Waiting lists for the 2025/2026 school year

If we are unable to offer your child a place in the normal year of entry at one of your preferred schools, we will automatically add their name to the waiting list for those schools. Names are placed on the waiting list in the priority order set out in the school’s admissions oversubscription criteria.

You can find the oversubscription criteria for a school on the School details, admissions policies and Supplementary Information Forms 2025/2026 page.

The order of the waiting list can change each time a child’s name is added or the circumstances of a child already on the list changes. As a result, a child’s place on the list can go up or down (for example due to withdrawals or late applications).

If you change your address while your child is on a waiting list you must let us know. Please be aware that this may change your child’s position on the waiting list. Written evidence of this will be required.

Having your child’s name on a waiting list will not affect your right to appeal for any of the schools you have been refused a place at.

Late applicants will be added to any waiting lists in oversubscription priority order if their parental preferences cannot be met.

If a place becomes available at a school, it will be offered to the child who is ranked highest on the waiting list. Places are not offered based on the date on which names were placed on the list.

The waiting lists for community and voluntary controlled schools will close on 31 December 2025. The waiting lists for those voluntary aided schools and academies who have agreed to operate the same policy as Suffolk County Council will also close on 31 December 2025.

Information on when the waiting lists close for voluntary aided, free schools and academies that do not follow the same policy as Suffolk County Council is available from the schools directly.

Waiting lists and SCC funded school travel

If after the initial offer of a school place, a place can be offered from the waiting list, by the end of the summer term (July 2025), for a school which was previously refused but with a higher parental preference, any previous offer of SCC funded school travel will normally be withdrawn.