Primary appeals

Infant class size rule

The government has set a limit on the size of infant classes (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2), as described below.

2.15 Infant class size – Infant classes (those where the majority of children will reach the age of 5, 6 or 7 during the school year) must not contain more than 30 students with a single school teacher. Additional children may be admitted under limited exceptional circumstances. These children will remain an ‘excepted pupil’ for the time they are in an infant class or until the class numbers fall back to the current infant class size limit. The excepted children are:

a) children admitted outside the normal admissions round with statements of special educational needs or Education, Health and Care Plans specifying a school

b) looked after children and previously looked after children admitted outside the normal admissions round

c) children admitted, after initial allocation of places, because of a procedural error made by the admission authority or local authority in the original application process

d) children admitted after an independent appeals panel upholds an appeal

e) children who move into the area outside the normal admissions round for whom there is no other available school within reasonable distance

f) children of UK service personnel admitted outside the normal admissions round

g) children whose twin or sibling from a multiple birth is admitted otherwise than as an excepted student

h) children with special educational needs who are normally taught in a special educational needs unit attached to the school, or registered at a special school, who attend some infant classes within the mainstream school

 

Reception appeals – September 2026

Reception places will be offered, via the local authorities, on 16 April 2026.  Children who cannot be offered a place, due to there being more applications than there are places, will automatically remain on a waiting list until 31 December 2026.  On the Admissions page you will be able to find details of how many applications there were, and a breakdown of places by oversubscription criteria.  If after reading the information you need clarification about why your child was not offered a place, please speak to the Admissions Office at the Academy.

The Government has set a limit on the size of infant classes (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2), as described above.  Appeals are very rarely upheld for infant classes because of this.

Timeline for appeals:

• Deadline for submitting an appeal form:  15 May 2026
• Appeals received by the deadline.  The requirement for appeals to be heard is 40 school days.  This means that appeals will be heard by 17 July 2026 wherever possible.
• Appeals received after the deadline.  The Trust will ensure that appeals are heard as soon as reasonably practicable and, where possible, before the start of the academic year.

Parents will be given at least 10 school days’ notice of the hearing date.

Before submitting an appeal form, please read the information in the Appeals Guide FAQ document (this will be available from the Downloads section below from 16 April) as this explains the appeals procedures and provides information about the admissions process, waiting lists, frequently asked questions, and statistics.

In-year

Before you can make an appeal, you must first have completed and submitted a recent In-Year Application Form to Bradford local authority.  Details of how to do this can be found on the Admissions page under the heading In-Year admissions.

Once you have received a letter advising you that a place cannot be offered, you can then proceed to make an appeal for the academy.

The academy can only proceed to the appeals stage if the year group is full.  Places are not ‘reserved’ for those whose appeals are upheld, so any upheld appeal will result in an additional child in the year group.

The Appeals procedures document in the downloads section below provides more details about the process and what to include in your appeal.  We advise you to read this before completing the appeal form.

How to submit an appeal

To submit an appeal, please click here.  This will take you to the Appeals portal, where you will need to create an account. Once the account is created, and you have clicked on the link in the verification e-mail (check your junk or spam folder if you don’t receive the message in your in-box), you will then be able to add the appeal.

We advise you complete the appeal form as fully as possible and list all your reasons for wanting a place at the academy. Supporting documents can either be uploaded when you complete the form or later in the process.  Please note if you wish to appeal for more than one Dixons academy, you will need to complete a separate form for each academy.

If you are unable to access / complete the online form, please telephone the number given below and ask to speak to the Appeals Coordinator. Our lines are open between 8.30am and 10.30am and 2.30pm and 4.30pm.  If you call outside these hours, or the line is busy, please leave a voicemail and we will call you back. 

Contact details

Telephone:  01274 089780 – option 7

E-mail:  appeals@dixonsacademies.com