1. When will I know?
National offer day is the day you find out which school your child has been allocated, if the date falls on either a weekend or a bank holiday, the decision will be sent on the next working day.
For a Year 7 place in September the national offer day is:
- 1 March or the next working day
2. What if I’m not happy?
If you are not happy with the school your child has been allocated, you have the right to appeal and this will be explained in the letter you receive. The letter will give you a date to submit an appeal by, providing you lodge the appeal on or before this date, your appeal will be heard within 40 school days. If you lodge an appeal after the given deadline, we cannot guarantee your appeal will be heard with the on time appeals and there is a possibility your appeal may not be heard until September or October as appeals are not heard during school holidays.
All on time appeals will be heard during May and June. If you appeal for more than 1 school, your appeals will be heard on different dates, this is because we must hear all appeals submitted on time for the same school consecutively.
3.What happens?
Where the number of applications for a school exceeds the number of places available there will be unsuccessful applications. Places must be fairly allocated following the criteria set by the admission authority. If your application / preference for the school was made after 31 October, the on-time applications will be considered first for example:
- If 500 applications were received for a school where there are 250 places available and you applied for the school on 15 November, all the on-time applications would be looked at first. If the 250 places were offered to children whose applications were made on-time, your child would not be offered a place at the school even if your child has a sibling at the school or you live on the same road as the school
The distance from your home address to the school is measured in a straight-line measurement as the crow flies, to calculate the distance a specialist system is used.
To view the admission arrangements please visit the School Admissions page. Your preferred school’s admission policy should be available for you to read on the schools’ website, if you have any questions in regards to how places are allocated please contact School Admissions.
4. What if my child is not offered a place?
If your child is not offered a place at one of your preferred schools, providing you are a Sandwell resident, Sandwell must allocate your child a school and will offer a place at an alternate school which is usually your nearest school with a place available. If you live in a neighbouring authority, it is the responsibility of your local authority to ensure your child is allocated a suitable school.
If your child is not offered a place at your preferred school(s), your child is automatically put onto a waiting list which is kept until 31 December. If a place becomes available before 31 December, places are offered in order of position on the waiting list. Your child’s position on the waiting list may change, if your circumstances change please contact School Admissions. For example: if you move home, you must tell School Admissions your new address.
After 31 December, some schools will continue to keep a waiting list, to find out if the school you are interested in maintains its own waiting list, please contact the school directly.
5. What the Panel look at?
The decision-making process the panel must follow is the same for all year groups from Year 3 up to and including Year 11, for information regarding this and details on what will happen at your appeal hearing please visit Your Appeal Hearing page.