West Midlands grammar
school appeals.

What the result does and does not decide

The West Midlands common test serves schools across Birmingham, Warwickshire, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Shropshire. Each school still has its own admission arrangements. A shared result does not create a shared right to a place or one regional appeal form.

Read the West Midlands score guide with the policy for each school on your CAF. Identify the relevant qualifying standard and any score, priority-area, pupil premium or other oversubscription rule. Apply through your home authority even if the school is in a different council area.

Who handles the school appeal?

Begin with the refusal and the current school website. The appeal administrator may be a council service acting for a school or a separate school-arranged service. That administrative difference does not make a council-run hearing a fresh school application.

Birmingham: council service

The council’s administered-schools list includes Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School and Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls. Confirm the route in the refusal.

Birmingham: school routes

The school-managed list includes King Edward VI Aston, Camp Hill Boys, Camp Hill Girls, Five Ways, Handsworth Grammar Boys and Handsworth School for Girls. Start with the named school’s instructions.

Warwickshire

Use the council’s appeal timetable only where its service handles the named school. Confirm the correct form and supplementary-evidence deadline.

Walsall, Wolverhampton & Shropshire

Read the school’s own appeal page and refusal. The common test registration service is not the place to submit an admission appeal. Your home authority can clarify the application outcome, but may not administer that school’s hearing.

For the Birmingham schools listed in our hub, the appeal contacts directory links to official information. A deadline found for a neighbouring authority should not be copied into your case.

After an offer or refusal

National Offer Day for the normal 2027 secondary round is 1 March 2027. Keep the offered place while considering an appeal and follow any waiting-list instructions separately.

For another school, take the dates from its current refusal and appeal pack. Look for the entry year, not simply the latest-looking page: an old appeal document may remain linked while a new timetable is being prepared. If no 2027 pack is available, contact the named school’s administrator for the correct instructions.

• Identify the administrator and the exact school named on the form.
• Record both deadlines: lodging the appeal and supplying additional documents.
• Save the acknowledgement and ask promptly if confirmation does not arrive.
• Keep each appeal separate, including correspondence, case documents and hearing dates.

Prepare a school-specific case

The academic standard was not met

Identify the school’s required standard and provide relevant academic evidence. Explain any exceptional circumstances with supporting records where appropriate. An explanation for a low score is not by itself proof of suitability.

The child qualified but was not offered a place

Check the oversubscription category and any disputed factual decision. Explain the reasons for this school and the evidence supporting your child’s needs where the panel weighs your case against the school’s case.

Keep the full test result, CAF receipt, refusal and entry-year admission policy. A document relevant to one school may not answer the refusal at another. For example, a priority-area argument needs the actual boundary and rule for that school, rather than a general statement that the family lives nearby.

The DfE guidance explains the panel’s role. Use the evidence and hearing checklist to arrange documents, prepare questions and plan a short account of the child’s circumstances.