Reception admissions
Overview
Every year we strongly encourage parents and carers to apply on time for reception places for their children. Applying on time gives a far greater chance of securing a place at a preferred school. Unfortunately late applications can only be considered once all on time applications are processed and so parents and carers applying late will not receive an outcome until several weeks after national offer day.
It is advised that parents and carers arrange to visit the preferred schools prior to making an application, as once the place is offered, it may not be possible to accommodate a change of preference later in the process.
Applying for a school place
As required by law, we make arrangements for parents and carers to express their preference for the school where they wish their child to be educated and an opportunity to give reasons for their preference before any places are offered.
The co-ordinated admissions process provides a way for ensuring that as far as it is practical, every parent living in an English local authority area receives a single offer of a school place on the same day. All English local authorities are required to provide a common application form (CAF), which allows for at least three school preferences, for parents and carers resident within an authority. All school preferences must be included on the home authority’s form.
- you will be asked to provide some personal information (such as name, address) in order to process your application. Where required, your data will be forwarded to schools, other local authorities and relevant Council departments to consider and/or verify the information you provide
- if you reside in the borough, you can express up to three preferences for any English authority schools on your application
- if you reside in Wales, Scotland, Ireland or abroad and are wishing to apply for a school in the borough you will need to apply directly to us
- you cannot express a preference for a school in Wales, Scotland, Ireland or abroad
- in addition, you cannot apply for a place at an independent (private) school. If you wish to do so you will need to contact the school directly
- if you reside in another English authority, you will need to apply directly to your home authority, even if the school you wish to apply for is in Cheshire West and Chester
- the address stated on your application must be the address the child resides at the time of application and not a future address. Further information on moving house can be found on our general information page
- the address used must be the child's home address and not the address used for child care purposes
- we will only discuss details of the application with the applicant unless an additional contact is named on the application
Admissions procedures for nursery education and school aged education are completely separate. Attendance at a nursery class in a maintained school or academy, pre-school or private nursery on a school site, co-located nursery school or a co-located children’s centre does not therefore guarantee admission to that school.
Parents of children who are admitted for nursery education will still need to apply for a place at the school and all applications will be considered in accordance with the relevant published admission arrangements.
Please note: for community and voluntary controlled schools, attendance at the school’s nursery class does not form part of our oversubscription criteria and will not be considered when assigning a criteria.
You may wish to consider when deciding on your preferences whether the schools/academies have a before and after school club or if there are childminders that provide a school collection service.
