Who’s Really in Charge of School Admissions? Understanding the Division of Labour

When it comes to school admissions, many parents imagine headteachers sitting in an office, leafing through application forms and choosing which children to admit. In reality, the process is far more structured – and far less personal – than that.

There’s a clear division of labour between different bodies involved in school admissions. Understanding this can help you manage your expectations, direct your questions to the right people, and feel more in control of what can otherwise feel like a murky and mysterious process.

Here’s how it works:

1. The Local Authority: The Gatekeeper for Most Applications

If you’re applying for a state school in England, it’s the local authority (LA) that manages the admissions process for most schools. Even for academies and voluntary aided schools (which can set some of their own admissions criteria), applications still go through the local authority.

The LA’s job is to:

• Publish the admissions booklet listing all local schools and their criteria.

• Collect your application preferences via the online portal.

• Apply each school’s admissions criteria fairly and consistently to all applicants.

• Send you the outcome of your application on National Offer Day.

In essence, the LA acts as a central processor, ensuring that the rules are applied correctly and that every child gets one (and only one) offer.

2. The School (or Academy Trust): May Set the Rules – but Doesn’t Pick and Choose

But even here, their power is more limited than you might think.

Schools cannot:

• Pick and choose based on who they like.

• Consider things like how keen you are, how much you support the school’s ethos, or how closely your child matches their ideal student.

• Give preference based on donations, friendships, or letters from teachers.

All criteria must be published clearly in advance, and all decisions must be evidence-based and fair.

In practice, this means a school that is its own admissions authority may set the rules – but they must stick to them. And while schools may rank applicants, they usually aren’t deciding who actually gets a place (that’s where the local authority steps back in to coordinate offers across the system).

3. The Appeal Panel: Independent and Evidence-Based

If you don’t get the place you hoped for, you have the right to appeal.

This appeal is not heard by the school or the local authority, but by an independent panel.

Their job is to:

• Hear your case for why your child should have been offered a place.

• Consider whether the admissions rules were applied properly.

• Balance your child’s need for a place against the school’s ability to accommodate more pupils.

Appeals are legal processes, with a structured format and clear criteria. It’s not about arguing that your child is particularly gifted or well-behaved. It’s about whether the system has been followed fairly – and whether there’s a compelling reason to make an exception.

Why Does This Matter?

Understanding who does what can take some of the emotion out of what is, understandably, a stressful time. If you don’t get the place you wanted, it’s not because a school didn’t like your child. It’s because the published criteria were applied, and unfortunately, others had higher priority under those rules.

That doesn’t make it easier emotionally – but it might help you see the system more clearly, and focus your energy on what comes next.