School place application checklist
- Research and visit the schools that you are considering applying for.
- Think about how your child will get to school.
- Express a preference of 3 schools in preferred, ranked order.
- Seriously consider stating your catchment or nearest school as one of your preferences.
- Make sure you fully complete the question about siblings if relevant (if not, your application may not be considered under this criterion).
- If relevant, make sure you have completed the appropriate SIF for each school you have applied for and returned to the correct address (if not, your application may not be considered under the appropriate criterion).
- Make sure your application is received by the closing date – 15 January 2024.
Who can apply
Parents and carers are responsible for making a school place application for any children in their care. A legal definition of a parent or carer is included on our School admissions terms and meanings page.
Where shared care arrangements are in place and parents and carers of the child submit two separate applications for different schools, we will only accept one application. This will be the application made by the parent or carer who lives at the same permanent home address as the child. Where there are exceptional grounds, such as ongoing court proceedings, these applications will be considered case-by-case.
Where it is necessary to establish the child’s permanent home address, parents or carers will be asked to write to us stating the number of days each week the child spends with them. We may also ask for evidence of which parent or carer was in receipt of child benefit when the application was made. If the parent or carer is not in receipt of child benefit, we will ask for proof of the child’s home address as held by the doctor’s surgery when the application was made. If the child’s home address cannot be verified, we may ask you for more information.
Please be aware that if you are applying for a school place for your child and your child does not live with you permanently, information will also be sent to your child’s permanent home address.
How to apply
Apply using the portal on our Apply to Start School for the first time page or Starting at a junior or middle school page stating your preferred schools in ranked order by 15 January 2025.
If you make a paper application, you will not receive an email notification of your school place application on National Offer Day. Instead, a letter will be posted second class to your home address on this date. Outcomes will not be given out over the phone.
Make sure you have completed any necessary SIF s that are required. Please make sure you have fully completed your application form. If you have applied online make sure that it has been submitted properly and that you have received a confirmation email. You must re-submit your online form if you view or make any changes at a later date.
Supporting information such as a SIF or proof of address for on-time applications will be accepted up to 3 February 2025.
Supplementary Information Form (SIF)
Where additional information to support your school place application is required, you may need to fill out a Supplementary Information Form (SIF). For example, your church representative may need to complete a SIF if you are applying for a school place under religious grounds.
If you are applying for a school in another local authority, make sure you have the correct SIF for the schools you are applying for.
You can upload any supporting information, such as a SIF onto your online application.
Siblings
Priority is given in the published local authority admission arrangements for siblings where there is an existing sibling link at the time of admission. But no guarantee is given that siblings can attend the same school when the school is over-subscribed.
For academies or schools which are their own admission authorities, you will need to check the individual over-subscription criteria for each school.
Make sure you fully complete the question about siblings if relevant. If you do not, your application may not be considered under this criterion.
If children of multiple births (twins and triplets) are tied for the final place, these siblings will usually be admitted over PAN (sibling definition applies).
SEND information - part of our Local Offer
Applying if your child has and Education, Health and Care plan
If your child has an Education, Health and Care plan (EHC), their school placement will be dealt with by the Statutory Special Education Needs and/or Disability (SEND) Team. Please do not make an application for a school place to the admissions team. You must contact the Statutory SEND team to make sure a plan is in place for your child’s transition.
There would also have been an opportunity to discuss your views on your child’s next placement at their last Annual Review meeting. You may find it helpful to visit Education Health and Care Plan Annual Reviews page to find out more.
If a child has an Education, Health and Care plan which names a particular school, then the admissions authority for that school has a duty to admit the child. Where possible, the admissions authority will take these admissions into account before the published offer day and will include these admissions in the published admission number.
The local authority has a duty to make suitable provisions for children who have Special Educational Needs and to make appropriate education available in mainstream or specialist schools. Wherever possible, the local authority will try to place children with Special Educational Needs in mainstream schools. The needs of most children can be met from the resources available to the schools, including advice from the area support services.
For impartial information, advice and support about Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, please visit the Somerset SENDIAS website.
Free School Meals
If your child is entitled to free school meals on low-income grounds, you may have a priority for a place at some schools. Please check the admission arrangements for the schools you are applying for and provide proof of entitlement to free school meals. If proof of entitlement to free school meals is not received by the relevant deadline it will not be possible to consider your child under this criterion.
Children previously in care and now adopted
The admissions authority has a duty to give the highest priority within the over-subscription criteria to children in local authority care (Looked After Children) or children who were previously looked after and are now formally adopted or subject to a residence or child arrangement order or special guardianship order. Previously looked after children also include children who appear (to the admission authority) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.
You may be required to submit a copy of the adoption order, child arrangement order or special guardianship order and a letter from the local authority that last looked after the child confirming that he or she was looked after immediately before that order was made. Further information may be requested.
Late applications
You can apply online on our Apply to Start School page.
Any applications received after 15 January 2025 will be considered as a late application.
For applications received by 2 May 2025, we will send outcomes on 6 June 2025. These will be sent by email or by second-class post.
Applications received after 2 May 2025 will be processed in strict date order of receipt and outcomes sent out after 6 June 2025. These will be sent by email.
If a change of preference is received and can be offered, the previous school place offer will automatically be withdrawn. It is not possible to withdraw a late application with a change of preference once the closing date has passed.
Starting a year early or late
For information about:
- Delayed entry
- Deferred entry
- Accelerated entry
- Starting school full or part-time
please read our page Delayed or Accelerated Admission.
In-year admissions
Applications for children of school age moving to an existing year group in another school outside of the starting or transferring school process are called In-year admissions. For more information, please see our In-year school admissions page.
In-year Admissions – children of UK service personnel
Somerset local authority endeavours to make sure that admission arrangements in their area support the Government’s commitment to removing disadvantages for service children.
For families of service personnel with a confirmed posting, or crown servants returning from overseas, the admission authority will:
- Allocate a place in advance of the family arriving in the area (if one is available), provided the application is accompanied by an official letter that declares a relocation date. Admission authorities must not refuse to process an application and must not refuse a place solely because the family do not yet have an intended address, or do not yet live in the area.
- Use the address at which the child will live when applying their oversubscription criteria if the parents provide some evidence of their intended address. Admission authorities must use a Unit or quartering address as the child’s home address when considering the application against their oversubscription criteria, where a parent requests this.