Applying for a secondary school place
Secondary school admissions in England
Before deciding which secondary schools are your favourites – and certainly before applying for a place – study the admissions policy of any school you like the look of and which makes geographical sense for your family. If it is a popular school and you do not meet one of the first few ‘oversubscription criteria’ bands, it is quite possible that, should you apply, you won’t be offered a place. The local authority (LA) will likely allocate a school lower down your list of preferences or one not even on your list (inevitably be a less popular and undersubscribed school). After all, LAs have a duty to provide a place at a school, not at a school of your choosing.
Oversubscription criteria
All schools must publish oversubscription criteria as part of their admissions policy. As soon as a school receives more applications than it has places the oversubscription criteria spring into action and are used to help the school or admissions authority prioritise certain applicants over others.
Most non-selective and non-faith secondary schools’ admissions policies have oversubscription criteria which look something like the next section, although they may be placed in a different order and there may be additional categories – for other types of school, see further down the page.
Typical Order of Priority
When the school has received more applications than offers, the following criteria will be applied in order to allocate places to applicants:
Children with an EHCP who have named the school. These children come first in line and must be given a place
Looked after/previously looked after children. ‘Looked after’ is a term used to describe children who are in the care of, or housed by, the LA social services.
Children with siblings already in the school. This criterion can appear lower down the list so check carefully before you move miles away after your first-born has got a place.
Exceptional medical or social need. This generally involves a letter from a doctor or social worker explaining why St Cake’s is the only school that will cope with your child’s needs. Very few children get a place by this route.
Distance. This is usually as the crow flies, AKA ‘straight-line distance’, but sometimes by the shortest walking route. Critically, the distance from an applicants address is nearly always measured to the school’s main gate.
The number of children taking up places on the first four criteria can fluctuate wildly year on year but it would not be unheard of for 50 per cent of places to be offered before criteria 5 (proximity to school) comes into play. But remember, every school is different and so are their oversubscription criteria.
When to apply for secondary school
You can only apply for a secondary school place through your LA, even if it’s linked to your child’s current primary school. Normal state secondary school admissions are at 11+ into year 7 but there are quirks in the system – some areas of England still have middle schools which take children from year 5 to year 9. In such cases, children start secondary school later. Always check with your LA.
Applications open on different days in each LA though it is usually around the time your child starts the autumn term of year 6 (though for most grammar schools you will need to register for the entrance test during the summer term of year 5). The subsequent deadline to apply for a secondary school place is 31 October. You will be notified as to which school has offered you a school place on 1 March.
Check your local authority (LA) website for details of secondary schools nearby and key dates for when admissions open and open days.
How to choose and apply for a secondary school
Completing the Common Application Form (CAF)
You will have to fill in (usually online) the Common Application Form (CAF). Most LAs ask for a list of three or four schools in your order of preference. London LAs request six. Your LA’s admissions guide (usually available to download from their website) will list the admissions policies (including oversubscription criterias) for schools in your area. Other information published from previous years’ admissions rounds should include whether schools were oversubscribed, how places were allocated and the furthest distance children previously admitted live from the school. If this information is not readily available from the school or LA website, make sure you request it. Catchment area maps will also be available if relevant.
In the case of selective and faith schools, you will need to apply both via the LA’s CAF and to the individual school (either to register for entrance tests or provide evidence of church attendance). Read carefully what is required with your submission. Some schools – particularly faith schools – require a supplementary information form (SIF) to be sent directly to them. This form usually has a different deadline to the application which goes to the LA. Failing to supply the right information on time could jeopardise your chances.
Never leave blanks on the form. While some parents think that it limits the LA to fewer options, in reality they will fill in the blanks with other schools; inevitably those that no one else wants.
Once you have submitted your CAF, only the LA knows which schools you have applied to, and if you qualify for more than one, will only offer you a place at the one highest on your list. Try to ensure you include one that you can tolerate and are more-or-less bound to get a place at, even if it is low on the list: if you don’t qualify for any of the schools you have applied to, you are likely to be offered St Custard's: in special measures, deeply unpopular and two bus rides away. Never leave blanks on the form. While some parents think that it limits the LA to fewer options, in reality they will fill in the blanks with other schools; inevitably those that no one else wants.
If you want to join a school outside the normal admissions time (including any application to start at a new school at any time outside of the standard entry points – eg year 7 for secondary school) then in most cases you apply directly to the school. LAs should publish regularly updated information on which local schools have spaces. Bear in mind that if you are arriving from abroad, you cannot apply for a school until you have a local address, and if a place is offered, you have to take it up within a short time. Read more from the UK government on school admissions and applications from overseas children.
What are secondary school catchment areas?
There are secondary schools with ‘catchment areas’ or ‘priority admissions areas’. These areas are where prospective pupils need to live to be in with a reasonable chance of gaining a school place. Sometimes they are denoted by a red boundary drawn on a map (found on the school or LA’s website) and sometimes the catchment area comprises a list of postcodes. Do not assume that just because a school is your nearest that you are automatically in its catchment or priority admissions area.
All schools want to fill their places (their Published Admissions Number – PAN) and so, if there aren’t enough applications from within catchment, places may be offered to applicants from further away. However, applying to a secondary school from outside the catchment area is a big gamble and parents should certainly check previous years' admissions information to see whether the school is usually oversubscribed.
Joining a secondary school at sixth form
Those already in a school may or may not need to apply formally for places in year 12. External applicants apply directly to the school itself. Applicants should ask about entry requirements eg the number and quality of GCSE passes for various different courses. Some schools also interview, as well as setting their own sixth form entrance exams and requesting past reports and references. It is worth asking how many newbies they take into sixth form and whether they tend to be oversubscribed – and if so, by how much.
Types of secondary school admissions
There are certain types of secondary schools with different admissions processes. Their oversubscription criteria will often contain more points than the example given above. These schools include:
Grammar school entrance tests and selective admissions
These select pupils based on academic ability. Even if there are insufficient applicants who reach the required standard the school does not have to allow other applicants entry, nor does it have to admit looked after children who do not pass the selection test. Where places are offered on strict points order, no priority needs to be given to looked after children or previously looked after children – although increasing numbers of grammar schools are choosing to do so. If arrangements are not based on highest scores in a selection test, (eg all children who pass the selection test are considered), the admission authority must give priority to all looked after children and previously looked after children who meet the pre-set standards of the test. Many are also reserving a proportion of places for children on pupil premium. Some grammar schools, the so-called ‘super selectives’, have no distance criteria, so anyone can apply, but increasing numbers of these schools are giving preference to local applicants. Their entrance tests tend (but not always) to be early in the autumn term, so parents will know whether their child has done well enough to qualify for a place (although not whether they have actually got a place) before they put in their secondary schools application form.
Semi or partially selective schools
There are secondary schools that select a percentage of pupils (rarely more than half) by aptitude in a particular discipline (eg music, sport, academics or technology). As with grammar school admissions, these students are offered places according to their performance in the entrance assessment and may be be able to live further afield than the those joining the school as part of the general admissions.
Banding and Fair banding
An increasing number of non-selective schools set tests for applicants and divide them into ability bands based on performance. A predetermined percentage of the school’s places is then offered to applicants in each band. In theory, this ensures that there is an even spread of ability throughout the school, though in practice some schools weight their admissions to take a higher proportion of more able pupils.
Faith school applications and supplementary forms
These are mostly Church of England or Roman Catholic and may expect you to have baptised your child before he or she was 6 months old. Regular attendance at church on a weekly basis (or 3 in every 4 weeks) for the past 5 years is also usually a factor. They are no longer allowed to give preference to families involved in polishing the church’s brass or flower arranging etc, a system which is now considered to have given the advantage to middle class applicants. Hindu, Islamic, Jewish and Sikh faith schools are less common but can be found in some areas. Read more about faith schools.
Free schools
Free schools are a type of academy, funded by the state and (like other academies) operate completely independently of LAs. They can decide on their own admissions criteria (although they predominantly have a comprehensive intake) and are often part of a wider group of schools – a ‘Multi Academy Trust’. In their oversubscription criteria, free schools sometimes give priority to applicants who are family members of the school's founders and/or governors.
Community schools
Gradually becoming an old-fashioned concept with the advent of academies. Otherwise known as ‘local authority maintained’, these schools are funded and have their admissions decided by the LA.
Ballots
Some schools use these to offer some places, but they are not allowed as the main oversubscription criterion.
Attend secondary school open days
All schools run open events in the autumn term and many open their doors again in the summer term. Once you have created a list of realistic secondary school options for your child, attend some open days; visit as many of them as you can. Schools’ reputations – good or bad – take a long time to change so don’t put too much faith in local chitchat. And anyway, a school that suits your neighbour’s child may not suit yours. A less-than-glowing Ofsted report may be due to aspects that don’t bother you or are already being addressed – struggling schools generally get plenty of extra help and maybe a new, dynamic head. A glowing report may result from ticking boxes rather than providing a genuinely inspiring education.
Can an offer of a secondary school place be withdrawn?
All school admissions in England are regulated by the Schools Admissions Code, and schools must play fair, ensuring their admissions policy is not only fair but also transparent. Parents must play fair too: schools and LAs are wising up on parental attempts to circumvent the code, and hundreds of school places are withdrawn every year, sometimes after the child has started school.
A school can withdraw its offer for reasons such as:
Failing to respond to an offer within a reasonable time
Making an intentionally misleading or fraudulent application (eg falsely claiming to live in a catchment area: even if the child has started at the school, they may be asked to leave)
Where a place was offered in error: but the LA has only a very short space of time to withdraw the offer in this case
Appealing a secondary school place
Appealing a secondary school place is possible if you are offered a school which is not your preferred choice. Read School appeals for more information. You might also like to see how the Good Schools Guide’s school appeals service can help your family.
