Last updated: 7 April 2025

Next review: 28 February 2026

If your child is not offered a place at one of the schools you listed on your application form, you have the right to appeal for a place at your preferred school. You can only appeal once for a place in the same school in the same academic year.

To appeal for a school place at a local authority-maintained or voluntary controlled school in Waltham Forest, please use the school admissions appeal form (Word file). You should send the form back to us within 14 days. 

If you would like your case to also be considered under the medical/social ‘criteria’ and discussed by the relevant medical/ social panel you need to request this in writing separately from the appeal. Any medical/social cases which are part of the appeal will not automatically go to the medical/social panel unless expressly requested by the parents.

Please see list of Waltham Forest local authority maintained or voluntary controlled schools:

Secondary schools

  • Frederick Bremer School
  • Heathcote School & Science College
  • Kelmscott School
  • Leytonstone School
  • Walthamstow School for Girls
  • Willowfield School

Primary Schools

  • Ainslie Wood Primary School
  • Barn Croft Primary School
  • Chase Lane Primary School
  • Chingford Church of England Primary School
  • Coppermill Primary School
  • Dawlish Primary School
  • Downsell Primary School
  • Edinburgh Primary School
  • George Tomlinson Primary School
  • Greenleaf Primary School
  • Gwyn Jones Primary School
  • Handsworth Primary School
  • Henry Maynard Primary School
  • Mission Grove Primary School
  • Newport School
  • Oakhill Primary School
  • Parkside Primary School
  • Stoneydown Park Primary School
  • The Jenny Hammond Primary School
  • The Winns Primary School
  • Thorpe Hall Primary School
  • Whitehall Primary School

To appeal for a place at an Academy, Voluntary Aided, Trust or Foundation School (see list in the Academies, Voluntary Aided (Faith), Trust and Foundation schools section below), please visit the school’s website or contact the school for their appeal procedures

If you are appealing for a school outside Waltham Forest, you should contact the local authority concerned for the school’s appeals procedure.

You should also consider accepting any offer of a school place you receive to ensure that your child has a place in case your appeal is not successful. Accepting another offer will have no bearing on your appeal and the appeals process does not limit other options available to you.

For more information, please read the appeals guide to parents (PDF).

Appeals timetable

Admission appeal hearings will be held remotely by video conference or hybrid (where some of the people involved attend in person and some join remotely). If you are not able to access the hearing remotely, you can attend in person at Waltham Forest Town Hall for a hybrid appeal. 

We only consider one appeal for each school in the same school year. In exceptional circumstances, you may be able to appeal for the same school more than once. There would need to have been a significant change in your circumstances since your first appeal.

Please submit your appeals as outlined by the dates below.

Timetable for School Transfer Appeals 2025

Type of SchoolOffer DateDeadline for appeal submissionDeadline for appeal to be heard
Secondary3 March 20251 April 202520 June 2025
Primary16 April 202516 May 202518 July 2025
  • for applications made in the normal admissions round, appeals will be heard within 40 school days of the deadline for lodging appeals.
  • for late applications, appeals will be heard within 40 school days from the deadline for lodging appeals where possible, or within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged.
  • Appellants will be given at least 10 school days written notice of an appeal hearing.
  • Decision letters will be sent within 5 school days of the hearing, wherever possible.

Academies, Voluntary Aided (Faith), Trust and Foundation schools

To appeal for a place at an Academy, Voluntary Aided, Trust, or Foundation School, please visit the school’s website or contact the school for their appeal procedures.  Please note that the appeal timetable for these schools may differ from the timetables above.  Contact details for these schools are available in the Starting Primary school 2025 and Starting Secondary school 2025 brochures

Please see a list of these schools below.

Secondary schools

Primary schools

Contact information

Contact details

Address

School Admission Postal Address Only

Waltham Forest Town Hall
Forest Road 
London 
E17 4JF 

Please note we cannot accept hand delivered appeal forms at the Town Hall. Please do not bring your form in person as we do not see visitors at this location.