School Admission Appeals Timetable

Lodging an appeal

All parents have the right to appeal against any decision made by or on behalf of an admission authority as to the school your child attends under legislation produced by the Department for Education (DfE). You have the right of appeal if you have parental responsibility, whether or not you are the natural parent or if you care for a child who lives with you. It does not have to be the same person who submitted the application form.

If you do wish to appeal, you will need to complete an appeal form stating why you want your child to attend The Beacon School. You can appeal for a place at more than one school, but you cannot appeal for a school you did not name on your application form.

Your appeal must be made in writing and you must explain the reasons why you are lodging an appeal. If you submit an appeal form without setting out your grounds of appeal, it will be returned to you as you will not have lodged your appeal correctly. Therefore, it is very important for you to state clearly your reasons for lodging your appeal.

Appeals are now heard on a face-to-face basis, if you have difficulties attending please contact the School Appeals Service.

Appeal Timelines

In Year or Immediate Entry Appeals

Appeals resulting from in-year admission applications will be heard within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged. The deadline for lodging appeals at least 30 school days from the date of notification of unsuccessful applications.

Appeals for September 2025 resulting from year of entry or transfer applications: 

Appeals resulting from year of entry or transfer applications for admission in September 2025 to community and voluntary controlled schools will be heard according to the following timetable – for other types of schools please refer to the school record via the following website Directory of Surrey Schools

School	National Offer Day	Appeals lodged by	Appeals to be heard by
Secondary	3 March 2025	TBC	TBC

NB: Appeals will not start being heard until after the relevant closing date has passed.

Appeals lodged after these dates will be heard within 40 school days of the appeal deadline or 30 school days of being lodged, whichever is the later date.

Appellants will be sent notification of their appeal hearing at least 10 clear school days in advance of the hearing. Appellants will be sent a copy of the school's case 7 clear working days in advance of the hearing.

Appellants will normally receive the decision within 5 school days of the hearing, wherever possible.

If an appellant wishes to submit further evidence which was not included with their initial appeal, they must make sure that it is received no later than 5pm on the day preceding 3 clear working days prior to the appeal hearing date. Any additional evidence or information received after this date might not be considered at the appeal hearing.

How to Lodge an Appeal

For more information on appeals, and how to appeal, please see the following page on the Surrey Admissions website

You can also contact the Surrey Appeals team as follows:

Surrey Appeals team telephone 020 8541 8092 or via email surrey.schoolappeals@surreycc.gov.uk.