Admission results are published in the middle of May, all schools on the same day. The list says admitted or not admitted, and for most families that is the first moment they see the numbers. Every year some children miss the line by one or two points, often children who did very well.
The clock starts immediately
You can appeal against the decision within three working days of the results being published. That is the rule in Section 60l of the School Act, and it is short on purpose. The appeal goes to the head teacher of the school, who can either change the decision or pass it to the regional authority.
An appeal cannot be sent by e-mail. It has to be delivered in person, by registered post, or through a data box. Families who have just moved to the country often do not have a data box, so registered post is usually the realistic route, and the three days include the time it takes to print, sign and send.
What an appeal can actually argue
An appeal is not a request for sympathy and it does not help to describe how much the child wanted the school. What counts is a procedural error or a mistake in how the ranking was applied. In practice that means one of these:
- The school did not apply a rule it published in its own criteria, for example the rule that decides ties.
- A waiver of the Czech test was not applied although the child qualified, or was applied in a way that changed the ranking incorrectly.
- The points were added up wrongly, or a part of the application was not counted at all.
- Capacity changed: the school could not admit your child on the day, but places free up when admitted children give up their place elsewhere.
That last point is why appealing is worth it even when nothing went wrong. Every admitted child holds one place, and many of them will take a different school. Places therefore open in the days after the results, and the appeal is what keeps your child in the queue for them.
How children with the Czech test waived are ranked
This part confuses almost everyone, including families whose child was in the ordinary pool. Children who had the Czech test waived are not admitted from a separate quota with a lower bar. They are placed into the same final order, at the position they reached in a ranking calculated without Czech. The capacity is the same and the ranking is one. If you see an admitted applicant with a lower total, this is usually the reason, and it is not in itself an error.
Do all three things at once
- Appeal within the three working days, even if you think the decision was correct.
- Accept the place your child was admitted to, if there is one, so they are not left without a school.
- Look at the second round, where applications run in the days right after the results.
These steps do not exclude each other, and doing all three is the calmest position to be in while you wait.
One family we work with went through exactly this. Their daughter scored the maximum in maths and finished one point below the line at her first choice. Her father wrote the appeal in English with us, using the school's own criteria and the way the ranking is built. She was admitted on the basis of that appeal.
AuthorZdeněk VlčekZakladatel, analýza a metodika