Apply for a secondary school place 2025/2026

Applications for the normal year of entry

Find out if your child is eligible to start school during the 2025/2026 school year.

The closing date for on time applications for secondary school places for the 2025/2026 school year has now passed.

If you have not yet made an application or wish to make changes to your application for a secondary school, please see ‘Step 5: Apply for a school place’.

You can read more about this in the Admissions to Schools in Suffolk 2025/2026 guide found at the top of the page.

In-year applications

If your child is changing schools, you need to think about:

• your reasons for moving schools
• if the school is right for your child
• how your child will travel to school
• the availability of places in the year group at your preferred school.

Find your nearest schools

We strongly recommend that you check which school is your child's nearest suitable school on our Nearest School Checker.

You can find out which are your child's three nearest Suffolk schools (based on the statutory walking distance including Public Rights of Way) by putting their postcode into our Nearest School Checker.

We update this each year to include new roads and developments.

Check if there is a catchment area school for your child's home address

A catchment area is the geographical area served by a school. The catchment area school may not be the nearest school to your child’s home address.

Some voluntary aided, free schools and academies do not operate catchment areas. Please check the school's admissions policy for details.

Use the school catchment area lists and maps to find out if your child's address has a catchment area school.

Finding information about schools

You can find information about schools in Suffolk and other counties from their website, prospectus and open days.

View the schools' details, admissions policies and Supplementary Information Forms or read the Directory of Schools in Suffolk found at the top of the page. This will help you to understand how places are offered for each school you are interested in, as they may be different from one another.

The list of schools and the Directory includes:

• contact details for each school
• the number of places in the year group, known as the Published Admission Number (PAN), and information relating to last year’s on time applications
• a link to the admissions policy which includes the oversubscription criteria used to rank applications

Choosing your school preferences

Applications for the normal year of entry

You can apply for up to three schools, putting them in order of preference.

Each of your preferences will be considered equally and separately.

Your preferences and the order you put them on your admissions application could affect your child’s eligibility for SCC funded school travel. Please see Step 4 for further information.

Listing second and third preferences will not affect your child’s chance of being offered their first preference. Your first preference will be offered above your second or third preferences where possible.

We cannot guarantee your child a place at any school.

In-year applications

Check with the Admissions Team or the school on the availability of places for your child’s year group. You need to be:

• aware that even if the school is full, you are still able to apply for a place
• realistic about your preference(s)
• aware that a place at any school, including your catchment area school, cannot be guaranteed

If there are more applications than there are places available, the relevant oversubscription criteria will be applied, and the applicants will be ranked. The applicant(s) with the highest criteria will be offered a place(s).

Choosing a school for a child with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

Read advice and tips for parents choosing a school for a child with SEND.

Suffolk County Council (SCC) Funded School Travel

Please be aware: You must consider how your child will travel to and from school before you apply for a school place.

The following information is very important:

1. We will provide SCC funded school travel to the Nearest Suitable School that would have had a place available for your child when they are: a) aged under 8 and live more than two miles from the school; or b) aged 8 or older and live more than three miles from the school. This would be whether or not an application was made for a place at that school. The distance in a) and b) above is called the statutory walking distance.
2. We will only provide SCC funded school travel to your child’s catchment area school when it is the nearest suitable school to their home that would have had a place available for them and they meet the distance criteria.
3. It is important that you check which school is your child’s nearest suitable school on our Nearest School Checker for the 2025/2026 school year. You can find out which are the three nearest Suffolk schools (based on the statutory walking distance including Public Rights of Way) by putting your child’s postcode into the Checker which can be found at Nearest School Checker. We update this each year to include new roads and developments.
4. Your School Preferences and the order in which you put them on your admissions application could affect your child’s eligibility for SCC funded school travel. Our School Travel Scenarios can help you work out when your child might be eligible for SCC funded school travel to their school when the age and distance criteria are met.

Applications for the normal year of entry

The closing date for on time applications for secondary school places for the 2025/2026 school year has now passed.

Online applications: You cannot make an online application after the closing date of 31 October 2024. If you applied online, you are able to view your online application below.

Applications for the normal year of entry

Online applications: If you made an online application, you can still view your school place offer by  logging into the online service you used to apply.

Paper applications: We will process your application and you will be notified of the outcome as soon as we can. 

If you have not been offered a place at your preferred school(s), you will be given information about what to do next. This will include details of how to make an appeal.

You can read more about this in the Admissions to Schools in Suffolk 2025/2026 guide found at the top of the page.

In-year applications

For community and voluntary controlled schools, the Admissions Team aims to notify you of the outcome of your application in writing within 10 school days of receiving it. However, we will notify you in writing of the outcome within 15 school days.

If you have provided an email address on your application form, we will notify you of the outcome by email. If you haven’t provided an email address, we will send you a letter in the post.

If you have not received an email or letter after 15 school days of sending your application, please contact us by emailing admissions@suffolk.gov.uk or by calling us on 0345 600 0981.

The Admissions Team cannot give you the outcome of your application over the phone.

For voluntary aided, free schools and academies, the school should aim to notify you of the outcome of your application in writing within 10 school days of receiving it. However, they must notify you in writing of the outcome within 15 school days.

Contact information for all schools is available from our online Infolink directory of schools in Suffolk.

Applications for the normal year of entry 

You can read more about this in the Admissions to Schools in Suffolk 2025/2026 guide found at the top of the page.

If you're happy with the school your child has been offered

We will assume you have accepted the school place offered to your child if we have not heard from you.

This will not affect your chances of getting a place at a higher preference school either:

• from the waiting list
• through an appeal (for any of your preferred schools that your child has been refused a place at)

If your child has been offered a school in another county, you may be required to formally accept the place. Please contact the school directly for details.

If you're not happy with the school your child has been offered

Waiting lists

If we are unable to offer your child a place at any of your preferred school(s), we will automatically add their name to the waiting list for that school(s).

Names are placed on the waiting list in priority order. This is set out in the school’s admissions oversubscription criteria.

The order of the waiting list can change when:

• a new child’s name is added
• the circumstances of a child already on the list changes

This means a child’s place on the waiting list can go up or down, for example, due to withdrawals or late applications.

The waiting lists will close on 31 December 2025 for:

• community and voluntary controlled schools
• voluntary aided schools and academies who have agreed to operate the same policy as Suffolk County Council

You can find out when the waiting lists close for voluntary aided, free schools and academies who do not follow the same policy as Suffolk County Council from the schools directly.

You can contact us on 0345 600 0981 (local rate) or email the Admissions Team  to find out your child’s position on the waiting list. Please remember that the information we provide is only accurate at the time you contact us.

Appealing the decision

You have the right of appeal if your child has been refused a place at any of your preferred school(s).

Find out about the appeals process and download an appeal form.

Appeal forms received by the Education Appeals Office on or before 31 March 2025 will be heard by 18 June 2025.

If they are received after these dates they may be heard later. In some cases, appeals may not be heard until after the beginning of the new school year.

If you want to apply for a different school(s)

You must submit a paper application (CAF1) if you wish to apply for a different school(s) after receiving an offer of a school place. Please see Step 5 'Apply for a school place' for further information.

However, the new application will supercede your previous application.

This means that you must include any schools from your first application above your new preferences on your second or subsequent application if you would like them to remain as a live preference and you still want:

• the right to appeal
• your child’s name to remain on the waiting list

In-Year Applications

Unsuccessful applications

If your application is unsuccessful then you will have a legal right to appeal the decision. The details of how to appeal should be included in the decision letter.

You may also wish to make another application for a different school.

If your child does not have a local school place, we will offer a place at an alternative community or voluntary controlled school, or notify you of an alternative school in your area.

Suffolk County Council’s Determined Admission Arrangements for the 2025/2026 school year include:

• The oversubscription criteria for community and voluntary controlled schools
• Published Admission Numbers for Suffolk schools