Admission dates

Children reach compulsory school age at the beginning of the term following their fifth birthday.

Child's fifth birthday	Compulsory school age
1 September - 31 December	Spring term
1 January - 31 March	Summer term
1 April - 31 August	Autumn term

Under our policy, children may start school the September following their fourth birthday. Therefore, children born between 1 September 2018 and 31 August 2019 are normally admitted to school in September 2023.

Applications for admission, and any appeals, are normally considered in relation to the availability of places in the child’s chronological age group.

Attendance at a nursery or pre-school co-located children’s centre

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.