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Appeals

The Department for Education has produced general guidance ‘Advice for parents and guardians on school admission appeals’ which can be viewed here

Appeals to Tonbridge Grammar School

Appeals for Sixth Form entry September 2026

Last day for Lodging appeals:

4pm on Thursday 27 August 2026 to guarantee that your appeal will be heard within the first weeks of September. You MUST state the reasons for your appeal on the online form and supply any documentary evidence at this stage e.g. a copy of your result sheet.

Please note the timetable is very short to enable those appellants who win appeals to start as early into the school year as possible.

Closing Date for appeals to be submitted Friday 18 September.

For 6th form appeals an Appeal form can be downloaded on this link

Appeal date: The date will be during the month of September 2026.

You should include any evidence or supporting material with your appeal form (photos of your child will not be accepted). You MUST state the grounds of your appeal at the time you lodge your appeal form. Your appeal form will not be accepted unless you give the grounds of your appeal.  You may appeal for more than one school, but a separate form must be completed for each school you wish to appeal for. If you are appealing for more than one child, a separate form must be completed for each child and use a different email address.

Please note that the online form will ask you to download two utility bills dated in the last THREE months.  If you do not have access to a scanner, please take two photographs using a mobile phone and upload the photographic files.

If you wish to contact the clerk – email :  clerk@educationappeals.com

The timetable for 6th form appeals

Last day for lodging appeal forms

27 August 2026.  For 6th form appeals only, the appeal form can be completed by a student or parent.

An Appeal form can be downloaded on this link

Invitation letter giving details about your hearing will be sent by the Clerk to the Independent Appeal Panel

In order to facilitate a hearing as soon as possible, an email will be sent at very short notice. However, if a student or parent wishes to have 10 school days notice, this needs to be indicated on the appeal form.

Date(s) of hearings

Late August/September 2026.

Appeals for 'In Year' applications 2026-27

The timetable for 'In Year' appeals is as follows:

If you have not been offered a place following an in-year application, you are entitled to appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel. This panel is completely independent of the school and the Local Authority. In accordance with the 2022 School Admission Appeals Code, the admission authority and all appeal panels have elected for all admissions appeals to be held online. Online appeals have the advantage of being heard from your home or place of work.  No longer do you have to travel to a hearing.

If you wish to appeal, please use this link to complete your appeal online. Please do NOT use ANY other appeal form or send your form to your local authority. It is highly recommended that you download the explanatory booklet about appeals which you should read before you complete the appeal form. Booklet Link  

 

You should include any evidence or supporting material with your appeal form (photos of your child will not be accepted). You MUST state the grounds of your appeal at the time you lodge your appeal form. Your appeal form will not be accepted unless you give the grounds of your appeal.  You may appeal for more than one school, but a separate form must be completed for each school you wish to appeal for.  If you are appealing for more than one child, a separate form must be completed for each child and use a different email address.

Please note that the online form will ask you to download two utility bills dated in the last THREE months.  If you do not have access to a scanner, please take two photographs using a mobile phone and upload the photographic files.

If you wish to contact the clerk – email :  clerk@educationappeals.com

The timetable for ‘in-year’ appeals

Last day for lodging appeal forms

20 School days after the decision letter informing you that you had not been offered a place.

Invitation letter giving details about your hearing will be sent by the Clerk to the Independent Appeal Panel

This will be EMAILED at least 10 school days before the hearing unless you have opted on the appeal form for a shorter notice period.

 

All in-year appeals will be heard within 30 school days of the appeal form being lodged.

Closing date for any additional supporting evidence

Up to 12 noon on FIVE school days before your hearing you can upload additional documents to your online appeal folder.  You are advised that additional paperwork received on the day of the appeal hearing will not be taken into account.

Letter from the Clerk informing you of the decision of the independent appeal panel

Due to the high number of appeals, an email is sent a few working days after your hearing with the decision of the panel.  This is followed up around 20 school days later with a further emailed letter outlining the panels’ reasons.

Appeals for Year 7 entry September 2026

PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY

If you have not been offered a place at Tonbridge Grammar School, the law entitles you to appeal against that decision to an Independent Appeal Panel. This panel is completely independent of the school and the Local Authority. All appeals will be heard online which has the advantage that your appeal can be heard from your home or place of work.

If you wish to appeal, please use this link to complete your appeal online. Please do NOT use ANY other appeal form or send your form to your local authority. It is suggested that you download the explanatory booklet about appeals which you should read before you complete the appeal form – Booklet Link .

You should include any evidence or supporting material with your appeal form and you MUST give the grounds for your appeal at the time you lodge your appeal form. Your appeal form will not be accepted unless you state the grounds for your appeal. You may appeal for more than one school, but on different forms.

Examples of schoolwork your child may have undertaken will not be accepted.  The appeals code is clear that the panel cannot assess a child.  The Panel would not be able to make a proper judgement about its quality. They would have nothing to measure it against and would not know the depth of the work submitted. Also, they would not know whether the work had been carried out unaided.  The panel will give due weighting to academic letters from professionals such as, headteachers, teachers and tutors, plus CAT or NFER test reports.

Any letters or reports that you wish the panel to see should be uploaded at this time.  You are asked to bear in mind that if you later send additional information, the closing date is 12 noon, 5 working days before the STAGE 1 hearing.  All appointed panels have agreed NOT to take any late letters or reports after the 5 working day deadline.  This will be strictly enforced.  For secondary/primary transfer appeals, the hearing will take place at least TWO months after the refusal letter.  This gives you plenty of time to get your evidence together if you act early and take account of school holidays.

Please note that the online form will ask you to download two utility bills dated in the last THREE months.  If you do not have access to a scanner, please take two photographs with a mobile phone and upload the photographic files.

Full details about the hearing will be sent to you with your invitation to the hearing.

If you wish to contact the clerk – email : clerk@educationappeals.com

The timetable for appeals is as follows:

Information and a timetable for Summer Transfer appeals will appear on this website before 28 February 2027.

 

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