School admission arrangements 2026/27

Definition - Home / Permanent Address:

This is a child’s permanent address or where the child lives for most of the time Monday to Friday during school terms, at the time of application. ‘At the time of application’ means the closing date for applications (31 October 2025 for Secondary Applications and 15 January 2026 for Primary, Infant and Junior applications).

Informal accommodation arrangements with family and friends are not accepted, unless a parent can prove that their child lives elsewhere with someone who has legal care and control of their child. We will need legal evidence of this. 

An address used for childcare arrangements cannot be used as the home address for the purpose of applying for a school place.

We will check the home address provided in an application against our records and those held by other organizations. Parents can be asked to provide a proof of their address, i.e. evidence of the name being on the electoral, proof of Council Tax payment or utility bill etc.

We will refuse to accept an address that might be considered to be only a temporary address for the purpose of obtaining a place at a popular school where: 

• The original home is still owned, and the new address is a rented property within the area of a popular school.
• Only part of the family moves unless this was due to a divorce or permanent separation arrangement. We will need legal evidence of this.
• A child moves to a home address which is different from their parent/s or legal guardian, unless it was due to a formal fostering or safe care arrangement with social services intervention. Where this is a formal arrangement, official confirmation must be submitted with your application. If the applicant does not have formal documentation, the admission authority will request further information.

We can only accept one application per child and parents are expected to agree school preferences before applying. The admissions team cannot become involved in any disputes or differences over the application.

Where there is a disagreement between the parents, or there is uncertainty about the child’s living arrangements, Local Authority as the admission authority will decide on the balance of probabilities, where the child lives for the majority of the week. 

We have the right to withdraw any offer of a school place up to one term after admission if it is shown that it was obtained based on a fraudulent or misleading application.