Primary school admissions criteria

[Pinklilly]

Hi all I wonder if anyone can help. My daughter is due to start primary school September 2026 and I’m trying to understand the process.
i have a few questions and would be grateful if anyone can provide clarity.
what is the admissions criteria- I live in London where there are many schools near us. The documents on schools website and council website state oversubscription criteria but not admissions criteria. They do clearly state that catchment area is not a thing.
so how are places allocated?

what does equal preference mean? Does it mean that it doesn’t matter what school I put as option 1 or option 6?

does nursery make a difference? My daughter currently goes to an independent nursery and was planning on keeping her at the preschool there. Would it be better to move her to a nursery associated with a school?

appreciate any help!

Sorry I don't know, but wanted to say good luck with it all. I'm 8 years down the line but it's such an important time isn't it? I hope it goes well for you.

The oversubscription criteria are the rules that the school / LA will apply, in order, if there are more applicants than there are places available. The first criterion must be Looked After children, and Previously Looked After children, whether their care placement was in the UK or abroad. After that, there is no regulated order, but a 'basic' list might be

1. LAC / PLAC
2. Siblings of pupils who will still be at the school when the child joins
3. Living within a defined priority admissions area (catchment)
4. Other applicants, ranked on distance

From the ranked list, who actually is allocated a place also depends on whether any other schools they ranked above this one on their CAF can offer a space (the child's home LA sorts this out and makes the appropriate offer).

If fewer applicants than places, they would all get in, if this was the highest ranked sxhool on their CAF that can offer a place.

Very unlikely that attending a nursery/preschool gives priority but it can happen in academies or va schools. Equal preference means you are considered for a place whether you list it first or last , or anywhere between. There should be a breakdown of priority categories ie Looked after/ehcp, siblings , distance etc with the oversubscription criteria being applied once there is a category which has more applicants than places . For some there may also be faith criteria within a category such as attendance at a particular church or baptised, living in a named parish and so on.

Nursery education is non-statutory so if it was part of an oversubscription criteria it could be challenged fairly easily with the schools adjudicator as it would disadvantage children who are not in a non-statutory provision. I'm fairly sure this has been successfully challenged in the past.

Hey OP to answer some of your questions:

Equal preference means that schools do not know where you put them on the form. So putting a school first doesn't give you any more sway over getting a place than putting it 6th. BUT it does matter what order you put schools in. To explain with an example:
If I live a mile from school A and put it first, and you live half a mile away and put it third, but you do not qualify for your first or second preferences, you will get a place at school A over me - as you live nearer. (obviously if you qualify for a place at your first or second prefs, then you will be offered that.)

So you should put schools in your actual preference order. even if your first pref is a long shot. Listing it won't harm you chance of getting a place at a closer school (as long as you list it) if it is too long a shot. But if you put your closest school first and the long shot further down the list, then you will probs be offered the closest school - I have known ppl do this and then be disappointed. That's why I say the order matters.

Does that make sense? It is a bit confusing but summed up, the advice is:
List schools in your order of preference
Always include a 'banker" - a school (usually your closest) that you are pretty certain of a place at. If you don't, you risk getting none of your prefs and being offered an unpopular school a long way away
Use all your preferences on the form

The usual admission criteria (the same as oversubscription criteria really - in other words how it is decided who qualifies for a place at school A if more than 30 (60, 90) parents apply) are looked-after children, schools named on an EHCP, siblings, then distance. Sometimes there are criteria relating to religion. Some schools have feeder nurseries but that's not super common.

Nursery associated with a school can be good for meeting DC who will or may go to the school, but it doesn't usually have any relation to likelihood of getting a place at the school.

You have plenty of time - applications for your DC will be in autumn/winter of 2025-6 - but it's a good idea to start looking at schools - go to their Christmas fair, ask to look round, keep an eye out for open days.

Phew! sorry for essay!

The criteria is potentially different for each school (especially if they are a faith school), but the standard is:
Priority 1 – looked after children or previously looked
after children

Priority 2 – Medical or social reasons or children ‘at risk’
Priority 3 – Siblings
Priority 4 – School staff children
Priority 5 – Distance

You're correct that the order you put the schools makes no difference to whether it not you get a place: the offers are decided "blind" (without knowing ranking you gave a school), then, of the schools that offer you a place, you are allocated to the one that was highest on your list. Then they put the spaces for the schools lower down in your ranking back in the pot and recalculate so they can offer them to other people.

Equal preference means that whichever position you place a school you have the same chance of being accepted so if you put a school first you are not more likely to get a place than if you put it third. This means that you should list schools in your true preference order of which one you like best. You should plan to put your nearest school(s) somewhere on the list even if you are not too keen on it. It is better to go to a local less desirable school than a less desirable school an hour away.

I'm not in London but the process is broadly similar wherever you are in England. Each individual school has their own published admissions criteria, which should be available on their website. Whilst there are some variations, most go along the following lines:-

1. Looked after children
2. Children with an EHCP naming the school as the most appropriate setting for the child.
3. Children in catchment with siblings already at the school.
4. Other children in catchment.
5. Children out of catchment with siblings already at the school.
6. Other children out of catchment.

Some schools may offer priority to children of staff somewhere in their admissions criteria, but not all. Attending the school nursery isn't usually a reason to be given priority in the admissions criteria I'm afraid.

Whilst 'catchment areas' aren't really a thing these days, when criteria's refer to catchment they usually mean for children where this school is closest to their home address. If you apply to the school which is closest to where you live, you'll generally get in unless everyone else who applies lives even closer to it than you do. If you apply to schools further away from where you live, you have more chance of missing out to children who are more local to that school.

So for example, if a school with the above criteria has 60 spaces and 72 applicants the allocation might look like this:-

1 child in care
3 children with EHCPs
20 catchment children with siblings
22 children without siblings who live closer to that school than any other
12 children for whom it isn't their most local school but have siblings already at the school.

That leaves 2 spaces left for 14 children who applied for whom it isn't their local school and don't already have siblings there. These spaces will be allocated based on who is closest to the school, as the crow flies.

The 12 who miss out will be allocated another school. If they didn't get their first choice they will end up in the pot for their second choice and a decision will be made based on that school's admission criteria. If they don't get in based on that school's criteria, they enter the pot for a place at their 3rd choice and so on, until eventually a place is found. If they don't meet the criteria for any of their preferred schools, they'll be allocated a place at the nearest school to their address which still has space.

I hope that makes some sense. I appreciate it's a minefield!

Basically, what we're all saying is stuff that your LA should explain on its website - if yours doesn't have such a section in its School Admissions area, a) someone should be shot but b) have a look at a different LA'S website- the basic principles by which LAs and schools must comply with the Admissions Code are the same for all.

The admissions policies for 2026 entry will be published in 11 months' time, but look out from October onwards on the websites of your LA and any schools in which you are interested, in case they are consulting on making changes to their policies. Always go by the policy for the correct year of entry, rather than relying on previous years' ones (for example, at the moment, schools should have their 2023/2024 policy visible, as this applies to people applying for an in-year place now, their 2024/2025 policy, because this is relevant for new starters in September, and their 2025/2026 policy, because the Admissions Code says that they must, but you need the 2026/2027 one, when it is available).

The oversubscription criteria you have found are the admissions criteria. It’s just a different name for them.

The places will be allocated by listing the applications for each school in order of oversubscription criteria. The position you have placed them in doesn’t come into play at this point.

The will then offer however many places to those at the top of the list. This is where your preferences count. You can only receive one offer. So if you are close enough to the top of the list for schools 2, 5 and 6 on your list they will offer school 2 and remove you from the lists of schools 3, 4, 5, and 6. You should remain on the waiting list for school 1 as it is a higher preference than the school you were offered.

Hi all, thank you so much for giving me some clarity. Mumsnet had always been a useful resource to me! I’m really grateful thank you!
I appreciate the clarity that admissions criteria is the same as over subscription criteria!
I will place schools in the desired order of preference but make sure I keep a school within a reasonable distance on there.

nursery points were super helpful and I never thought about how that could be discrimination. In that case I will keep my daughter where she is as doesn’t seem fair to move her for nursery and then again move to primary.

i really appreciate everyone’s help and I’ll keep an eye out for information on the council website from about September October.

You say you're in London.

Most of London doesn't have catchments, but those schools that do it means the ordinary sense of defined area with priority admission (and there will be a map or description as part of the criteria). They've been introduced in places where there was a lack of places left for, but loads of congestion from people driving in younger siblings after they'd sold up, bought bigger house further out but kept entire family there on sibling priority. For those schools the criteria now would be something like: LAC, catchment siblings, others in catchment, other siblings, all others

Remember that being in catchment may not be enough, if more DC live in it than there are places. Then a tie breaker (usually distance) is then used within the category

Next nearest school isn't AFAIK ever used in London as there are so many schools and people can be within a mile of many.

Also remember that faith schools often have their own particular criteria, baptism, church attendance, residence in a particular parish etc . If these are likely to be on your list then check their requirements very carefully.