Information for parents and carers about admission to secondary schools.
Transfer to secondary school
The following gives information on how to apply for a place for transfer to secondary school, how places are allocated and admission policies.
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Admission to secondary schools
Can be found on our Admission arrangements 2025-2026 page.
Can be found on our Admission arrangements 2025-2026 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).
Parents of children who are due to transfer to secondary school in September 2025 and live within North Lincolnshire will be sent information via their child’s current school.
If your child currently attends a school outside North Lincolnshire this information will be posted to your home address.
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 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 academies within North Lincolnshire and neighbouring councils will do the same for their schools.
- Governors of the 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 CAF 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 academies within North Lincolnshire and schools 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 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:
31 October 2024
Date on which notification of school place will be sent to parents:
3 March 2025
Deadline for parents to accept the place offered:
14 March 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:
4 April 2025
Date appeals will be held:
If possible, appeals will be held during May and June.
Applications received after the closing date
The closing date for applications is 31 October 2024. Where applications are received after this date and up to 12 December 2024 each application will be considered and included in the offers of secondary school places made on national offer day.
As far as is reasonably practicable applications received after the allocations procedure has begun on 12 December 2024 and prior to 3 March 2025 will be offered a school place on 3 March 2025, but the closer to the 3 March 2025 that an application is received, the less likely it will be that an offer will be made on that date.