Schools, education and childcare Secondary schools: Council's admission rules

Distance from the school

If there are more applications than places at a school, we use the distance a child lives from the school to decide who gets places first.

We look at the first category that’s oversubscribed. Places go to the nearest child in that category first, then to the second nearest, and so on until there are no places left.

We measure the distance in a straight line (not along roads or paths) from your address to the centre of the school.

The right address

The address must be the child’s main and permanent home. If you share responsibility for a child, for example with an ex-partner, you must use the address where the child mostly wakes up on school days.

If responsibility for the child is shared equally, it must be the address of the parent or guardian who claims Child Benefit.  

If a relative cares for your child at another address, or the child goes to a childminder every day, we can't use that address.

False address 

Some people have given false addresses to get a school place. But we check addresses, and can ask for evidence that you and the child live there. If you give a false address your child will lose their place at the school.

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