A multiple appeal hearing is held when there are a large number of appeals to be heard for a particular school, in the same school year.
All the appellants are invited to hear the admission authority’s case for one school year, at the same time.
The appeals panel will hear the admission authority’s case and then make the first part of their decision (Stage 1).
For children in reception, year 1 and year 2, the panel considers whether:
- the admission arrangements are lawful,
- they were correctly and impartially applied,
- the decision to refuse admission was reasonable,
- the admission of a further child or children would breach infant class size limit.
For children in key stage 2 and above, the panel considers whether:
- the admission arrangements are lawful,
- they were correctly and impartially applied,
- the admission of additional children would prejudice the provision of efficient education or efficient use of resources.
They would then go on to hear the presentations for each child individually.
Why multiple appeal hearings are held
The multiple appeal hearing allows all the appellants to hear the admission authority’s case at the same time rather than it being repeated in every single individual hearing.
Holding a multiple appeal hearing cuts down on the time taken by the admission authority at the individual appeal hearings, and allows more time for the appellants.
It also enables each appellant to hear all the questions asked by other parents in respect of the admission authority’s case, and the admission authority’s answers to those questions