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After you get your school offer

Accept or refuse your offer

Secondary

If your child is due to start secondary school in September 2024 you will have been offered a place on 1 March 2024.

You will need to accept or refuse the offer directly with the school by Friday 15 March 2024. Read our guide to accepting or refusing your place (PDF, 177.7 KB) to find out more.

Primary

If your child is due to start primary school in September 2024 you will be offered a place on 16 April 2024.

You will need to accept or refuse the offer directly with the school by Tuesday 30 April 2024. Read our guide to accepting or refusing your place (PDF, 176.7 KB) to find out more.

Your child’s school will make contact with you to make arrangements for them to start in September. Schools may offer your child a part-time induction plan, but must offer full time education from the start of term if this is your preference. While parents are encouraged to start their child full-time as quickly as possible, you should discuss with your offered school what accommodations can be made if you prefer for your child to start part-time.

If you are not offered the schools you applied for

This may be because:

  • your child was not eligible for the school
  • there were more applications than spaces available so the school used its oversubscription criteria to prioritise which children to offer places to.

In these cases we must offer your child a place at another school. This will usually be the next nearest school to your home with available places.

If you are unhappy with the offer

We suggest that you view the school website to find out more about it.

If you are still unhappy you can put your child on the waiting list or make an appeal for any of the schools you applied for. You can do either or both for the same school or for different schools. For example, you can appeal for one school and put your child on the waiting list for another.

We recommend that you still accept the place your child has been offered. This will not affect your waiting list position or your appeal. It will guarantee your child has a school place if no places become available or if your appeal is unsuccessful. If the waiting list or appeal are successful you must remember to tell the school you were originally offered that you no longer want the place.

Waiting lists

Secondary schools

The deadline for secondary school waiting list applications was 15 March 2024.

Primary schools

To add your child to the waiting list for a school you applied for, submit a school waiting list application before 30 April 2024.

Appeals

Make an appeal for any of the schools you applied for.