Thousands of parents will find out today which secondary school their child has been allocated for September.

But if national offer day doesn't bring you the news you were hoping for, what can you do next?

Not getting your child’s secondary school of choice can be a massive blow.

Having embarked on tours, listened to presentations, studied results and spoken to teachers and pupils, and maybe even envisaged your child there, it can be a huge disappointment for families turned away on National Offer Day.

But for those unhappy with the school they have been given, both Kent County Council and Medway Council and the schools themselves offer opportunities to appeal, while you can also join a school's waiting list in the hope that places become available before the start of the new school year as people's choices and circumstances change.

The process will be a little different depending on where you live, and may also alter depending on an individual school's admission criteria or whether you are also going through the Kent Test appeals process, but here are some of the options open to families who have been left disappointed with the news in today's email.

In Kent…

If your child is due to start secondary school in September this year, a place will be offered to you on Friday, March 1.

This year says KCC, 96% of the 22,479 parents and carers who applied for a Kent place will receive an offer from one of their four preferred schools – with 78.6% getting their first choice.

If you haven’t been offered the school you hoped for, it may be because your child was not eligible for that school – according to its criteria – or there were more applications than spaces available and so the school used its oversubscription criteria to prioritise which children should be offered a space.

For those families disappointed with their allocation Kent County Council recommends that you still accept the place your child has been offered, even if it isn’t the school you wanted.

This is because while it will not affect your appeal to other schools, and does not prevent you joining other schools' waiting lists in the hope that space becomes available, it does guarantee your child has a school place for September if any appeal is unsuccessful or a waiting list is never able to free up enough space for you – particularly if you don’t meet its oversubscription criteria.

It is also worth studying this criteria, as you may have done when you made your initial application last year, before considering or submitting any appeal as that will outline how a school accepts students to its roll and who is given priority.

These guidelines are most likely to still apply when it comes to allocating further spaces ahead of September so it is worth being familiar with them, as each school or academy’s may be different.

Deadlines

According to its website, KCC says families have until March 15 to accept or decline the offer they have been given directly with the school concerned.

The secondary schools waiting list deadline is also, says KCC, March 15.

If your child is due to start secondary school in September this year you can lodge a secondary school appeal appeal up until Thursday, March 28 for any of the schools named on your original preference list last year for it to be considered by Monday, June 17.

Any appeals received after this time will be heard within 40 school days from the deadline says the guidance.

Secondary school appeals are heard by a panel, normally of three people, who will decide if your appeal is successful. They are independent of the school, trust and council and will be supported by a clerk who will take charge of the administration.

KCC will notify families waiting for an appeal of the date of their hearing at least 14 calendar days before it is heard and a complete copy of the appeals paperwork will be sent at least seven calendar days before the meeting.

Appeal decisions, says the council will be sent out in writing with no verdicts being released over the phone.

To learn more about the appeals process in Kent in greater detail and how to submit yours, click here.

Kent families who need further support with the appeals process can also telephone KCC on 03000 414222 or email appeals@kent.gov.uk for help.

Kent Test appeals

Kent Test results were sent to Year 6 children last autumn, outlining whether they had been assessed as suitable for a grammar school place in Kent or not following the Kent Test which took place in September.

Families themselves can’t appeal those Kent Test decisions - to not offer a child a grammar school place - until school places have been allocated and announced on March 1.

Parents who wish to now try and apply for a grammar school place with the grammar school of their choice, (even though their child did not pass the assessment), are advised to still accept the secondary school they have been allocated before launching any appeal.

That appeal process will involve submitting evidence to an Independent Appeals Panel as to why you feel your child is of the required standard for entry into your chosen grammar school.

More information about the Kent Test process can be found here.

In Medway...

Information about the right to appeal and how to go about putting your child on a school’s waiting list should you not get your school of choice will be included with offers being sent today, says Medway Council.

As in Kent, families must accept or decline the place they've been allocated directly with the school. This can be done using an acceptance or refusal form.

Any offers made on March 1 must be accepted or refused by March 28.

Medway Council, just like KCC, says it is advisable to accept the place you've been given even if you wish to go on a waiting list for another school or appeal the decision, because there's no guarantee that you'll be successful and accepting a place that can be released at a later date will at least guarantee your child a start at a secondary school this September.

Refused places, says the authority, cannot always be 'offered back' while rejecting a school place, it says, does not improve anyone's chances on a waiting list or at an appeal hearing.

Families who didn't get the school of their choice can also request to join the waiting list of another secondary school. Detailed information about how to do this in Medway is available here.

But it is worth remembering that the deadline for waiting list requests to be considered during the first round of reallocation this spring is March 28 - albeit you can submit any waiting list request any time after that until the end of the year. But your request will only be considered during the first round of reallocation if it is received by 28 March.

The council will begin offering any vacant and available places to children on waiting lists from Monday, April 22. It’s worth noting a child’s place on a waiting list is held in oversubscription order, not on a first come first served basis. While any offer made after April 22 must be accepted within 10 days.

Children and their parents can also appeal to a school named on their application that didn't offer them a place.

In order to do this you'll need to fill out an appeal request form and return it to the Medway school you wish to appeal to. It is worth noting the deadline for completed forms is also March 28.

Medway Council says families appealing can apply to any school they listed originally and appeals can be made to more than one named school - however a separate form will be needed for each school you're appealing. For further details about this process click here.

Appeals will be heard by an independent panel who will decide whether to grant your child a place or not. Parents will be invited to the hearing to explain why they feel their child should be given a place while the school will explain why a place wasn’t offered.

The independent panel will make their decision after all appeals have been heard and families will be told, in writing, usually within five working days of the last appeal hearing.