Information for parents booklet 2024 / 2025

Children transfer to secondary school when they are eleven. Children who are eleven by 31 August start at secondary school in the following September.

For children registered in a Year 6 class in a Swansea primary school, the local authority will write to you at the beginning of October 2023 inviting you to apply online for a Year 7 place for your child at a Swansea secondary school. If you do not live in Swansea or if your child does not currently attend a Swansea school you can still apply for a Year 7 place online.

You can apply anywhere where you have internet access and you will need to have a valid email address. The system is compatible for use with a number of electronic devices, including mobile phones. If you do not have the use of a computer or any of the above-mentioned devices at home, or you would like additional support with your application, you can find help at your child's primary school, the Contact Centre in the Civic Centre or your local library.

The application allows you to make 3 school choices (known as preferences) which you can rank in your preferred order. You can only apply once for each school of your choice. Please use all 3 preferences available to you and consider including your catchment school. Selecting the same school 3 times will not increase your chances of being offered a place. 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.

If you reside outside of the City and County of Swansea local authority, we strongly advise that you also make an application with your own local authority (the local authority to whom you pay your council tax) as, in the event we are unable to offer your child a place at a Swansea school that you have made a preference for we will not offer your child an alternative Swansea school.

Parents are advised that they should only make one admission application per child, which can contain up to three choices. If multiple applications are made for the same child the latest application will be treated as the preferred application and all earlier applications will be ignored. 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 places. You cannot make a late application online. 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.

We will try and meet a parental preference, however, please be aware that:

• Living in the catchment area does not guarantee your child a place at the school.
• Having a sibling of statutory school age already attending the school does not guarantee your child a place at the school.
• Attending a partner primary school does not guarantee your child a place at the associated secondary school.

Changes to Welsh-medium school catchment areas were implemented in September 2021 and the catchment school for your home address may have changed. If you are not sure which English or Welsh-medium school is your catchment school and wish to check, please contact admissions@swansea.gov.uk

If you are applying for a place at a school that is not the designated school for your home address, the responsibility and the cost for getting your child to and from school lies with you as parent / carer. The local authority will not provide free home to school transport when a pupil does not attend their designated school. This also applies if a pupil is granted a place at a school which is not their designated catchment school as a result of a successful appeal.

It is your responsibility to submit an application and apply on time. We cannot offer your child a place until you make your application. Your child will not be give a school place automatically.

Attending a partner primary school does not guarantee your child a place in the associated secondary school.

If you wish to change your school preference after the published closing date for applications or after an offer of a place has been made on the statutory offer day, a new application will need to be submitted.  A new application made will be a late application and will supersede any earlier applications received and any offers that were previously made would no longer be available.

Please contact the Admissions Team for a late form: admissions@swansea.gov.uk