You must apply to the local authority who empties your bins. If this is Leeds, check out the Leeds website which is a composite prospectus for all Leeds schools and includes:

• all of the steps you need 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 three years (this will help you work out if there’s 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’s important to ensure you submit all supporting evidence by the deadline to show you meet any such criteria)

Watch the Leeds City Council school admissions video for more information. The council’s social media pages will tell you about any 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.

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

• 01 November 2024: Applications open – apply online
• 15 January 2025: National deadline for applying for Reception 2025
• 12 February 2025: Deadline for making changes that will be considered as being on-time
• 28 February 2025: Final date Leeds City Council uses for adding late applications or receiving change of address evidence; any new applications received after this date will not be offered a school place until the first round of reallocations in May
• 16 April 2025: National offer day (first working day after 16 April)
• If you wish to change your Reception place allocation, or make a new application for a Reception place between 16 April 2025 and 31 August 2025, you will need to join a waiting list
• 30 April 2025: First cut off for waiting list requests
• May to end of August 2025: Any available places automatically allocated from waiting lists by the local authority; lower preference school offers are also withdrawn automatically (even if accepted)
• June to July 2025: Appeals heard by independent appeal panels
• September 2025: Start primary school

If you’re moving into Leeds or want to change schools in Leeds, you need to make a school transfer – this is often called an in-year application. This includes applications for a place in Reception after the start of term in September and and applications for a place in all other year groups (Year 1-6).

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.

You can apply for a place online using the Leeds in-year application form. 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’ve moved house, please upload evidence of the house move with the online application. (Find out what you need to provide on the above website.)

Leeds City Council has to offer places by applying the admission policy criteria to your child’s application and they’ll contact you with their decision about offering you a place. They’ll tell you their decision no later than 15 school days from when you apply.

If they can’t offer you a place, they will:

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

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

If we can’t offer you a place, you have the right of appeal. The appeal panel is independent of the school and council and their 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’s 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. Find the appeal form.

If you’re applying for a Reception place for September 2025, you need to submit your appeal by the deadline to ensure the appeal will be heard before the summer holidays.

Appeals for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are less likely to be successful. This is because these classes are limited to 30 pupils per teacher by law. If we refuse your child a place because of this limit and you want to appeal, you’ll 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.

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.