Apply for a primary school

Applying for a place in a primary school for September 2019

If your child was born between 1 September 2014 and 31 August 2015 they should start primary school in September 2019. You will need to make an application for a place at a primary school.

How to apply

You must have a valid email address and your application must be completed before 15 January 2019.

You can apply using the online admissions system:

Apply for a primary school place online

If you are not a resident of Leeds (you pay council tax to a different local authority) you will need to apply through your own local authority, even if you wish to apply for a place at a Leeds school.

Preferences

You can preference up to five schools as part of your application. We recommend that you use all five preferences and read the admissions policies for each of the schools. Individual school admission policy information is available on each school page on Find a school.

Drop in sessions for parents and carers applying for a reception place for September 2019

Venue

City Centre Hub, Merrion House, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 8LX

Dates

Tuesday 4 December, 10 am to 12 noon
Monday 17 December, 2pm to 4pm
Wednesday 9 January, 10 am to 12 noon

Important dates

Council tax bands for properties in Leeds
Date	Stage
1 November 2018 to 15 January 2019	Apply for a place
16 April 2019	Offers go out
2 May 2019	First deadline for waiting list requests
17 May 2019	Deadline for accepting offers and first cut off for appeal forms
May to July 2019	Appeals held
May to August 2019	Places allocated from the waiting lists
September 2019	Start primary school

Admissions Policies

There are different types of schools in Leeds – some use the Leeds City Council Admissions Policy 2019-20 (PDF, 68KB) whilst others schools use their own policy.

Schools prioritise applications in different ways, with some prioritising based mainly on distance and others based on other criteria such as faith. It is important that you check the admissions policy for the schools you are applying for to understand where on their ranked list of applications your child might be.

Before you apply

Before you apply for a primary school place we advise you to:

visit the schools you are interested in applying for before making your application to ensure that you are making an informed choice
read the Leeds Primary Composite Prospectus (PDF, 4MB) which includes school information and individual school over-subscription criteria. This will help to ensure you include school(s) where your child has a realistic chance of being offered a place
read the Find a School page of the schools you are interested in applying for
speak to staff in school or the Admissions Team to clarify any issues you are not sure about
consider how your child will get to school and the potential transport costs

Before the closing date

Before the closing date of 15 January 2019 we advise you to:

read the admissions policies for each of these schools you choose
complete and return any supplementary information forms directly to schools who require them by the deadline
if you are applying on behalf of a previously looked after child, complete a priority 1a Supplementary Information Form (PDF, 389KB) External link
if you are claiming priority admission due to exceptional medical or mobility needs (priority 1b), check that your preferred school considers exceptional circumstances as part of their admissions criteria, and if so, complete a priority 1b Supplementary Information Form (PDF, 489KB) External link (SEN SIF)
attach any applicable supporting evidence to your application
complete your online application, including up to five preference schools
ensure that your application form is submitted and that you have received a submission confirmation email

How places are offered		https://www.leeds.gov.uk/residents/Pages/SchoolsSearch.aspx, Find a school in Leeds			How places are offered		<div class="ExternalClass9406EE2A14244D41A1F27C116F71A473"><p>The local authority is required to co-ordinate all applications for Reception and Year 7 places. This means we receive all the applications centrally, work with schools who determine their own admissions to gather information from them, and send out all the offer letters, making sure each child only receives one offer.</p><p>We consider all preferences at the same time, but whether we can offer you the place you want for your child will depend on your circumstances and the schools you have asked for.</p> <p>We aim to offer your child a place at your first preference school, taking account of our admissions policy and admission arrangements, and any offers you get from Voluntary Aided, Foundation schools, Free Schools, academies or other authorities.</p><p><strong>Please note: Schools are not allowed to offer places on a ‘first preference first’ basis so your preference order only influences which offer is made where you could be offered more than one of your preferences.</strong> </p><p>We consider your application in the following stages:</p><ul class="list list-bullet"><li>you list your five preferences </li><li>we inform any Voluntary Aided schools, Foundation schools, Free schools, Academies, or other local authorities that you have preferenced their school. They apply their policy to decide who they can offer places to, and tell us </li><li>we apply the Leeds policy to see who we can offer places to at Community and Voluntary Controlled schools </li><li>if you meet the admission conditions for more than one school, we offer your highest preference school for which you qualify for a place </li><li>if we cannot offer your child a place at any of the schools you have preferenced we will allocate a place at the closest school to your home address that still has places available </li><li>if you live outside Leeds, we will not offer your child an alternative place</li></ul></div>
When will I find out what school my child has been offered?					When will I find out what school my child has been offered?		<div class="ExternalClass56D878600520435EBAAA5EEBBC9E7FA7"><p>You will be sent an email, with your offer letter attached, on <strong>16 April 2019</strong>.</p> <p>Emails are sent out in batches, so please be patient.</p><p>If you don't receive an email by the end of the day, please contact the Admissions Team on <strong>0113 222 4414</strong> (9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday) or email: <a href="mailto:education.annual.cycle@leeds.gov.uk">education.annual.cycle@leeds.gov.uk</a>.</p><p>You should accept the school place you have been offered directly with the school. This will not affect your position on a waiting list or your right to appeal.</p><p>If you don’t get offered a place at the school you want, you can ask to go on the waiting list for other schools in Leeds. You can also <a href="/residents/Pages/Admissions-Appeals.aspx">appeal against the decision</a>. Information about how to do this will be included in your offer letter.</p></div>