Admission to Secondary School (2025)

Academy - a school where the governing body set the criteria and is responsible for the school admissions.

Admission authority - the body responsible for setting and applying a schools admission arrangements and criteria. The local authority (council) is the admissions authority for community and voluntary controlled schools. The schools governing body is the admission authority for voluntary aided schools.

Admission criteria - the conditions of admissions agreed by the local authority (in the case of community and voluntary controlled schools) or by the governing body (in the case of voluntary aided schools and academies).

Adoption order - an order made under Section 46 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002.

Appeal - any parent whose child is refused a place at one of their preferred schools has the right to appeal to an independent appeal panel.

Child arrangements order - an order to decide where the child lives and when the child spends time with each parent.

Community school - a school where the council is responsible for the admissions and setting the criteria.

DfE - the Department for Education (central government for education).

Home local authority - a child's home local authority is the authority in which they reside.

Looked after children - children who are in the care of a local authority and as defined by Section 22 of the Children Act 1989 (see also previously looked after children).

Oversubscribed - where there are more requests for admission to a year group in a school, than there are places available.

Parent/guardian/carer - a person who can exercise legal parental responsibility as defined under the Children Act 1989.

Planned admission number (PAN) - the maximum number of pupils to be admitted into a particular year group at a school.

Preference - the legal right of parents to state the school they would prefer their child to attend.

Previously looked after children - previously looked after children are children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted or became subject to a child arrangement or special guardianship order.

Sibling link - an older brother or sister, or step brother or sister that shares the same parent or guardian and lives at the same address as the child applying and will be attending the preferred school at the time of admission or adopted brothers and sisters living at the same address and to children who are fostered and have other children from the host family attending the school in question. In addition the older sibling must have been at the school from the start of Year 11.

Single offer of a school place - the one offer for a place at a school which is made to a parent on 3 March 2025.

Special guardianship order - an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child's special guardian or guardians as described under Section 14A of the Children Act 1989.

Voluntary aided school (VA) - a school where the governing body set the criteria and is responsible for the school admissions.

Voluntary controlled school - a school where the council set the criteria and is responsible for admissions.