Secondary school application guidance notes

When you complete the application, you must give your child's current address at the time of application.

You must include the postcode so that we can assess your application correctly.

If you move address after you have submitted your application, you must tell us in writing or preferably by email to schooladmissions@durham.gov.uk immediately as this may affect the offer of a place made to your child.

You must not give the address of childminders or other members of your family who may care for your child.

If you own more than one property, you should only state the property where you and the child actually live at or spend the most time at during the school year (such as Mondays to Fridays, term-time only). We will not consider temporary addresses as being the child's address. This means that if, for example, your child lives temporarily with other family members or moves to temporary accommodation for any reason, the child's address is the one where the child was living before the temporary move took place.

If parents are separated and the child lives for periods of time with each parent, the address used must be the property where the child is mainly resident during the school year (such as Mondays to Fridays, term-time only). If the child lives with each parent an equal amount of time during the school year, you must either agree between each other, or if this is not possible, provide a Court Order as to which address should be considered as the main address. You are not allowed to apply for a school place from two addresses. An offer of a school place will not be made until only one home address has been agreed.

You must tell us immediately either in writing or preferably by email to schooladmissions@durham.gov.uk as this may affect the offer of a place made to your child.  

You should also tell us either in writing or preferably by email to schooladmissions@durham.gov.uk of any change in your circumstances which would affect the offer of a place. This could include:

• a change in your school preference
• if you intend to move out of County Durham
• if you intend to place your child at an independent school

If you do intend to apply for a place for your child at an independent school, you should apply directly to the independent school concerned.

Please complete this section. It is very important that all those with parental responsibility agree to this application.

If this is not the case, you should email schooladmissions@durham.gov.uk to tell us the details of the parent who does not agree.

You are asked to complete the form as a parent, legal guardian, Local Authority Foster Carer, Private Foster Carer or Social Worker. The following is a definition of each category:

• Parent: A child's father or mother.
• Legal Guardian: A legal guardian is when a person (other than the child's parent or de facto custodian) has legal custody and control over a child. The guardian has the right to make all decisions concerning the child and is legally responsible for the child.
• Local Authority Foster Carer: Usually long term but not exclusively. All children and young people in foster care are the responsibility of the council in the area where the child's birth family is resident at the time of being taken into care. The key responsibility remains with that council regardless of whether they are placed in local authority foster care or with an independent fostering provider.
• Private Foster Carers: Usually short term but not exclusively. The parents and / or other person with parental responsibility (PR) retains PR during a private fostering arrangement. They are responsible for any decisions about the child although they may wish to delegate certain responsibilities to the private foster carer, for example giving permission for immunisations and routine health care and agreeing to the child going on a school trip. Even where some powers are delegated, the parent or person with PR retains the final responsibility for the child's care. A private fostering arrangement is essentially one that is made privately (without the involvement of the council).
• Social Worker: Is a professional concerned with helping individuals, families, groups and communities to enhance their individual and collective wellbeing.

You will only need to complete this section if you are applying for a place for your child at a voluntary aided (faith) school.

If you have included a voluntary aided (faith) school on your child's application we will send your details to that school so that your child's application can be considered, in line with the school's published admission policy and oversubscription criteria.  

Any supplementary information relating to your application (such as baptismal certificates or letters of support from the priest or vicar) should be sent directly to the school you are applying for, along with a note including the child's details so the school know what it relates to and they will match this up with the application you have submitted to us.

The school will then provide us with a ranked list of applicants. This process will also apply in the case of academies, unless a service level agreement exists for us to undertake this function on their behalf.  

We will coordinate all the applications to make sure that every child in County Durham gets one offer of a school place. We will do this by applying the ranking information in the following way:

• where your child is eligible for a place at only one of the preferred schools or academies, a place at that school or academy will be offered to your child
• where your child is eligible for a place at two or more of the preferred schools or academies, your child will be offered a place at whichever school or academy you ranked the highest

You should contact the faith school you are applying for directly for information relating to their own school admissions oversubscription criteria.

For medical reasons, please see oversubscription criterion (ii) for community secondary schools, foundation schools and academies.

For medical and social reasons please make sure that you attach supporting evidence from a professional dealing with your case, such as a doctor. The evidence must explain why the school you wish your child to attend is the only school that can meet your child's medical or social needs and what difficulties would be caused if they had to attend an alternative school.

Reasons such as food allergies, asthma, anxiety and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) will not be considered as exceptional medical factors as all schools are able to effectively manage these.
 

Applications received by the closing date of 31 October 2023 take priority over late applications. However, applications which are received for good reason after the closing date because of very exceptional circumstances will be accepted and treated as on time applications, provided they are received on or before 24 January 2024, the date the allocation procedures begin.

If you believe that there are very exceptional circumstances which prevented submission of your child's application form by the stated deadline, then you must inform us in writing providing evidence so that we can consider why you were unable to submit an application form by the deadline of 31 October 2023.

We will consider each case on an individual basis and the decision will be final. You need to be aware that if it is agreed to consider your child's application as late for very exceptional reasons this does not mean that your child can be offered a place. It simply means that your child's application will be considered in accordance with the admission criteria along with all others which were received on time. 

Late applications which are received between 1 November 2023 and 24 January 2024 will be considered and, as far as possible, will be offered a school place on 1 March 2024.  

Late applications received on or after 25 January 2024 will, on 22 March 2024 be offered a place in accordance with parental preference, where possible. If that is not possible, a place will be offered at the nearest school with places available. 

For applications received between 22 March 2024 and 31 August 2024 inclusive, offer/refusal letters will be sent out within 14 days of us receiving the application. We will offer a place at the school highest in the parents' order of preference that has a place available or, if this is not possible, at the nearest suitable school that has a place available. For those who do not receive a higher preferred school, the waiting lists will continue to operate.

You should list up to three schools or academies in your child's application and reason for your preferences (optional).  Put the schools or academies in preference order, this means your first preference at number one.

Choosing only one school or academy, or repeating the name of the school or academy two or three times will not improve your chances of being offered a place at your first preference.

If you choose to list just one preference, we will still process your application. However, if you do so and that school is oversubscribed, we will make you an offer of a school place at the nearest school to your child's home address with places available. This school may be further away from your home address than your preferred school.

If you decide to choose a school which is not the nearest school to your child's home address this may have implications for transport to that school. See our Home to school travel assistance for secondary school children page for details of the home to school transport policy.

Your child's records from the current primary, junior school or academy will be made available to the secondary school to help with the transition process. To assist with the transition arrangements for, information from your child's educational record may also be shared with the council. This may include but is not limited to data on behaviour, attendance, SEND, your child's attitude to learning, child's social skills, emotional intelligence and self-awareness, links between the family and school, school moves, involvement from external agencies such as One Point, Educational Psychology, Behaviour support. This data is shared in line with the Education (Pupil Information) (England) regulations 2005. Should you require more information regarding the information sharing, please contact the Data Protection Officer for your child's current school setting.

Changing preferences

Where applications for secondary school places are received by the deadline of 31 October 2023, and you subsequently wish to change the order of their preferences, you can do so up to 24 January 2024. However, if you wish to change or add schools to your initial application after the deadline of 31 October 2023, this new preference will be processed as a late application.

Equal preference

We will treat your first, second and third preferences as separate applications and work out if your child qualifies for a place. If your child qualifies for more than one school or academy you have listed, we will offer a place at your highest preference. If you cannot be offered one of your preferences, you will be offered a place at the nearest suitable school or academy to the child's home address with places available.  

The definition of a 'suitable school / academy' for our admissions purposes is a maintained school / academy that offers an efficient, full-time education suited to the age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs of the child. If you would like more information about our schools, please contact them directly. You can find contact details for schools and academies within County Durham on our Find a school or college page.   

Places are allocated by strictly applying the admission criteria for the school. The oversubscription criteria (used to rank applicants) for all community and voluntary controlled schools can be found on our How secondary school places are offered page.  

To request the oversubscription criteria for voluntary aided (faith) schools and or an academy that has its own school admissions oversubscription criteria (North Durham Academy, Consett Academy, Easington Academy, Shotton Hall Academy, Park View School, Hermitage Academy and Teesdale School) please contact the school or academy directly.

Please remember to enter all sibling links details (including name, gender, date of birth) that your child will have at the school (please see oversubscription criterion iii for the definition of "sibling").

The sibling must be attending the same school when your child starts in September 2024.

If your child has an Education, Health and Care Plan and will be attending a special school, you will need to contact SEND, Looked After & Vulnerable Groups Casework Team on 03000 265878. It is most likely that you will have already had some contact with this team as they will be determining the nearest appropriate special school. If you choose a school that is not their nearest this will impact on whether or not we can provide transport.

If your child has an Education, Health and Care Plan and you would like them to attend a mainstream school, please make sure you submit an application form to the School Admissions Team to request a mainstream school place.

When submitting a written or on-line application for a school place for your child you will need to sign a declaration which states that you:

• have read, understood and agree to abide by the conditions as set out in this Secondary School Admission Online Guidance
• 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 will inform us of the individual who opposes the transfer and supply their contact details by email to schooladmissions@durham.gov.uk
• will inform us immediately either by email to schooladmissions@durham.gov.uk or in writing to let us know of any change of address after the submission of your child's application
• understand that your child's school place can be withdrawn even if they have started at the school if the place was fraudulently obtained
• 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 new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (see our Corporate Privacy Statement at Privacy notices and data protection under Schools and Education)
• hereby agree and consent to us checking the details you have provided on this application against Council Tax, Electoral Registration and other council records to confirm that the child is resident at the address in Section A of the application form or online
• 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)

On the Parent Portal (online application process) it is not possible to submit your child's application unless you tick the box to say that you have read and understood the above declaration.
 

We strongly advise you to return your child's paper application form via the Post Office by "Royal Mail Signed for™" or "Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed" as it is your responsibility to make sure we receive your child's application. The Post Office will give you a receipt.

The number on the receipt is a tracking number and you will be able to check online to see when your child's application has been delivered to us, this is your confirmation that we have received your child's application.

Please keep your receipt because if your child's application form does not arrive in our office for any reason, we will need to see your receipt as proof of postage prior to the deadline. If you are unable to provide your receipt, your child's application will be treated as a late application.

If you hand deliver your child's application to the council offices at Durham Leadership Centre, Spennymoor, you should request a receipt which will be dated by a member of staff on Reception. You must keep this receipt as proof of delivery. If you are unable to provide your receipt, your child's application will be treated as a late application.

Privacy Notice - General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Find out how and why we collect information about you, what we collect and who we share it with. Be aware of your rights, how to correct things that are wrong, and how to object to us using the data. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legally controls what data can be collected and what can be done with it. Our Corporate Privacy Statement, see Privacy notices and data protection, explains how we will deal with your data. We are committed to dealing with your information safely and securely. We need to collect and share information in order to deliver our services effectively. We take our responsibility to protect your information seriously and we will use it in accordance with the legal requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation. We are a data controller for the purposes of GDPR. The information you provide to us on your child's admissions application form and in any supporting documents will be used to process your child's application and to ensure the efficient coordination and fair allocation of school places. We may also share this data for the following purposes:

• to enable the forward planning of school budgets
• to assist in the development of Policy proposals
• to assist with the provision of school transport
• for the prevention and / or detection of crime    

We may use the information you have provided for research and statistical purposes. We will ensure that statistics are developed in such a way that individual children cannot be identified from them.

Department For Education

We are also required by law to pass information to the Department for Education.  

If you need more information about how the Department for Education stores and uses your information, see Gov.uk: How DfE share personal data.

If you need any further information about the school admissions data that we hold or how we share it, please contact the School Places and Admissions Team on 03000 265896.