Apply for a secondary school place
The deadline for applying for secondary school places for September 2025 has now passed.
Secondary school places 2025/26
The deadline for applying for September 2025 secondary school places was midnight on Thursday 31 October 2024.
An offer of a school place will be sent to parents and carers on Monday 3 March 2025.
If you haven't applied for a secondary place for September 2025, you can still apply using our Parent Portal or you can Contact School places and admissions and we will send you a form.
If you want to apply using the Parent Portal:
- Parent Portal - Create a new account - if you have not used the Parent Portal before, you will need to create a new account.
- Parent Portal - Log in with an existing account - you can log in with your existing account if you have registered previously to partially complete or submit an application (for example, you might have used the portal to apply previously for a school place or for a 2 year old Play and Learn place). Please note that this is a new portal - account and child details are still available, however applications from previous years will not be available.
You can also use our guide Applying for a school place on the Durham Parent Portal (PDF) [1MB] to help you use the Parent Portal.
Please note that applications received by the deadline of 31 October 2024 are considered first. A late application greatly reduces your chances of getting into your preferred school.
Secondary School Admission Guide
Our admission guide is now online - Secondary school places explains everything you need to know about obtaining a school place for your child.
Unfortunately, children lose places every year due to parents giving false information on their application forms, this includes appeal forms. We therefore reserve the right to seek proof of address. We will withdraw an offer of a school place if it was obtained through a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application.
Parents will be asked to sign a declaration to state that you:
- have read, understood and agree to abide by the conditions as set out on Primary school places or Secondary school places.
- confirm that you have parental responsibility for the child (or have care and control of the child), and in seeking to apply for your child a school place, you have no knowledge of any opposition to this application from any other person who has parental responsibility for the child. (If applicable, you must inform us of the individual who opposes the transfer and supply their contact details)
- will contact us immediately to let us know of any change of address details after the submission of your child's application
- understand that your child's school place can be withdrawn even if he/she has started at the school if the place was fraudulently obtained
- agree and consent to us checking the details you have provided on your child's application against Council Tax, Electoral Registration and other council records to confirm that your child is resident at the address in Section A
- agree and consent to us sharing your data with other agencies, where it is necessary to do so and where the law allows, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 (see our Privacy notices and data protection page)
- understand that if you have provided information that is incorrect or incomplete, you may be investigated and action may be taken against you (including court action)
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