, both for infant classes, total primary appeals (including the infant appeals). Differences in success rates can be driven by the results of a small number of appeals and therefore can be volatile. Caution should be used when comparing the figures.
The local authorities with the highest rates of appeals heard were:
- Kingston-upon-Hull (6.0%)
- Derby (6.0%)
Bolton (5.7%)
Four local authorities (Isles of Scilly, City of London, Hammersmith & Fulham and Kingston upon Thames) heard no primary appeals, although the first two only had 23 and 32 new primary admissions respectively.
The appeal data can also be analysed at regional level. Overall the appeals heard rate for primary schools was 1.3%, but regionally this varied from 0.6% (North East, Inner and Outer London) to 2.3% (North West). The success rates will be more volatile as they are based on a total of just 1,848 successful primary appeals. The region with the lowest success rate was Inner London (1.7%) and the highest Yorkshire and the Humber (26.8%).
