Information for parents booklet 2025 / 2026

Requests for admission for places in Reception and Year 7 transfer groups that are received by the published deadlines will be considered at the same time as all other applications for the relevant year group and parental preferences (your choice of school for your child) will be granted provided there are places available.

Parents are advised that they should only make one admission application, which can contain up to three choices. If multiple applications are made the latest application will be treated as the preferred application and all earlier applications will be ignored. Where there is shared parental responsibility all parents should be in agreement about the preferences listed in the application. If is the parents' responsibility to come to this agreement. If we receive more than one application for the same pupil requesting a different preference on each application, the forms will be returned unprocessed until an agreed decision is made by those with parental responsibility.

Each school has an admission number which states how many pupils they are able to admit into each year group. The local authority (LA) cannot normally admit over the school's admission number. Additionally, in Reception classes there is a legal upper limit of 30 pupils per class.

Where the number of applications to a school is equal or less than the number of places available (the admission number) then all pupils applying will be admitted to the school. Where there are more applications for a school than there are places available then the places will be allocated in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. It is important to remember that attending the nursery at any school does not guarantee your child a place in the reception class and neither does attending the partner primary of a secondary school. There is no guarantee of a catchment place for pupils starting reception or starting secondary school. You can make a second and third preference (consider including your catchment school) in the event your first choice is oversubscribed. Making additional choices does not affect your chance of securing your first choice as all places are allocated following the oversubscription criteria. However, if your first choice is oversubscribed and we are not able to allocate a place to your child we will consider your second and then your third preferences.

Where we are able to offer you more than one school, we will offer you your highest ranked preferred school and withdraw all lower ranked preferences.

All completed applications will be considered at the same time so there is no advantage to a parent who submits an application early in the admission round. If your application is received after the deadline detailed in the published schedule your application will be late and considered after all the applications sent in on time have been offered their places. By the time late applications are considered all the places in your preferred school(s) may have been allocated and you may be refused a place if the school is full even if you live in the school's catchment area and meet all or some of the other oversubscription criteria. Information about admission numbers can be found on school details page.

There will be no selection tests or interviews by the schools.

How will I know if my admission request has been successful? (Reception and Year 7) 

You will receive a letter / e-mail to tell you whether your child has been given a place at the chosen school. If the application has been refused because the school has allocated up to the admission number, you have a right to appeal. Details of how to do this will be sent with the letter. You should use the timescales detailed in the letter and this document. Any appeals received after that date may be dealt with after those received by the deadline.

Withdrawal of a place 

A place can be withdrawn by the LA if information is received that suggests the application no longer meets the oversubscription criteria it was originally assessed on. Any place approved on the basis of residence will be withdrawn if the pupil is no longer permanently resident at the address at the beginning of the school term to which the application relates. 

The appeal process

The appeal will be heard by an independent appeal panel usually comprising of 3 or 5 members. The members are volunteers who are trained to undertake the role and usually comprise school governors, headteachers and lay persons. They will not be connected to the school which you are appealing for a place at or the school where you have been offered a place. The clerk to the panel is a representative from the Local Authority's Legal Department and they take no part in the decision making. You will be given the opportunity to present your case and a representative from the Education Department will present the reasons why you have been refused the place. Once the appeal has been heard the panel will make their decision which is final. There is no further right of appeal regarding this decision.

For Reception and Year 7, multiple appeals for the same school may be heard as grouped appeals. Appeals for late applications may be held after the appeals for on time applications have been held.

If your appeal is unsuccessful, you will not be able to appeal for a place at the same school during the same academic year unless there has been a significant change in circumstances. These circumstances would need to be discussed with the School and Governor Team. However, parents are entitled to a new appeal in respect of a different school year eg. if an appeal is lost for a place in Reception, parents can appeal the following year if their child is refused a place for Year 1. Similarly if an appeal is lost for a place in Year 7, parents can appeal the following year for a place in Year 8 and appeal if their child is refused a place for Year 8.

There are very few circumstances in which an independent panel can admit a pupil to an infant class if it has reached 30 pupils. The appeal can be upheld only if the appeal panel is satisfied that the decision was not one which a reasonable admission authority would make in the circumstances of the case, or that the child would have been offered a place if the admission arrangements had been properly implemented. This is because of the statutory class size limit of 30 pupils maximum in infant classes.

Parents who wish to appeal a decision to refuse a place can still accept a place at the alternative school offered. This will not impact on the appeal in any way and will ensure that their child has a school place confirmed in the event the appeal is not successful. If the place offered is refused it may then be offered to another pupil on that school's waiting list.

Information providing the number of appeals held and the number of appeals that were successful for Reception and Year 7 September 2023 can be found below:

Information providing the number of appeals and the number of appeals that were successful for the academic year 2023 / 2024 can be found below:

Waiting lists for pupils applying for Reception or Year 7 places

Waiting lists for all schools (with the exception of Voluntary Aided schools) are administered by the local authority. If you are unsuccessful in securing a place for Reception September 2025 or Year 7 September 2025 in your preferred school(s) as stated on the application form in the normal admission round then your child's name will automatically be placed on the waiting list for that school(s). Accepting a place at another school will not affect your position on the waiting list. If a place in the preferred school(s) becomes available it will be allocated by the local authority in accordance with the oversubscription criteria, not in the order of the date which pupils' names were placed on the list.

Pupils whose parents appeal do not have priority over other pupils on the waiting list. Pupils' names will remain on the waiting list for the whole academic year and will only be removed if they are successful at appeal or if a parent confirms in writing that they no longer wish their child's/children's name to remain on the waiting list. Parents wishing to be considered for a place for their child after this time will need to make a new application.

If your child is on the waiting list please remember their position may change as applications may be received at any time that have a higher degree of priority under the oversubscription criteria.