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Primary school admissions – what is the process?

You must apply through your local authority for a place at a primary school, even if it’s linked to your child’s current nursery. Normal primary school admissions are at 4+ into the reception class. Applications open on different days in each local council area - usually at the start of the autumn term of the year before your child is due to start school. Check your local authority website for details of the catchment area for primary schools nearby, faith requirements and key dates.

The deadline to apply for a primary school place is 15 January. If you’re applying for a school place after the start of the school year (eg changing schools), contact the council directly.

You can list up to six choices of primary school, depending on area, and it’s vital to include at least one where you are more-or-less sure of getting a place – even if it isn’t your first choice. If you don’t, you may only be offered an undersubscribed school some distance away.

Put your school choices in order of preference – if you qualify for places at more than one, you will only be offered the school highest on your list. The schools don’t know where else you have applied, and don’t know if you have put them first or last – only the local authority knows that.

Primary school admissions - priorities

Before filling in your application form, study the admissions criteria of the schools you like the look of. If you do not meet one of the first few criteria bands, you are most unlikely to get a place. Schools will outline the order in which they will select children for a place, and a typical set might be:

Children with special needs
Children with siblings already in the school
Children who live closest to the school (which can, in many areas, mean more-or-less spitting distance, especially if there are lots of siblings taking preference).

They may be placed in a different order or there may be different categories. The important thing to remember is that they will vary between schools, and it is crucial to know how you will fare at that particular school.

While no state primary school selects by ability or aptitude (except the London Oratory Junior House, which tests all applicants for general academic ability and musical aptitude), faith schools mostly give preference to children from religious families and you will need to complete a supplementary information form (SIF) which will ask for details of your family’s religious adherence.

It is therefore essential to only ever list those schools where you stand a good chance of meeting the admissions criteria. If instead you rank only those you most like, you may well get a place at none of them, and the local authority will allocate a school instead (which will inevitably be an unpopular and undersubscribed school).

Your local authority’s admissions guide explains how to apply and lists the admissions criteria for schools in your area. Information from previous years is also published, such as whether schools were oversubscribed, how places were allocated and the distance children admitted previously live from the school. If applicable, catchment area maps will also be included. The Good Schools Guide website contains maps for each school based on where pupils have been admitted from in recent years. This will give you an idea of how likely you are to get a place.

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