Drop in appeals lodged over school places in Luton
Fewer appeals were lodged in Luton last year following the refusal of a school place application, new figures show.
School leaders’ union NAHT said place planning has become uncoordinated in an "increasingly fragmented" school system, as it called for a plan to guarantee a school place for every child.
Most appeals are made when an applicant has not received an offer of a place at their first preference school. However, appeals relating to other transfers at the start of the school year are also included.
Figures from the Department for Education show 340 appeals were lodged in Luton by the start of the 2023-24 school year – down from 368 the year before.
Yet, across the country, 56,684 school admissions appeals for 2023-24 places were lodged, up seven per cent on the year before.
Paul Whiteman, NAHT general secretary, said: "Starting a new school is a huge moment in a child’s life, so it is understandable that getting their first choice is a priority for parents and it is right that they have access to a clear and fair appeal process to try to secure this.
"The problem is that the increasingly fragmented school system lacks a co-ordinated approach to place planning."
Of the appeals lodged in Luton, 263 were heard by an appeals panel – 26 of them (10 per cent) were successful.
This was lower than the rate across England where 8,490 of the 42,345 appeals (20 per cent) heard were successful.
Pepe Di’Iasio, Association of Secondary and College Leaders general secretary, said: "The number of appeals lodged by parents reflects pressure on places in oversubscribed schools which fluctuates because of things like new housing in popular catchment areas."
He added demand is often driven by Ofsted ratings, leaving other schools undersubscribed with available places.
A Department of Education spokesperson said: "It is the responsibility of the local authority to ensure there are sufficient school places for pupils who need them.
"Each school has an admission authority to set its admission arrangements including the oversubscription criteria it will use to allocate school places if more applications are received than there are places available."