Secondary school places: When do parents find out?

Councils are offering secondary school places to children in England and Wales.

What are the options if parents are unhappy with the outcome?

Children due to start Year 7 in England and Wales in September 2023 are finding out about school places on 1 March.

In Northern Ireland, emails about post-primary school places will be issued on 20 May.

In Scotland, no offers are made, as councils decide where children are placed.

In England and Wales, parents who applied online will receive an email on 1 March with details of how to accept the place, and the deadline.

Those who did not apply online will be sent a letter.

If they do not accept by the date specified, the offer could be withdrawn and the place given to someone else.

In England, if your child is not offered a place at your preferred school, you will usually be offered one of the other schools listed on your application.

If there is not space at any of your chosen schools, your child may be offered a place somewhere else.

You can put your child's name on the waiting list for your preferred school(s) - and these have to remain open for at least the first term of the school year.

If you are offered a place at a school after being on its waiting list, you can accept even if your child has already started at another school.

In Wales, any child not given a place at the school parents have applied for will be added to a waiting list.

In Northern Ireland, if your child is not offered a place at any of the schools you wanted, you will be asked to choose a new preference from a list of schools that still have places.

In Scotland, your council decides which school in your local catchment area your child will attend.

You can ask to choose another school, outside your local catchment area, and the council must allow this if there is space - but it is not guaranteed.

You can appeal against the decision no matter where you are in the UK.

In England, if your child is not offered a place at the school you wanted, you can appeal within 20 working days, and the case must be heard within 40 days.

The final decision is made by an independent panel at a hearing where the council or school explains why the application was rejected, and the parent makes the case for why their child should be accepted.

Looked-after children are given top priority in school admissions, but, for most pupils, schools have their own admissions criteria.

Research from the University of Bristol, based on how about 3,250 secondary schools in England admitted pupils in September 2020, found:

The Nuffield Foundation charity said prioritising local children "reinforces geographic inequalities by excluding those who can't afford to live close to the top-performing schools", and urged schools to promote fairer access through their admissions criteria.

Some schools give priority to children from a particular religion, or who pass an entrance exam.

To appeal successfully, parents have to prove that the proper admissions process was not followed, or that relevant circumstances about their child were not taken into account.

Parents and carers should be informed of the panel's decision within five days.

If the appeal is successful, the child will be given a place, but if it is unsuccessful, the child can still be added to the school's waiting list.

Official statistics for England show that in 2022, 83.3% of applicants were offered a place at their first preference secondary school. That percentage has been broadly static since 2014.

Figures also show there were 28,687 appeals (3.9% of new admissions) for the 2021-22 academic year. Of those, 6,055 (21.1%) were successful.

Again, the percentage of appeals made has not changed significantly over the same period, although the proportion which were successful has dropped from 26.3% in 2016.

In Wales, parents can challenge the admission authority's reasons for refusing their child's application during an initial appeal hearing.

The panel can find in the child's favour at this point, or the appeal can move to a second stage - during which parents set out their argument, and the admission authority responds.

Parents should have the panel's final decision within five days.

Parents and carers across the UK may be able to get free or lower-cost transport if their child's school is far away.

Applications need to go through the relevant local education authority.

If your child has special educational needs and disabilities and you live in England, their Education, Health and Care plan will specify their school.

It must offer them a place.

If you applied for a place after the deadline in England and Wales, your application will not be considered until after the first round of offers are made.

This means your child is less likely to get a place at your preferred school.

However, your child can still be added to the waiting list of the school you wanted.