School admission arrangements 2026/2027

We are the admissions authority for community and controlled primary and secondary schools in South Gloucestershire.

Following the consultation period in autumn 2024 the school admission arrangements were determined in February 2025 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.

Changes

Following the consultation, the published admission number for Stephen’s Infant School will decrease from 90 to 60, with effect from 1 September 2026.

The admission number will apply to new applications received for first admission in September 2025 and age through the school over a period of 3 years.

St Stephen’s Junior School, part of Mosaic academy Trust, has also reduced its admission number to 60.

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 practicable, 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.

This scheme was determined in February 2025 by the Cabinet Member for Schools, Skills, Employment and Business and includes the timetable of the admissions process.

Find our:

• coordinated admissions scheme for primary
• coordinated admissions scheme for secondary

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.

This table shows the types of schools and their admission authority.

School type	Admission authority
Academy	Academy trust
Community schools	Local authority
Foundation school	Governing body
Voluntary aided school	Governing body
Voluntary controlled school	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 2026 to 2027 is 15 May 2025.

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.

They 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.