Applying for a School Place in England

This guide is for international families who have recently moved to England and need a place for their child at a state primary or secondary school. After reading it, you will know who handles applications, how to research schools, how the council application works, and where to find deadlines and information on challenging a decision.

• Who handles school applications
• Researching schools before you apply
• Applying for a primary or secondary place
• Deadlines and offers
• EHC plans, private schools and home schooling
• If you do not get the place you wanted
• FAQ

Who handles school applications

In England, your local council is the starting point for state school places. According to the GOV.UK guidance on school admissions, if you live in England you contact your local council to find state-funded schools in your area and the admission criteria for the schools you are interested in. The same guidance states that the process is different if you live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, so families in those nations follow their own nation’s system.

For the application itself, GOV.UK has separate pages on how to apply for a primary school place and how to apply for a secondary school place. Both say this service covers England and Wales only. Both also make one point that often surprises newcomers: you apply through your local council even if the schools you want are in another council area. Your application goes through the council where you live, not the council where the school is.

Both pages also link to Royal Mail’s postcode finder, which is useful if you are still getting to know your new address.

Researching schools before you apply

GOV.UK’s school admissions page lists several ways to learn about a primary or secondary school:

• visiting the school, since most schools have open days
• reading the school’s most recent Ofsted reports
• checking school performance tables
• talking to other parents about what they think of the school

You can also search online for schools in England, and your local council can give advice about choosing state-funded schools.

Schools’ own websites are a useful source because the guidance lists what they must publish. This includes:

• admission arrangements, including how to apply
• details of the curriculum
• the behaviour policy
• links to Ofsted reports and performance data
• the school’s latest key stage 2 and 4 attainment and progress measures
• a special educational needs (SEN) information report, covering policies for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities
• the amount of pupil premium funding the school receives for underprivileged children, what it does with it and the effect it has had

The admission arrangements matter most for your application. They set out how the school decides who gets a place when it has more applicants than places. The official pages do not list typical criteria, so read each school’s published arrangements or ask the council.

Applying for a primary or secondary place

The route is the same for primary and secondary schools. According to GOV.UK, you can apply for a place at a state school online or by using your council’s application form. You make the application through your own local council, including for any schools in neighbouring council areas.

The steps described on the official pages are:

1. Identify your local council, which is the council for the area where you live.
2. Use the council, school websites and the research methods above to find state-funded schools and their admission criteria.
3. Apply online or on the council’s form, listing the schools you are interested in, including any in other council areas.

The official pages do not say what documents you need, such as proof of address or proof of your child’s age, and they do not say how many schools you can list. Each council decides these points and sets them out in its own application guidance. They also do not say whether a family’s immigration status affects an application. If you have a question about your own immigration position, speak to an immigration adviser regulated by the OISC (Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner) or to a solicitor regulated by the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority).

Deadlines and offers

The official pages used for this guide do not give application deadlines, national offer dates or rules for applying partway through the school year. This is important for newcomers, because families often arrive after a council’s main application round has closed.

For dates and timetables, the sources the official pages point to are:

• your local council, which handles the application and publishes its own process
• each school’s website, which must publish admission arrangements, including how to apply

If you arrive in England during the school year, contact your council to find out how it handles applications at that point. The official pages do not describe that process, so we do not describe it here.

EHC plans, private schools and home schooling

Some children have an education, health and care (EHC) plan. According to GOV.UK, an EHC plan may name a school for the child, and a school named in the EHC plan must give the child a place. The official pages do not explain how to get an EHC plan or whether a plan issued abroad is recognised. Contact your local council for this.

Private schools, also called independent schools, sit outside the council system. GOV.UK says that if you want a place at a private school, you contact the school directly. Parents can also choose to teach their child at home, known as home schooling. The pages used here do not set out the rules for home schooling in detail.

If you do not get the place you wanted

This guide covers appeals, but the official pages it relies on do not describe the appeals process. They do not say who hears an appeal, how to lodge one or what time limit applies. We will not fill that gap with figures from other sources.

Two places are most likely to have this information. The first is your local council, which handles your application and can advise on choosing state-funded schools. The second is the school’s published admission arrangements, which every school must include on its website. If your council refuses a place, ask it in writing how to challenge the decision and by what date. If the refusal involves your child’s immigration status, a regulated OISC adviser or an SRA-regulated solicitor can explain your position.

FAQ

Do I apply to the school or to the council?

For a state primary or secondary school in England, you apply through your local council, either online or on the council’s application form. For a private (independent) school, GOV.UK says you contact the school directly.

Can my child go to a school in a different council area?

You can apply for schools in another council area, but GOV.UK says you still apply through your own local council, which is the council for the area where you live. The official pages do not say how a school weighs applications from outside its area. Each school’s published admission arrangements set out its criteria.

Where do I find the application deadline?

The GOV.UK pages on applying for primary and secondary school places do not give deadlines or offer dates. Your local council publishes its own timetable, and each school’s admission arrangements, which it must publish on its website, explain how to apply.

Does my visa affect my child’s right to a school place?

The official pages on school admissions do not address immigration status. If you have a question about your own immigration situation, speak to an adviser regulated by the OISC or a solicitor regulated by the SRA.

Official sources: gov.uk · gov.uk · gov.uk

Last verified: 26 September 2026 against the official pages linked above. Rules and fees change; the official page always wins.

This is general information, not legal or immigration advice. Immigration advice in the UK may only be given by advisers regulated by the OISC or by solicitors regulated by the SRA.