If a school cannot offer your child a place, you can appeal against the decision. An independent appeals committee will make a final decision on the matter. You'll have the opportunity to put forward your own case if you want.
You'll be sent full details of how to make an appeal if any of your preferred schools cannot offer your child a place.
Appeals for places at academies, foundation schools, and Roman Catholic schools should be made directly to the school concerned. Please contact the school for their appeals procedure.
Appeals for community school places should be made to Middlesbrough Council. A community school is any school other than the ones listed above. Please contact the School Admissions Team for an appeal form.
You can only appeal once per academic year for a particular school, unless there is a significant change of circumstances, for example you move house.
The government offers advice for parents and guardians on school admission appeals. It gives clear, simple information on all parts of the appeal process, including:
- what happens at the hearing
- who makes the decisions
- what happens after the appeal hearing
- information on infant class size appeals
Previous appeals
Check the school admissions guide for parents booklet to see the number of appeals made at the schools below, and the number of successful appeals. The guide gives statistics about school intakes for the previous year, for example appeals for 2024 are listed in the 2025-2026 booklet.
Appeals are also made for in-year transfers every year to schools which are oversubscribed.