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Starting secondary school in Year 7

In this section

1Starting secondary school in Year 7
2Your specific circumstances
3Admissions criteria and catchment areas
4Your three school preferences
5Applying for a school place

Applying for a school place

Before you submit your application, please read all 5 pages in this section and check that you:

  • understand how your individual circumstances can affect your application.
  • are familiar with the oversubscription criteria for each school you are applying for.
  • are clear on the order you want to list the schools.
  • do not disadvantage your child by listing only one preference
  • have considered how you will get your child to any of the schools listed
  • have completed a Supplementary Information Form (SIF) if required to do so

Apply online

You can apply online using our Parent Portal.

The closing date for receipt of your application is 31 October 2024 (11.59pm).

If your application is incomplete, or incorrect, it could get delayed or cancelled. It is your responsibility to ensure the application has been submitted on time.

During the allocation process, the Admissions Team may contact you for more information or supporting documentation. When you apply make sure your email address is correct and checked regularly for responses. Requests for information or documents may be time-sensitive. To ensure you receive important emails, add admissions@peterborough.gov.uk to your safe-senders list.

You can change the information and re-submit your application up until the closing date. After the deadline you need to complete an amendment form to make any changes. Depending on circumstance this may be classed as a late application.

If you apply for a school place or move into the area after places are allocated, you can still apply and list up to three preferences. We will offer you a place at one of your preferred schools if this is possible. If your preferred schools are full, your child will be put on a continuing interest list, in order of priority. Your child will be allocated a place at the next nearest school to your home with available places.

We recommend you apply online, our libraries and family hubs offer internet access and you can get support to set up a free email account and make your application. They also having scanning facilities if you need to provide any documentation.

Where this is not possible please contact the admissions team to discuss your application.
Email: admissions@peterborough.gov.uk 
Phone: 01733 864007

If you provide false information, the school admissions code allows for the offer of a school place to be withdrawn. This applies even after the child has started at the new school. Providing false information could also lead to prosecution.

If you think someone has lied to us, please report it by emailing admissions@peterborough.gov.uk. All reports received will be investigated.

If you don't provide the required documentation to prove where you live, we will withdraw your offer. We will then offer a place at the nearest school to your home address with an available place. This may be some distance away.

Outcome of your application

If you have submitted an on-time application, you will receive the outcome of your application on 3 March 2025, National Offer Day. (National Offer Day is usually 1 March, however as this falls on a non-working day, parents will be notified on Monday 3 March 2025). Offer letters will sent by email to parents and carers who have made online applications and by Second Class Post via Royal Mail to those who made paper applications or submitted an amendment by the deadline date.

Your email / letter will fully explain your next steps. In summary, you will be given two options:

  1. Accept the place - you must accept the offered school place by contacting the school directly within ten school days of the date of the letter or email. We advise that parents and carers accept the school place offered even if they wish to submit an appeal or amend their preferences.
  2. Decline the place – you must provide information on what educational provision you are making for your child. If you are declining a place because you are wishing to wait for a higher preference, or a place following an appeal, you may leave your child with no school place for September 2025 and it will be your responsibility to provide suitable education for your child.

Failure to respond to an offer by this date may result in the place being offered to another child on our waiting list.

Allocation information will be published following National Offer Day.

Waiting lists

We aim to offer your child a place at the highest preferred schools possible based on the application we received. Whenever a child receives an offer which is not their highest preference, the child is placed on the waiting list in the correct oversubscription criteria. If a place was then to become available, it would be offered to the child who is number one on the waiting list at the time of the allocation. Any child who is not offered a place at one of their preference schools is allocated a place at the school nearest to the home address with vacancies at the time of the allocation.

Your child will remain on the waiting list of any higher preference school until either: we can offer them a place at this school in a subsequent allocation round, you inform us in writing that you wish for your child to be removed for a schools waiting list or when the waiting lists are cleared in June 2026. If you wish to remain on a school waiting list for the next academic year, you will need to submit a new in-year application.

If you are offered a lower preference and do not request to be removed from the waiting list of your higher preferences and we are subsequently able to offer one of your higher preferences, it will cancel the previous offer made regardless of whether you have accepted the offer of a school place.

Right of Appeal

If you are unhappy with your offer, you have the right to appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel for any school that you appear on the waiting list for. Further information on the appeals process and how to appeal can be found on our school admissions appeals webpage.

You can only appeal for a school for which you have expressed a preference and have been refused. If you wish to appeal, it is best to accept the offered school place. This won't affect the appeal outcome and will ensure your child doesn't miss any school.

We do not process appeals for The King's (The Cathedral) School.

Published: 30 October 2024