Admission to infant, primary and junior schools

Schools with nursery provision

Some infant and primary schools have nursery provision. As nursery education is not compulsory the council does not allocate nursery places.

If you would like to be considered for a nursery place you will need to contact the school directly.

Please note – gaining a place in a school’s nursery unit does not guarantee you a place in the reception class of the same school.

Schools with pre-reception classes

Some schools may admit ‘pre-reception’ children. These children will be admitted in the spring or summer term after their fourth birthday and before the academic year beginning the following September.

If you want to find out if a particular school operates in this way, please contact the school directly.

Please note – that gaining a place in a pre-reception class does not guarantee you a place in the reception class of the same school.

Reception class

Even if your child has attended a school nursery or a school pre-reception class you will still need to apply for a place in the reception class at the school. More information about this is in the ‘How to apply for a place for first admission to school’ section below.

Deferred entry during the same academic year

Where a child has been offered a place at a school, that child is entitled to a full-time place in the September following their fourth birthday. The child’s parents can defer the date their child is admitted to the school until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age and not beyond the beginning of the final term of the school year for which it was made. Where the parents wish, children may attend part-time until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age

Admission outside of the normal age group

Parents may seek a place for their child outside of the normal age group, for example, if the child is gifted and talented or has experienced problems such as ill health. In addition, the parents of a summer born child (1 April to 31 August) may choose not to send that child to school until the September following their fifth birthday and may request that they are admitted out of their normal age group – to reception rather than year one. Further guidance is available on the general information page of this guide.

Can be found on our Admission Arrangements 2025-26 page.

Can be found on our Admission Arrangements 2025-26 page.

All councils must have a coordinated scheme so parents only have to complete one common application form to apply for a place at any school, including schools outside of their own area. All parents must make application through their own council.

The North Lincolnshire scheme enables parents/carers to name up to six schools in rank order. Rank order means you should name the schools starting with your highest preference first.

Applications can be made online through our website or by completing a paper application form.

A coordinated scheme means generally that:

• Parents must make application through their home council
• Information will be exchanged between admission authorities

All parents who have expressed a preference for a school by the closing date will receive only one offer of a school place on the same day.

The coordinated scheme for North Lincolnshire will follow the process outlined below:

• all parents must either apply online or complete the common application form;
• parents to name up to six schools on their application;
• schools named on the application should be in rank order;
• the admission authorities for the schools will rank all applications in accordance with the schools’ published admissions criteria;
• the council will use these ranked lists to determine if a place can be offered at the first preference school, or the second preference school, etc;
• where the council cannot offer a place at any of the named schools the parent will be offered a place at the next nearest school with places available;
• the council will send all parents a single offer of a school place on the same day;
• parents will be given their statutory right to appeal against a decision not to offer a place at their preferred school(s).

How to apply for a place if your child is due to start in reception

Parents of children starting school can make application online – or you can contact your local school or the Admissions Team, who can provide you with a paper application form.

As required by law, all children must be admitted into full-time education by the beginning of the term following their fifth birthday.

Primary and Infant schools must provide for the admission of children in the September following their fourth birthday. Parents can request that their child attends part-time until the child reaches compulsory school age. Parents can also defer entry until their child has reached compulsory school age.

Infant class sizes

The Government has decided that infant classes should not usually have more than 30 children to one teacher. This applies to all infant children (reception, year one and year two) and parents should be aware that when they apply for a place in these year groups, schools have to keep to the 30 limit (subject to a few legal exceptions).

Parents can be refused a place because of the class size issue. Although an appeal can be made, the basis on which such an appeal can be upheld is very limited.

Children attending an infant school in North Lincolnshire and who are due to transfer to junior school in September 2025 will be given relevant information by their current school.

If your child attends primary school and you wish them to transfer to a junior school in September 2025 (at the beginning of year three) rather than continue at their current primary school you can apply for them to be included in the junior transfer group. Please contact the Admissions Team for further details.

All parents can express up to six preferences, in rank order, either online or on a common application form for any school in North Lincolnshire or the surrounding area.

• North Lincolnshire Council will inform the voluntary aided schools, foundation schools and academies within North Lincolnshire of all children who have made application for a place at their school.
• North Lincolnshire Council will inform neighbouring councils of all children who have made application for a place at one of their schools.
• North Lincolnshire Council will apply its admissions policy for all community and voluntary controlled schools within North Lincolnshire, the governors will do the same for the voluntary aided schools, foundation schools and academies within North Lincolnshire and neighbouring councils will do the same for their schools.
• Governors of the voluntary aided schools, foundation schools and academies within North Lincolnshire and our neighbouring councils will notify North Lincolnshire Council of the children they can offer places to.
• North Lincolnshire Council will consider all preferences expressed equally.  Each school listed will be considered against the published admission criteria for that school but without any reference to how the school applied for has been ranked.  Where a pupil can be offered a place at more than one school a place will be offered at the highest ranked school at which a place was available. Where a pupil is not eligible for a place at any school named on the application a place will be provisionally allocated at the next nearest school with a place available.
• Following the timetables set out earlier in this guide, North Lincolnshire Council will write to all parents with an offer of a place at a school. We will also offer places at voluntary aided schools, foundation schools and academies within our neighbouring councils. This duty is done on behalf of those bodies.

Where there are more applications than available places North Lincolnshire Council will apply its admissions criteria and the governing bodies of voluntary aided schools, foundation schools and academies will do the same using their oversubscription criteria. Please look at each school’s web page on this site to see what its criteria are.  Details of our neighbouring councils’ admissions criteria can be obtained by looking on their websites or contacting the relevant council.

Please note that it is essential that you submit your application by the closing date. Failure to do so may mean that your child will not be considered for a place at your preferred school and that the council will allocate a place at a school which has places available. You should also be aware that if your catchment school was full, as a result of allocating places from those parents who have submitted their application on time, your child would not be allocated a place there.

Date by which parents must apply online or return their common application form:
15 January 2025

Date on which notification of school place will be sent to parents:
16 April 2025

Deadline for parents to accept the place offered:
25 April 2025

Parents will be assumed to have accepted the place offered unless they contact the council to indicate otherwise.

Date by which appeals should be returned:
23 May 2025

Date appeals will be held:
If possible, appeals will be held during June and July.

Applications received after the closing date

The closing date for applications is 15 January 2025. Where applications are received after this date and up to 7 February 2025 each application will be considered and included in the offers of school places made on national offer day.

As far as is reasonably practicable applications received after the allocations procedure has begun on 7 February 2025 and prior to 16 April 2025 will be offered a school place on 16 April 2025, but the closer to the 16 April 2025 that an application is received, the less likely it will be that an offer will be made on that date.

North Lincolnshire infant schools

North Lincolnshire primary schools

North Lincolnshire junior schools