Applying for school for September 2024

Applications for children due to start in start in reception (or year 3 at Rothwell Victoria or Yeadon Westfield Junior school) in September 2024 are made in advance following a national timetable.  You can find all the information you need on our website.   

Our YouTube video explains the key application steps to help you make the best application for your child.   You can watch it at: https://youtu.be/WRU1SrS7iJE

If you have any questions, you can contact us by phone 0113 222 4414 or by email: startingprimary@leeds.gov.uk

Frequently asked questions

When and how do I apply?

Applications are open between 1 November 2023 and 15 January 2024 (national closing date). There is no advantage in applying early, all applications made by the national closing date are treated equally. 

If you live in Leeds, you apply online at www.leeds.gov.uk/apply. Link also above.

If you don’t live in Leeds, you must apply to your home local authority (whoever empties your bins) but you can still ask for Leeds schools. We will work with other local authorities if you ask for schools in their area.

Do I have to include 5 schools?

You should apply for 5 schools to give your child the best chance of getting a place at a school you want.  

Asking for only 1 school, or the same school 5 times, doesn’t increase your chances of being given a place at that school.  

You need to list the schools in your order of preference when you apply. Schools don’t know your preference order so this doesn’t have any impact on whether your child will be offered a place.  

On offer day if a place is available at more than one school on your list, we offer you the highest school on your list.  

How do I check if my address gives priority for any Leeds schools?

You can check this on our website www.leeds.gov.uk/apply.

If you live in a school’s catchment area, we recommend you include it as one of your 5 preferences.   Not all schools have catchment areas.

Living in a school's catchment area does not guarantee your child a place at that school, it provides a higher priority for admission to that school.

Make sure you use the right address - It is a crime to use a false address in your application. Every year, we see applicants using fraudulent addresses such as the address of a childminder or relative or even renting a property close to a popular school for a short period of time. These are all fraudulent addresses.

We do checks and if an application is found to be fraudulent or intentionally misleading, we will withdraw the offer of a place, even if a child has started at a school.   Find out more at www.leeds.gov.uk/apply

How to do I know if my child has a reasonable chance of being offered a place?

Each school has its own set of rules which are used to decide which children to offer a place to. This is called their admissions policy.

You should read the admissions policy for each school you want to apply for. This will help you to check what chance your child has of getting a place. You can check the admission policy criteria at step 4 on our webpage www.leeds.gov.uk/apply 

To work out whether your child has a good chance of getting an offer at a school, you should

• check which priority of the admission policy your child falls under and
• check if children in that same priority got a place in previous years

How do I check if I need to provide extra information?

If you think your child should get a place due to a specific admission criteria, you may need to submit extra information to support your application by the closing date.

You may need to submit extra information if your child:

• has spent time in care (fostered, adopted or looked after)
• needs to show proof of religion
• qualifies for a specific admission criteria

If I only provide 1 preference and you can’t offer my child a place at this school, will you allocate me a place at my local or closest school?

No. We can’t do this as we’re not allowed to reserve places.    Places will be given to those who ask for them, this means the local school’s places may be full because other children asked for a place there.   

My neighbour’s child qualified for a place last year, so won’t my child be guaranteed a place at the same school?

No child is guaranteed a place at any school. Your neighbour’s child may have met different admission criteria, or there may have been a different number of applications that year.

You should look at the school’s admission criteria to help you decide if there is a reasonable chance of your child being offered a place.

Do I need to apply if my child has a sibling?

Yes, you still need to apply. Not all schools provide a higher priority for siblings.   Siblings in year 6 or at the school’s nursery may not be included in the admission policy definition.

You should read each school’s admissions policy to see if your application will meet their sibling criteria. Make sure you include sibling information on your application.

Do I need to apply if my child currently attends the nursery?

Yes, you still need to apply. Going to a school's nursery does not guarantee your child a place at that school. All places are offered according to the school’s admission policy criteria.

How do I find out more about a school?

Schools may hold open days or have virtual tours. Look at each school’s website for more information or contact them to ask questions.  

How will my child travel to school?

Only a small number of children are entitled to free travel assistance.  The fact that an older sibling had a free bus pass doesn’t mean your child will automatically be eligible for one.

Read the Leeds Children’s Services Transport Policy www.leeds.gov.uk/schooltransport to see whether your child might qualify for travel support.

 What happens if my circumstances change after I apply?

You need to tell us immediately if there are changes in your circumstances that affect your application before your child starts at the school.

You must let us know if:

• you have moved home
• your child's sibling has left or joined a school you've applied to
• your child has left a feeder school

If you do not tell us about changes, we may withdraw your school offer. If you're unsure if a change affects your application, please contact us.

What happens if we are expecting to move home after the national closing date?

You should apply by the deadline date from your current address

You must tell us as soon as you move home and send us all the address evidence we ask for. You can send this as soon as you have it but no more than a month after you've moved. If you want us to amend the application before offer day, we must receive all your address evidence, and any new school preferences, by 28 February.

If you live outside the UK and are planning to move to Leeds soon, you can apply for a reception or junior school place in advance, but we need to use your international address until your child has arrived in Leeds.  You will need to provide us with address evidence when your child arrives in Leeds.  The address evidence we need is set out on our website https://www.leeds.gov.uk/schools-and-education/school-admissions/making-changes-to-your-application  

When do we find out what school place our child has been offered?   

We offer primary school places on 17 April 2023 (national offer day – first working day after 16 April).

If you applied through our online application portal, we'll email you with your child's offer. We'll send the email during the working day.

If you applied in any other way, you'll receive an offer letter to your registered home address (a few days after offer day).

What happens if I apply after the national deadline?

Applications submitted after the deadline may be treated with a lower priority than applications submitted on time.  If you submit your application:

• between 16 January and 12 February, some Leeds schools will treat the application as on time - check if this date applies by reading the school's own admissions policy
• between 13 February and 28 February, your application will receive a lower priority than those submitted on time - unless we agree you had exceptional reasons for missing this date – but you will get an offer on national offer day
• on or after 1 March 2023, you will not receive a school offer until May 2023 after all other school places have been given out on offer day

If you have exceptional reasons why you could not submit your application by 15 January, you must tell us by email. Not receiving a reminder to apply is not an exceptional reason.

Admissions to our school, to other primary schools in Leeds and to High Schools in Leeds

Seacroft Grange is a foundation school and the admission authority is our Governing body

The school’s admission authority sets the admission policy every year. You can read our school’s admission polices below: 

• In-year applications to start at our school between September 202 and July 2024 – read our 2023/24 policy 
•  Applications for Reception places in September 2023 – read our 2023/24 policy – please see the link to the Leeds City Council website below. 
  • Seacroft Grange Primary School - Admission Policy 2023/24
• Applications for Reception place in September 2024 - read our 2024/2025 policy - please see the link to the Leeds City Council website below
  • Seacroft Grange Primary School - Admission Policy 2024/25
•  Applications for Reception place in September 2024 - read our 2024/2025 policy - please see the link to the Leeds City Council website below 
  • Seacroft Grange Primary School - Admission Policy 2025/26

How to apply for a September 2024 place

If you are applying for a year 7 place for September 2024, all applications are made in advance. Offers are made by local authorities on national offer day.  

You must apply to the local authority who empties your bins. If this is Leeds, go to www.leeds.gov.uk/apply. Link also above. The LA website is a composite prospectus for all Leeds schools and includes information about:   

• all the steps you need to go through to make an application
• the key dates
• a search tool to see if your home address gives any higher priority for admission to any school(s)
• an explanation about how places are offered if there are more applications than spaces (oversubscribed)
• the online application portal - apply online and you’ll be sent your offer by email
• a summary of each school’s individual admission policy criteria
• data about who got a place in the last 3 years - this will help you work out if there is a reasonable chance of your child qualifying for a place.
• Information about applying under a specific admission criteria (such as your child being previously looked after). It is important to ensure you submit all supporting evidence by the deadline to show you meet any such criteria.

You also need to make an application to the local authority asking for a place at our school. You do this online at the above link.  If you do not send the application to the local authority, you will not have made a valid application for a place at our school.  

You can also watch the Leeds City Council school admissions video for more information. 

The council’s social media pages will also tell you about Q&A sessions where you can ask questions.

You can also see information about our school, including previous admission data, on our school page on the Leeds City Council’s website https://www.leeds.gov.uk/schools-and-education/school-admissions/check-school-details/display-details?schoolid=156  

Application timetable - The below timetable applies to applications made to Leeds City Council. If you apply to another local authority, they may have different dates

In-year applications.

If you are moving into Leeds or want to change schools in Leeds, you need to make a school transfer – often called an in-year application.

This includes

• applications for a place in year 7 after the start of term in September
• and applications for a place in all other year groups (year 8-11)

Moving schools can be a difficult experience for a child. You should always speak to your child's current school before trying to move to see what support they can offer you.

How to apply for an in-year place

We make the decision on whether to offer a place in-year.

You can apply for a place online using the Leeds in-year application form at Before you move schools (leeds.gov.uk). You can apply for places at our school and any other Leeds schools who are part of the centralised Leeds in-year application scheme at the same time.

If you have moved house, please upload evidence of the house move with the online application. You can find out what you need to provide on the above website.   

We have to offer places by applying our admission policy criteria to your child’s application and we will contact you with our decision about offering you a place.  We will tell you our decision no later than 15 school days from when you apply.   

If we cannot offer you a place, we will

• write to you to explain the reasons
• explain how you can appeal and
• add your child to our waiting list in case a place becomes free

Our waiting lists are kept until end of each school year.   You will need to make a new application if you want to be on the waiting list for the following school year.

Appeals

If you are not offered a place at the school you requested, you will have the right of appeal. The appeal panel is independent of the school and council and the decision is legally binding.

Before you appeal you:

• should accept any place that you have been offered in case your appeal is not successful
• should think about why you are appealing and check if it is likely to be successful
• could read the advice for appealing school places on GOV.UK 
• could get independent advice on making an appeal from a charity

Leeds City Council arranges our appeals, and you can find the appeal form at School appeals (leeds.gov.uk)    

If you are appealing for a year 7 place for September 2023, you need to submit your appeal form by the above deadline to ensure the appeal will be heard before the summer holidays.

You can appeal because you want your child to attend a particular school. These are successful if the panel agree that the reasons for your appeal outweigh the school's decision not to admit any more children.

Wanting your child to go to a school because you think it is the best one in the area is not likely to convince the panel that your child should get a place there.

Appeals for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 – these classes are limited to 30 pupils per teacher by law. This means that appeals for these places are less likely to be successful. 

If our school refuses your child a place because of this limit and you want to appeal, you will need to make an infant class size appeal.  You can see if your reasons are likely to be successful by reading the Department for Education's information about infant class size appeals.   

Other appeals - You can appeal because you want your child to attend a particular school. These are successful if the panel agree that the reasons for your appeal outweigh the school's decision not to admit any more children.

Wanting your child to go to a school because you think it is the best one in the area is not likely to convince the panel that your child should get a place there.

You can appeal because you want your child to attend a particular school. These are successful if the panel agree that the reasons for your appeal outweigh the school's decision not to admit any more children.

Wanting your child to go to a school because you think it is the best one in the area is not likely to convince the panel that your child should get a place there.

Applying for a school place for a child with a Special Educational Need or Disability?

The link to the admissions policy can be found above but the text below gives you the information from the Leeds City Council Policy for admissions for children with SEND.

"Leeds City Council promotes inclusion in local schools and it is an expectation in Leeds that all mainstream schools are able to provide for the majority of children with learning and medical disabilities. It is also an expectation that all Leeds schools provide an inclusive and nurturing environment that can meet the needs of those vulnerable children who have social and emotional needs. Children with exceptional needs who require additional support above that expected of a mainstream school will usually have an EHC plan. In some instances there are some children with a particular need such as a significant physical disability or complex sensory impairment who require the expertise only found in a particular school. e.g. blind children who need to access Braille. It is these instances where priority for admission may need to be considered. Applications in this category must be supported by a SEN SIF, available from the Admissions Team, which must include a statement in writing from a paediatrician/doctor or other relevant professional who can evidence why a particular provision is needed over another. The supporting statement must also evidence why the school of choice is the only school that can meet the particular need in question. This is necessary as the LA will be assessing if your child has a stronger case than other children. Cases will be considered individually by the LA in consultation with the school preferenced. Advice and support can be sought from the Leeds SEND Information Advice and Support Service on 0113 395 1222."

I am thinking about home education for my child, where can I find out more?

Teaching your child at home, instead of sending them to school full time is called elective home education. If your child is of compulsory school age (between 5 and 16 years old) and you want to teach them at home, you should contact us for more information, please phone 0113 378 5028 or email EHE@leeds.gov.uk

You can teach them yourself or employ a tutor to support you. You will be fully responsible for making sure that they receive a suitable, full-time education for their age, aptitude and skills and special educational needs (if any).   If you educate your child at home, you will not get any financial help from us.

We need to safeguard all children and to make sure they are getting a suitable education at home. To do this, we will arrange a home visit at least once a year to see you and your child and we will ask you to provide an education plan.

You can read more about home education here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/elective-home-education

 Useful numbers and contact details

 Leeds City Council website: www.leeds.gov.uk/apply

 Admissions team: For all admissions enquiries please contact 0113 222 4414 or email startingprimary@leeds.gov.uk

 Transport: For application forms, guidance notes, Leeds Children’s Transport policy, Under-16 Photocards and information about bus travel can be obtained at: https://www.wymetro.com/schools/your-school/

If you need information on your ‘Nearest Qualifying School’ or have other general school transport questions please contact the Leeds Education Transport Assessment Team on 0113 348 1122 or educationcustomerservices@westyorks-ca.gov.uk.

 Elective Home Education: For information on Elective Home Education please contact 0113 378 5028

 School meals: For information and applying for free school meals please contact 0113 222 4404.

 School uniforms and other expenses parents should contact the school their child will be attending for information about help with school uniforms.

 Special Educational Needs Information: For children with an existing Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC) parents should contact their SEN casework officer phone 0113 378 5256. For general information, support and advice about SEN and disabilities contact the Leeds Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Service phone 0113 378 5020.

Family Information Service: For information on childcare please contact the Family Information Service by email family.info@leeds.gov.uk or by phoning 0113 378 9700 or http://familyinformation.leeds.gov.uk.