YEAR 7 ADMISSION APPEALS FOR ENTRY SEPTEMBER 2023

Parents/carers whose application for their child to gain admission to Poole Grammar School is unsuccessful have a right of appeal to an independent Admissions Appeals Panel. This will be organised by BCP Council. An appeal must be made on the official Poole Grammar School appeals form and must be lodged directly with BCP Council via their appeals portal: https://www.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/Schools-and-learning/School-appeals/Lodging-an-appeal.aspx

Parents/carers of Year 7 students wanting to enter the school in September 2023 cannot appeal ahead of school places being offered on 1 March 2023.

It is important that parents/carers accept the school place offered to their child by their local authority, in order to secure them a secondary school place. The acceptance of this place does not affect the right to appeal their child not being given a place at Poole Grammar School, or prejudice any appeal hearing in any way.

For an appeal application to be valid, the following conditions must have been met: 

• Submitting a valid ‘Registration for Testing’ form on time;
• The applicant taking all components of the entrance tests;
• Poole Grammar School stated as a choice on the secondary school places application form submitted to the applicant’s local authority.

The timeline for Year 7 September 2023 admission appeals is detailed below:

• Appeals lodged after these dates will be heard as soon as reasonably practicable.
• You will receive at least 14 calendar days’ notice of your appeal hearing date unless you waive this right in order to have an earlier appeal hearing date.
• Appeals are normally heard during the daytime on weekdays and are not normally heard during school holidays unless essential to avoid un-necessary delays.
• Where there are a number of parents/carers all appealing for places at the same school, the hearings may go over a number of days.
• The school’s case will be dispatched to parents and Panel members at least 7 calendar days before the start of the appeal hearing.
• The Panel will set a deadline for any additional evidence to be received.
• Following the hearing, decision letters will be sent, where possible, within 7 calendar days of the end of the hearing.  During busy periods, such as main entry, full decision letters may take longer than this, so the Clerk will send a brief decision summary letter in the interim.
• Appeal hearings for in-year places will be heard as soon as reasonably practicable.

If your child has not been awarded a place at Poole Grammar School for September 2023 and you would like to appeal that decision, you should read the Guidance Notes for Appeals 2022-23 – Guidance-Notes-for-Appeals – Annex C 2022-23

You should make your appeal via BCP Council’s appeals portal: https://www.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/Schools-and-learning/School-appeals/Lodging-an-appeal.aspx  You should not return the form to Poole Grammar School. You can also upload any supporting evidence to BCP Council’s appeals portal.

IN YEAR ADMISSIONS APPEALS 2022-23

If you made an application for your child to join Poole Grammar School in-year (i.e. joining Year 7, 8, 9, 10 or 11 during the current academic year) and your child was not offered a place you may appeal this decision. You should read the Guidance notes for Appeals 2022-23 – Guidance-Notes-for-Appeals – Annex C 2022-23

To make an appeal you must fill in the In-year Admissions Appeal Form 2023 – PGS-Appeal-Form-Annex-B In Year Entry Appeal 2022-23

You should upload the Poole Grammar School In-year Admissions Appeal Form 2022 directly to BCP Council’s appeals portal: https://www.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/Schools-and-learning/School-appeals/Lodging-an-appeal.aspx You should not return the form to Poole Grammar School. You can also upload any supporting evidence to BCP Council’s appeals portal.

Please note – The Schools Admissions Appeals Code does not allow a second appeal in respect of the same school for the same academic year unless there has been a significant and material change in the circumstances of the parent, child or school. Any change to an applicant’s entrance test score does not count as a significant and material change in circumstances. Example: (1) Your child was not offered a place at normal point of entry for Year 7 for September; (2) You appealed and the independent appeals panel did not uphold your appeal; (3) Some time passed and your child sat the Year 7 in-year entrance test and achieved the standard; (4) You applied for an in-year Year 7 place; (4) No place could be offered. In this instance you could not make a further appeal.

FURTHER INFORMATION ON APPEALS PROCEDURES

Poole Grammar School admissions policy 2023 applies to appeals made in the 2022-23 academic year for both Year 7 September 2023 entry or Year 7, 8, 9, 10 or 11 in-year entry – Admissions Policy 2023 Entry

Further information on school place appeals is available from BCP Council –  BCP COUNCIL SCHOOL APPEALS

The Department for Education school admissions appeals code is available on the UK Government website – Schools Admissions Appeals Code

If you are unable to download and print the guidance notes and the appropriate appeal form, printed copies can be supplied to you. You can request printed copies from Admissions Appeals, who can be contacted via email PGSappeals@poolegrammar.com or telephone 01202 692132.