Apply for a school place

Offer day and what happens next

Find out which school place you have been offered, and what to do after the offer.

If your child did not get a place at the school you wanted for September 2024

If your child did not qualify for a place at any of your preferred schools, they will be offered a place at their closest school with available places.

Example

Sam applies to Big town Primary as their first preference school. Sam's child is not offered a place there, even though their home is inside the school’s catchment area.

There were more applications than places so the school used their admissions policy to decide who to give places to. Thirty places were available:

  • two places went to children who are fostered (priority 1)
  • twenty places went to children with a brother or sister at the school (priority 2)
  • the remaining eight places went to children who live in the catchment area but live closer to the school than Sam and their child (priority 3)

Instead, Sam was offered a place at their second preference of Small town Primary which had 30 places available:

  • five places went to children who have a brother or sister at the school (priority 2)
  • 20 places went to children who live inside the catchment area (priority 3)
  • the remaining five places went to children who live near the school but outside the catchment area, including Sam’s child (priority 4)

You also have the option to:

Check which schools still have places

Lists to be published on offer day.   

Join a waiting list

If you're not offered a place at a school you prefer, you can join a waiting list for another school.

Make an appeal

If you are unhappy with your offer, you can make an appeal. In the meantime, you should accept the school place you have been offered. This will not affect your appeal.

You can see how places were allocated at each school by finding the 'Last child offered a place' on our check a school's admissions details tool.

Alternatively, you can download the data for all primary schools (PDF, 228KB) or download the data for all secondary schools (PDF, 113KB).

When is offer day 2024

All schools in England make their offers on the same days.

Reception and junior places

Reception and junior places at primary school (September 2024) are offered from 8am on Tuesday 16 April 2024.

If you want your child to start Reception part-time or at a later date, you should speak to your school.

Year 7 places

Year 7 places at secondary school (September 2023) are offered from 8am on Friday 1 March 2024.

If your child has an EHC plan, they will receive their school place offer when it is named in the final amended plan.

Find out which school place you've been offered

To check which school place you've been offered, log into our online application portal. You will need your email address and password.

You will also receive an email with your offer. If you applied for a school place by paper form, you will receive an offer letter in the post (a few days after offer day).

Accepting your offer

You need to accept your offer with the school directly. You can find their contact details on our school details tool.

You must accept the offer by the deadline given in the offer email or letter. Otherwise, it may be withdrawn and the place given to someone else.

You should accept your offer even if you decide to join a waiting list or appeal (this will not affect either process).

Offer day timeline

Primary school timeline

Important dates
16 April 2024
Offer day
30 April 2024First cut off for waiting list requests and deadline for accepting offers
14 May 2024Deadline for submitting an appeal to ensures the appeal hearing will be before September
May to August 2024Places allocated from waiting lists
June to July 2024Appeals heard by independent appeal panels
September 2024Start primary school

Secondary school timeline

Important dates
1 March 2024
Offer day
15 March 2024First cut off for waiting list requests and deadline for accepting offers
28 March 2024Deadline for submitting an appeal to ensures the appeal hearing will be before September
April to August 2024Places allocated from waiting lists
May to July 2024Appeals heard by independent appeal panels
September 2024
Start secondary school




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