ADMISSIONS

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HOW TO APPLY

If your child lives in Derby and is due to start reception in September 2027 you will need to apply to Derby City Council for a school place. CLICK HERE to APPLY (updated in September)

The deadline for applications: Date TBC

The National Offer Day will be: Date TBC

The Admissions Team considers the application against schools admissions criteria.  If these schools have not reached their Published Admission Number, a place will be offered.  If any school is over its Published Admission Number, the application will be refused and the right of appeal offered. The Admissions Team will write to parents informing them of the outcome of their application, together with the notification of the right to appeal if applicable. The school is also sent notification that a place has been allocated by the Admissions Team and the pupil will be admitted into the school by the date stated on the letter; usually between two to three weeks from the date of application. No pupil will be refused access to school as a result of disability. School, parents and the Local Authority will work together to ensure appropriate support and access to school is provided.

CLICK HERE to view our SEND Policy, including our Accessibility Information

Schools have no part in the admissions process. Please contact admissions at Derby CIty Council on 01332 6642729 if you have any questions.

See below for our over-subscription criteria.

Appeals for applications made in the normal admissions round must be heard within 40 school days from the deadline for lodging appeals.

When applying for a place, remember:

• Most schools in Derby city have catchment area criteria. Children living in the catchment area are given a higher priority when places are offered.
  We recommend that one of the schools on your application is your catchment school.

• Please name up to three infant or primary schools. This can include schools outside of Derby city.

• If you are applying for a place in a Roman Catholic school, you will also need to fill out a supplementary application form.

• The admissions process for children with a Statement of Special Needs or Education, Health and Care Plan is different.
  Click here for more information regarding SEND applications.

The quickest and easiest way to apply is online. You can also apply by telephone on 01332 642730. 
Alternatively, you can request a paper application using the same telephone number.

SUMMER BORN CHILDREN

School admission authorities are required to provide admission for all children in the September following their fourth birthday. However, a child is not required to start school until they have reached compulsory school age following their fifth birthday.

For summer born children, parents can request that their child attends part-time until they reach compulsory school age or that the date their child is admitted to school is deferred until after in the same academic year. Where parents consider sending their summer born children to school in the September after their fifth birthday and request that they enter the reception class in September instead of the Year 1class, the admission authority is required to make the decision based on the individual circumstances of each case.

Please note, you will still need to make an application for delayed entry at the normal time and before the closing date in January, as well as submitting an application for a place in the current round.
 

 Admissions: Over Subscription Criteria

Each school has a limit to the number of pupils it can admit to the first year in the school - this is known as the ‘intake year’. This limit is based on the amount of space available in the school and on past admissions. Once the admission limit is reached, the admissions authority cannot offer any more places, even to children who have moved into the school’s catchment area. In years other than the intake year, the admissions authority may be able to admit pupils above the admission limit if they choose. They must take into account the school’s physical capacity and must keep infant class sizes to no more than 30 children. As the admissions authority, the Council gives priority to children whose parents have applied for a place by the admissions deadline.

Where Community and Voluntary controlled schools do not have enough places available for every child whose parents have applied for a place, we have to use the following order of priority for admissions.

1. A ‘looked after child’ or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order. A looked after child is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the excercise of their social services functions (see the definition in section 22(1) of the Children Act (1989).

2. Children who are both living in the catchment area served by the school and have brothers or sisters* of compulsory school age still attending the school at the time of their admission.

3. Other children living in the catchment area at the time of admission.

4. Children who do not live in the catchment area served by the school but who have brothers or sisters* of compulsory school age attending the school at the time of their admission.

5. In the case of voluntary-controlled church schools, children whose parents request a place on religious grounds as stated on their application form.

6. Other children whose parents have requested a place.

7. Children whose parents did not request a place by the admissions deadline.

For the purposes of admissions, we class a brother or sister as having:

• one or both natural parents in common

• are related by a parent’s marriage or are adopted or fostered.

• Note: A brother or sister must be living at the same address. Cousins are not classed as brothers or sisters.

Tie-breaker: When choices have to be made between children satisfying the same criteria, children living nearest to the school measured by a straight line have priority. The line will be measured from the centre of the home address to the school using the national Ordnance Survey set points. If two measurements are the same, we will give priority to the child living nearest the school measured by two walking routes measure the same distance, the place will be allocated using an independently verified random allocation process. The ‘home address’ is the address of the primary carer of the child, as shown by who receives the Child Benefit.

We will give pupils who have an Education Health and Care Plan priority admission over all others.

Dale Admissions Limits:

Primary School Admissions
The Council House
Corporation Street
Derby
DE1 2FS
(t): 01332 642729

Are you thinking of changing schools during a school year? Click on the button below for more details of how to apply and all the things to consider before making the move.