School admission arrangements 2025/2026
We are the admissions authority for community and controlled primary and secondary schools in South Gloucestershire.
Following the consultation period in Autumn 2023 the school admission arrangements were determined in February 2023 by the Cabinet Member for Education, Skills, Employment and Business.
There are no substantive changes to the oversubscription criteria, coordinated admission scheme, in-year admission arrangements or the relevant area.
Change to a published admission number
Following the period of consultation (3 November 2023 to 15 December 2023), the published admission number for The Park Primary will decrease from 90 to 60. The change will take effect from 1 September 2025.
The admission number will apply to new applications received for first admission in September 2025 and age through the school over a period of 7 years.
Oversubscription
The oversubscription criteria for all community and controlled schools remain largely the same as previous years and follow the requirements of the school admissions code.
Coordinated admissions scheme
We are required to have a scheme in place each year for coordinating admission arrangements for maintained schools in our area.
Coordination schemes make sure, as far as is reasonably practical, that every parent of a child receives one offer of a school place. It is for us to decide the scheme that best suits our residents and schools.
Find our:
In-year admissions scheme
Most school place applications happen at the usual start times:
- reception for primary schools
- year 7 for secondary schools
However sometimes it is necessary for a child to move schools at a different stage of their school career. This is called in-year admissions.
Our in-year admissions scheme applies to all applications from parents or carers for in-year admission to community and controlled schools in South Gloucestershire.
Parents and carers are advised to read the scheme to make sure that their application is submitted to the relevant admission authority.
Admissions to voluntary aided, foundation schools, free schools and academies
Voluntary aided schools, foundation schools, free schools and academies have their own admission authorities.
The admission arrangements for these schools must be determined by the individual governing body or trust and are available to view on individual school or academy websites.
Details of these arrangements will also be included in our prospectus.
You can find types of schools and their admission authority below:
- academies: academy trust
- community schools: local authority
- foundation schools: governing body
- voluntary aided schools: governing body
- voluntary controlled schools: local authority
Relevant area for school admission
We are required to define a relevant area. A relevant area describes the geographical area where consultation on individual school admissions takes place.
The relevant area for South Gloucestershire is defined by our administrative boundaries.
Objections
Objections to admission arrangements for any school can be made to the school’s adjudicator. The annual deadline for objections to the arrangements to apply in the academic year 2025/2026 is 15 May 2024.
Parents or carers may make an objection to the Office for Schools Adjudicator.
Annual report
We produce an annual report on admissions for all schools in our area.
This report must contain information about:
- how local admission arrangements serve the interests of looked after children and previously looked after children, children with disabilities and children with special educational needs
- the effectiveness of fair access protocols and coordination in our area
- the number and percentage of lodged and upheld parental appeals
- any other issues we may wish to include
Reports are submitted to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator by 31 October each year. The reporting period and date of submission have changed since the Covid-19 pandemic.
The adjudicator then produce their own report setting out their findings from the admissions cases received within the reporting year.
Reports are published on the Office of the Schools Adjudicator website.