Hampshire oversubscribed schools: What happens if you do not get your first-choice primary school?

Today (April 16), parents and guardians will be getting confirmation on what primary school their child will be attending from September - but with a number of schools in Hampshire being oversubscribed there will be parents that do not get their first choice.

If your child does not get their first choice school, you will be notified via the council – either Portsmouth City Council or Hampshire County Council depending where you live – and if parents are unhappy with the outcomes, they will have the opportunity to appeal the decision. An appeal would have to go through the admission authority, which would either be the council or the school depending on whether the school is an academy or not.

If you decide to appeal the decision, parents must be able to provide strong evidence surrounding why their child should be able to attend the school and it can be a long process, with some appeal hearings taking up to three months to take place.

Alternatively, if parents are disappointed with the outcome of their child’s secondary school, they can also request to be placed on a waiting list for that school which would mean that if a space became available, they might be considered.

A Portsmouth City Council spokesperson said: "We are pleased to announce that all 2,203 applicants for starting school will be offered a school place today on National Offer Day 2024. There was an increase of 142 applications compared to last year, and 98.05 per cent of all applicants will be offered one of their preferences for this September. The picture is also positive for children transferring to junior school, all 983 applicants have a place with 98.27 per cent offered one of their first or second preferences. Overall, 93.7 per cent of all applicants for Year R and Year 3 are being offered their first preference school for September 2024."

For more information about the offer day and how to appeal the decision, click here.