If your child is in Year 6, you have until 31 October 2026 to apply for a secondary school place starting in September 2027. That date is non-negotiable in every English local authority. Miss it and you become a “late applicant,” which usually means you’ll only be considered for places after on-time applicants have been allocated.
The thing nobody tells you is how much of the autumn term you’ll lose to the process. Open evenings cluster between mid-September and mid-October. Most schools run only one. Some run two. Coordinating which to attend, in what order, and with what questions is more work than parents anticipate. This guide gives you a week-by-week structure.
We get a wave of late applications every year in the first week of November from parents who genuinely thought the deadline was 31 December. It isn’t. It never has been. The window is shorter than people remember.
— Admissions Officer, county council, South East England
The national deadline for secondary admissions in England is 31 October. It applies to applications for entry into Year 7 the following September. Every local authority — every council — uses the same date.
Build your shortlist. Most families start with too many schools — eight or ten — and need to narrow before the open evening rush. Use the free FindOpenDays catchment search to filter by realistic distance from your home postcode, then read the most recent Ofsted report and Progress 8 figure for each.
List 5–8 schools within sensible travel of home
Public transport, walking time, or your school run capacity
Read the latest Ofsted report for each
Pay attention to the date — old reports may be misleading
Check Progress 8 for the last three years
One-year scores are noise; trend matters more
Note any schools with selective elements (grammar, partially-selective, faith)
Test dates and additional forms apply
Diary the open evening dates
Most are September weeknights, 5pm or 6pm starts
Open evenings begin. Most schools run a single evening between 4:30pm and 8:30pm. Some run a tour week alongside it. Bring questions, bring your Year 6 child if you can, and don’t worry if you only manage to attend three or four — quality of attention matters more than quantity.
By the third open evening, the schools blur. Write down three things straight after each visit: a strength, a concern, and a question still unanswered. You’ll thank yourself in late October.
Selective schools begin testing. Grammar school tests in most counties run between mid-September and mid-October. If you have a partially-selective option, the test date may be earlier than the application deadline — check carefully and don’t miss it. The test sits separately from the LA application form.
If you haven’t yet, log into your local authority’s online application portal. You usually need a council or government gateway login — set this up now if you haven’t. Some LAs charge a (small) verification fee for paper applications, so the online route is faster and easier.
Visit any second-choice tours or follow-up sessions. Many schools run smaller tour days for families who couldn’t attend the headline open evening. These are often more useful than the open evening itself — quieter, more personal, more questions get answered.
Make your final list. Most LAs let you list six choices, ranked. Some let you list more. Listing fewer is risky: if you list three and don’t get any, you’ll be allocated a place at the nearest school with vacancies, which may be a long bus ride away.
Rank your choices honestly by preference
List the school you actually want first, even if you think you won’t get it
Use all the slots your LA allows
Listing fewer choices does not improve your chances at any one school
Include at least one school where you meet admissions criteria comfortably
Travel distance, sibling rule, or catchment area
Submit the form online before the deadline
Don’t wait until 31 October itself — the system slows down
Save the confirmation email or reference number
Without it, you have no proof of an on-time application
The deadline. Submit the application by the time stated on your local authority’s website — usually midnight, but some LAs use 5pm. After this, the application is “in” and you wait until 1 March for the result.
The form itself is not complicated, but a few fields trip families up consistently.
Use the address where the child genuinely lives. If you’ve recently moved, use the new address but keep documentary evidence — utility bills, council tax — because admissions teams check. False addresses are the single biggest reason places are revoked.
Most schools give priority to applicants with a sibling already at the school. List the sibling’s full name, year group, and date of birth. The sibling rule typically only applies if the older sibling will still be at the school in September, which matters if the older child is in Year 11 of an 11–16 school.
Faith schools usually require a separate Supplementary Information Form (SIF) on top of the LA application. Without the SIF, faith criteria don’t apply. The SIF is downloadable from the school’s own website and submitted directly to them, not via the LA.
If your child has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), the application process is different and runs through the SEND team rather than the standard admissions form. Contact your LA’s SEND team if you haven’t already.
I see at least one application every year that lists three schools because the family thought listing only their favourites would somehow make those favourites more likely. That’s not how it works. List six. List eight if your LA allows. Use every slot you have.
— Head of Admissions, county council
On 1 March 2027 (National Offer Day), every family who applied on time will receive an offer — whether it’s their first choice or not. If it isn’t the school you wanted, three options open.
Accept the school you’ve been allocated, even if it isn’t your preferred. Then join the waiting list at the school you wanted. Waiting lists move through April, May and into the summer term as families decline places. Movement is most likely in oversubscribed schools — ironically, the ones you most wanted.
If you believe the school’s admissions criteria were misapplied, or if you have a strong specific reason your child needs that school (medical, social, EHCP-related), you can appeal. Appeals are heard by independent panels, usually between May and July. Strong appeals come prepared with evidence; weak appeals come prepared with feeling. The panel responds to evidence.
If your circumstances change later — a house move, a sibling joining, a particular school developing capacity — you can apply “in-year” at any point. The waiting list is the most likely route, but in-year admissions are processed continuously.
Year 7 admissions look more complicated than they are. The key dates are 31 October 2026 (apply) and 1 March 2027 (find out). Everything between is preparation: open evenings, a shortlist, a ranked form. Do the preparation properly in September and the rest follows.
The schools that matter most to you are usually the ones you’ll have to compete for. List six. Rank them honestly. Visit the ones you can. And keep the receipts — both for your application and for any move you make in the run-up. Good luck.
31 October 2026. It’s the same date in every English council, and there’s no December extension — that’s the myth that catches families out every year. Miss it and you’re a late applicant, considered only after everyone who applied on time.
As many as your council lets you — usually six — ranked by genuine preference. Listing fewer doesn’t improve your odds at your top choice; it just leaves you exposed if you miss out, in which case you’re handed the nearest school with a space. Use every slot.
No. Catchment is one factor, not a promise. At oversubscribed schools, families inside the catchment area miss out every year, which is exactly why you shouldn’t pin everything on one in-catchment school.
You need one if you’re applying to a faith school. The SIF is an extra form, downloaded from the school’s own website and sent straight to the school — not the council. Without it, the faith criteria simply don’t apply to your child.
You’ll still get an offer on 1 March 2027 — just maybe not the one you wanted. You can accept it and join the waiting list for your preferred school (lists move all spring as families decline), appeal if the criteria were misapplied or you have a strong evidenced case, or apply in-year if your circumstances change later.