Secondary co-ordinated admissions scheme for September 2026 intakes

1. Timetable for Secondary Co-ordinated Admissions for September 2026 intakes

Section 2 2. Elements of the Scheme

2.1    Regulations

The School Admissions (Co-ordination of Admission Arrangements) (England) Regulations (2008) require local authorities (LAs) to establish a scheme to co-ordinate admission arrangements for the normal admission round and late applications (for the normal point of entry) for all state-funded schools in its area (excluding special schools). 

The purpose of a co-ordinated scheme is to establish mechanisms for ensuring, as far as reasonably practicable, that every child who has applied for a school place in the normal admission round, receives an offer of a single school place on the same day - National Offer Day (1 March or the next working day), regardless of where the schools are situated. All schools must comply with the agreed scheme. 

2.2    Applying for a place in a secondary school at the normal point of entry

The normal point of entry to secondary school is year 7 and LAs co-ordinate the process of allocating places at all state-funded schools for this year group.

2.3    Information for parents

Please note that throughout this scheme, the term “parent” refers to both individual parents as well as those with parental responsibility for the child, e.g., carers.
The ‘Applying for a Secondary School Place in West Northamptonshire for September 2026’ composite prospectus will be available in PDF format on the School Admissions pages of the local authority’s (WNC’s) website from September 2025. 

Alternatively, a hard copy can be obtained by contacting the School Admissions team.

The prospectus contains more information about:

• how to apply
• Secondary schools in West Northamptonshire
• the Published Admission Number (PAN) for each school
• each school’s oversubscription criteria
• whether schools were oversubscribed in the previous year
• key dates for the application and allocation process
• children with special educational needs
• home-to-school transport
• the process for late applications
• contact details for the WNC School Admissions team

2.4    Application forms 

Applications for the normal point of entry must be made to a child’s home local authority, regardless of where the school is situated. 

West Northamptonshire Council’s (WNC’s) Common Application Form (CAF) allows parents of children living in West Northamptonshire to apply for a year 7 place at up to four secondary schools, including those in different local authorities and to give reasons for their preferences. 

If parents apply directly to a school, the governing body/academy trust must advise the parents to complete a CAF and should also inform WNC. All applications are co-ordinated by WNC up to and including 31 August 2026. Parents are encouraged to apply online wherever possible. 

For those who do not have access to the internet, requests for paper application forms should be made to the WNC School Admissions team and parents are advised to use recorded delivery when posting a completed application form to the School Admissions team.

Please note, WNC does not accept responsibility for applications not received or received after the closing date due to parents using insufficient postage.

Applications received after 31 October 2025 will be considered as late applications and will not be processed until after National Offer Day.

Parents can submit any additional paperwork (e.g., proof of a house move) electronically or by post to the School Admissions team at WNC, clearly stating the name of child, date of birth and the name(s) of the school(s) they are applying for.

2.5    Applications for academies, foundation, voluntary aided and free schools 

Applications for all state-funded schools should be made on the CAF.

WNC applies the oversubscription criteria and ranks applicants for some own admission authority (OAA) schools but if the school applies their own criteria, applications will be sent to OAAs by the date shown on the scheme timetable in Section 1 and schools will be asked to rank applicants. 

2.6    Residence in another LA

Parents of children residing outside West Northamptonshire who wish to apply for a year 7 place at a Secondary school located in West Northamptonshire, must apply using the Common Application Form (online or paper) provided by the LA in which they live (i.e., their home LA). 

The School Admissions team will receive applications electronically from other LAs for schools in West Northamptonshire. These will be recorded and passed on to OAA schools as appropriate. Applications will then be processed along with all other applications for WNC schools.

2.7    Applications for schools outside WNC

Parents of children residing in the WNC area should use the WNC CAF even if the schools for which they wish to apply are in a different local authority. 

On receipt, applications for schools outside the WNC area will be logged on the Admissions database and information relating to those preferences and any additional information will be electronically forwarded to the relevant maintaining LA by the date shown on the scheme timetable in Section 1.

2.8    Exchange of information 

LAs and admission authorities in the area must exchange information on applications received and potential offers to be made by the dates specified in the scheme (see Section 1). 

LAs should exchange information on applications across their borders and seek to eliminate multiple offers across LA borders wherever possible. 

A maintaining LA must inform the home LA if it intends to offer a place at one of its schools to an applicant living in a different LA area. The exchange of data must, where possible, be carried out using secure data protection systems. 

2.9    Supplementary Information Forms (SIFs)

If additional information is required by the admission authority of an academy, foundation, voluntary aided or free school in order to apply its oversubscription criteria, this will be detailed in their admission arrangements and in the specific section about that school in WNC’s composite prospectus. 

Parents may be required to complete a SIF. Links to SIFs will be available on the WNC website from September 2025. Alternatively, contact details for each school can be found in WNC’s prospectus. 

SIFs must be obtained from and returned directly to the preferred school by 31 October 2025 unless otherwise stated in the schools’ admission arrangements.

2.10    Multiple applications

If more than one application is made for a child prior to the closing date, only the latest dated application form will be processed. Any previously submitted application forms will not be processed.

Following National Offer Day, if the applicant has chosen to submit further applications to be processed in late reallocation rounds, the latest-dated late application will take priority over any previous late applications. 

If it is possible to offer a place at one of the preferences on the late application, an offer will be made and the previous offer may be withdrawn without further reference to the applicant. 

Applicants must place any requests to withdraw applications in writing to the School Admissions team (by letter or email) prior to the reallocation round.

Where there may be multiple applications from parents who are separated, parents will need to refer to section 2.21 of this scheme for further guidance.

2.11    Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)

Parents of children with an EHCP should not use the CAF to apply for a school place. Instead, school places will be arranged by the EHC team at WNC and the appropriate provision will be named in the child’s EHCP. 

The admission of children with EHC plans to mainstream schools (where the school is named in the plan) will take priority over all other children.

Placement decisions will be made by the date shown on the scheme timetable in Section 1 and parents will be informed by the EHC team. 

There may be circumstances where parents have not been informed of the school allocated by this date and/or a school has not yet been named. In these cases, schools may be required to admit children over PAN if it is subsequently named on a child’s EHCP.

2.12    How the co-ordination process produces the offer of a single school place 

All schools have a Published Admissions Number (PAN). This is the number of places available at the normal point of entry in a particular year. If an admission authority decides it is able to admit above its PAN, it must notify WNC in good time to allow WNC to deliver its co-ordination responsibilities effectively.

Admission authorities must consider all the applications they receive and, if there are more applications than places available, they must apply their oversubscription criteria to all applicants. 

For LA schools (community and voluntary controlled schools), the School Admissions team will be responsible for applying the oversubscription criteria if the number of applications exceeds the PAN of the school. 

This process can be carried out by the School Admissions team on behalf of OAA schools as part of a Service Level Agreement (SLA). Any school wishing to use this service should inform the School Admissions team by 1 September in the year prior to the year of admission. 

All OAA schools applying their own criteria must return a ranked list of all applicants to WNC by the date stated in the scheme timetable in Section 1. 

The surplus places at undersubscribed schools will be allocated to children who were unable to obtain places at any of their preferred schools. 

LAs must allocate a place at the highest preference school where the child can be offered a place. If a child is eligible for a place at more than one school, the applicant’s order of preference will be considered and the highest preference will be offered. 

If a child qualifies for a place at all four preference schools, WNC will offer a place at the school that is ranked highest on the CAF. The child’s name will then be removed from the ranked list(s) at the lower preference schools so that lower ranked children may be offered a place.

If a child qualifies for a place at only one of their preference schools, they will be offered a place at that school regardless of the preference order on the common application form.

If a child cannot be offered a place within the PAN of any of their preferred schools, WNC will offer a place at the nearest WNC school with a place available (i.e., the nearest school which has not reached its PAN and therefore has a place/places available at the time).

If a child is offered a place at a school which wasn’t their first preference, they can request to be added to the waiting list for any of the schools which was a higher preference than the school offered.

Parents have the right to appeal against refusal of a place at any school for which they have applied unless a higher preference has been allocated. Information about how to make an appeal is outlined in the offer letter. 

Where it is not possible to offer a place at any of the preferred schools, a place will be allocated at the school closest to the home address where places are available at the time of allocation. 

Some pupils in this situation will be eligible for assistance with transport costs. Parents will be referred to the school travel assistance information on WNC’s website.

Where further capacity is required to provide every child with a school place, WNC will consult relevant schools to reach an agreement.

A single place will be identified for each child by the end of this co-ordinated process.

WNC will publish details of how places were allocated on its website after National Offer Day. 

2.13    Notification of offers to all schools and other local authorities

As part of the co-ordination process and prior to National Offer Day, other LAs will be informed electronically by the date shown on the scheme timetable in Section 1 of any offers of school places that WNC is able to make to their residents. 

All schools, including OAA schools, will be informed of the final offers, which may include offers made to pupils living in other LAs, by the date shown in the scheme timetable in Section 1. 

Schools must not communicate with parents until after the offer from WNC has been sent.

2.14    National Offer Day

The School Admissions team will notify all on-time applicants of their school offer on National Offer Day (1 March or the next working day) by email (for all online applicants) or by post (a first-class letter will be sent to all applicants who submitted a paper application). 

This communication will include information about what to do next and, if necessary, information about how to appeal. 

Breakdowns of how places were allocated in accordance with each school’s oversubscription criteria will be published on the WNC website. Links to this page will be provided on all offer emails and letters.

The School Admissions team will assume that the place has been accepted unless communication from the parent is received to advise to the contrary. 

2.15    Declining a school place

Parents are required to notify the School Admissions team in writing (by email or letter) if they wish to decline the school place offered. Declines will only be accepted if the parent has secured alternative education. These places will then be reallocated during the rounds of reallocation.

If a parent notifies a school directly that they wish to decline the place offered at their school, they should be advised by the school to contact the School Admissions team and the school should also advise the team.  

Checks will then be carried out by the team to ensure it is a true decline and the school will be informed at the end of the next reallocation round of any new declines. 

Schools should not reallocate declined places themselves. Instead, they will be reallocated by the School Admissions team during WNC’s rounds of reallocation.

2.16    Right to appeal

Parents have the right to appeal against refusal of a place at any school for which they have applied. Parents will be advised of the appeal process on their allocation email/letter. 

The admission authority must establish an independent appeals panel to hear the appeal. The panel will decide whether to uphold or dismiss the appeal. Where a panel upholds the appeal, the school is required to admit the child. 

2.17    Waiting lists 

Parents who have been refused a place at a school (this could either be on National Offer Day or after making a late application) may wish to place their child's name on a waiting list. Parents must contact the School Admissions team in order to request that their child’s name is added to a school’s waiting list. 

Following Secondary National Offer Day there will be no distinction drawn on school waiting lists between on-time and late applications; all applications will be ranked in accordance with schools’ oversubscription criteria.

The School Admissions team will hold a waiting list for every school until 31 August 2026. 

At this point, School Admissions will transfer waiting lists to OAA schools managing their own in-year admissions who will then maintain their own waiting list until at least 31 December in the Offer year. 

The School Admissions team will retain a waiting list for all OAA schools opting into the in-year co-ordination scheme until 31 December. 

Following this date, waiting lists will be cleared. If parents still wish their child’s name to remain on the waiting lists for the rest of the academic year, they should request this in writing (via email) to the School Admissions team by 31 December and 31 March. A new application form will be required for a new academic year.

2.18    Late applications

Every effort will be made to encourage parents to complete application forms by the closing date of 31 October 2025. If an application form is received after midnight on 31 October 2025, it will be considered late. 

Late applicants will not receive an offer of a school place on National Offer Day (1 March or the next working day).

Late applications will be processed in the next reallocation round published in the scheme timetable in Section 1.

Parents will not be allowed to change the order or schools listed as preferences after the closing date. After this date, changes to preferences must be made on a late application form and will be processed in the further rounds of allocation (see Section 1). 

For OAA schools applying their own criteria, WNC will forward any late applications directly to the schools for their consideration within each reallocation round (by the agreed timelines). 

NB: The co-ordinated process in West Northamptonshire continues up to and including 31 August of each year. From 1 September, the in-year process commences.

2.19    Rounds of reallocation

Any remaining places or places that become available after National Offer Day will be allocated in rounds of reallocation (see timescales in Section 1) by the School Admissions team. 

In each round of reallocations, each school’s oversubscription criteria will be applied to its waiting list to determine who should be allocated any available places. WNC continues to co-ordinate the allocation of places at all schools up to and including 31 August. 

This requires all schools which are their own admission authority choosing to apply their own oversubscription criteria to ensure clear and up-to-date communications with the School Admissions team regarding the ranking lists for each round of allocations. 

2.20    Child’s home address

Unless otherwise stated in a schools admission arrangements, the child’s home address is defined as the address at which the child normally resides with their parent/carer on the closing date for applications (31 October).

Places cannot be allocated on the basis of an intended future change of address unless house moves have been confirmed through the exchange of contracts or signing of a formal lease.

Documentary evidence of ownership or rental agreement may be required together with proof of actual permanent residence at the property concerned. 

2.21    Parents who do not live together

WNC can only process one application for each child. Where more than one adult share parental responsibility and if the adults live at different addresses, it is important that an agreement be reached on which schools to apply for, prior to making the application.

WNC’s definition of a child’s address states that when parents live separately and the child spends time with each parent, the home address will be treated as the place where the child sleeps for most of the school week (i.e., Sunday night – Thursday night inclusive). 

If the child spends equal amounts of time at two addresses, the parents must agree which address they wish to be the child’s main address. 

OAA schools may have different rules for what happens when parents live separately.

If multiple applications are received for the same child with conflicting addresses and/or preferences, or the School Admissions team is made aware of a dispute between two parents, all applications will be placed on hold and will not be processed until:

• a new single application is made, signed by all parties
• written agreement is provided from both parents indicating which application they have agreed on
• a court order is provided confirming which parent’s application carries precedence

If no agreement can be made, parents are recommended to seek legal advice. If an agreement cannot be reached before the closing date, this may affect the chances of a child being allocated a place at their preferred school/s.

Further information on parental responsibility can be found on the DfE website.

2.22 Relevant area

In accordance with The Education (Relevant Areas for Consultation on Admission Arrangements) Regulations 1999, WNC has determined its relevant area as West Northamptonshire and all adjoining local authorities. 

Last updated 10 December 2024