School admissions

National School Offer Day

Find out more about school allocations, home-to-school transport and how to appeal an allocation decision.

To apply for a school place online visit our Parent Portal.

Before completing an application, please consider the following information.

There are several different types of application for a school place.

The information you need to consider before making an application depends on whether your child is starting a school for the first time, for example:

If your child is moving schools either during the school year or for the start of a new school year, then you will need to make an in-year application. Examples of this include when moving house or requesting to move your child from one school to another within York.

Applications for primary school places for September 2025 should be made before midnight on 15 January 2025.

Applications for secondary school places for September 2025 should be made before midnight on 31 October 2024.

Applications for Year 12 or 13, also known as sixth form, should be made directly to the school - get school contact details.

All applications should be submitted to the Local Authority where you live at the time of application. If you are currently outside the UK but are moving to York, please apply to us. If you wish to apply for a school which is out of the area and not listed on ParentPortal, please call the Education Support Services team on 01904 551554 (option 2) or email education@york.gov.uk with the school details which you require and we will add them to the system to allow you to choose the required school.

Your data

When you apply for a school place (online or paper application) we'll use and process your information for the purposes of your application, but also for providing children's education and supporting your child's teaching and learning - find out more about how we process and store your information.

Guide for Parents

We have created a Guide for Parents which contains useful information for parent and carers on school admissions, including key information on catchment areas, parental responsibility, fair access, service families, your address, the oversubscription criteria, and key dates including when you will find out which school your child has been allocated.

Your preferences

You can express up to five preferences in your application. We operate an equal preference system which means that we consider all of your preferences and offer you the highest ranked preference we can.

Putting a school as your first and only preference, or attempting to name a school more than once does not increase your chance of being successful.

If we cannot offer you any of your preferences and you are without a local school place, you will be allocated the nearest school with places available, this may not be your catchment school, but will be within a reasonable distance of your home address. It is therefore advisable to use all of your five preferences.

Supplementary information forms

If you are applying for schools outside of the City of York area or faith schools such as your local Church of England or Roman Catholic school you may also need to provide additional information such as proof of your child's baptism by completing a Supplementary Information Form (SIF). The SIF can be found on the relevant Admission Policy page for the year of application.

You may wish to check with the school directly if a SIF is required.

Children with an 'Education, Health and Care' plan

If your child has an 'Education, Health and Care Plan' (or statement) of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), there is a separate admissions process - see Our Local Offer for SEND for details.