School admissions: Answers to your questions
When should you apply for a nursery/reception/year 7 school place for your child for September?
Parents are responsible for looking out for these notices and making an application at the appropriate time.
It is vital that you submit your application by the deadline – if you submit your application late it will be less likely that your child will be able to gain a place at the nursery or school of your choice.
If you have missed the closing date for the application with good reason, you must inform us as soon as possible so that we may consider your application alongside the others. If you inform us on/after the National Offer Day, your application will be considered as “Late” and places for your preferred school may already have been allocated.
Who can make an application for school admission or transfer?
Any application, including those done during the school year, must be made by an adult with parental responsibility for the child who must confirm that they have this responsibility as part of the application. Evidence may be requested to support this.
If the authority is informed by a parent with parental responsibility that they have not agreed to this application, then it will not proceed. The child will remain at their current school until either both parents agree, or the authority receives a copy of a legal document from a court confirming you have parental responsibility for your child’s education.
It is expected that parents agree on school preferences for a child before an application is made. If the authority is informed by a parent with parental responsibility that they have not agreed to this application, then it will not proceed. The child will not gain admission to the school in question until either both parents agree, or the authority receives a copy of a legal document from a court confirming you have parental responsibility for your child’s education.
The council is not in a position to intervene in disputes between parents over school applications and will request that these are resolved privately.
Can you register your child’s name at a particular school to get priority?
No.
All applications received by the relevant closing date are considered together and priority is not given on a first come, first served basis.
Headteachers take no part in the decision-making process and have no influence over the outcome of an application.
The headteacher of your favourite school has told you that your child has a place. Is this right?
No.
Admission authorities are the only ones who can allocate places.
Headteachers are not responsible for deciding who can attend their school or any other school.
It is not possible for any person or organisation to guarantee in advance a place for a child at a school. Any such comments or assurances must be disregarded by parents.
For voluntary aided (faith) schools, decisions are made by the governing body, which usually sets up an admissions panel to decide on the applications.
Are you guaranteed the school of your choice?
No, there is no guarantee of a place at any particular school.
Parents and carers have a right to express a preference of which school they would like their child to go to and give reasons for that preference. This is known as parental preference.
Expressing a preference does not guarantee your child a place at your preferred school.
In some areas of Anglesey, demand for school places is particularly high and we receive more applications than there are places available - this means that some applications will be refused.
It is important that you do not encourage your child to believe that a place will be available to them at any particular school before you have received your decision.
If applying for secondary school, attending transition activities with the primary school at the secondary school has no bearing whatsoever on the local authority’s decision.
If your child currently attends a nursery class in one of your preferred schools, will they be guaranteed a place in the reception class?
No, you will only be considered for a place at a community reception class within Isle of Anglesey County Council if the relevant application form has been completed.
As nursery provisions within schools are not regarded as statutory education, your application will be considered in the same way as those who do not attend nursery. It is vital that you make a new application to apply for a reception place online.
Do you need to apply even if you live in the catchment area or have an older child at the school?
Yes, all children requiring a mainstream school place must make an application. You will not be considered for a place unless an application is made, even if it is your catchment area school with siblings already in the school, although they will be given a higher priority.
There is no guarantee of a place for your child at any particular school, even if it is your catchment school or your other children attend that school, although they will be given a higher priority.
The order of priority is detailed in our School Admissions Policy.
How do you find your catchment area school?
You can check your catchment area to identify the schools near to your home address by using MapMôn.
How do you decide which school to apply for?
Read our Information for Parents handbook which lists all schools in Anglesey.
Find out which is your catchment school. This is not necessarily the closest school to your home address and will affect how your application is assessed against the oversubscription criteria. MapMôn
Think about how your child will travel to school as they will not necessarily be eligible for free home to school transport.
You can find out more about a particular school on the My Local School Welsh Government website.
Most schools have a website that you can visit and read their prospectus online. If you do not have access to the internet, you can contact the school to get a copy of their prospectus.
Many parents prefer their local catchment school because that often means that children can make more friends nearer the home and, in some cases, will be able to walk to the school.
You could also ask to visit the school and talk to the headteacher.
What is a catchment school?
‘Catchment area’ is the term used to describe the geographical area from which children will be given priority for admission to a particular school, although this does not guarantee a place.
Although each school has a designated catchment area, parents can express a preference for any school they want their child to attend. Should any school be oversubscribed when you make an application during a normal round of admission, children who live in a catchment area are given priority over those who do not (apart from excepted pupils as outlined in the Admissions Policy).
Check which school catchment area you live in using MapMôn.
Many parents prefer their local catchment school because that often means that children can make more friends nearer the home and, in some cases, will be able to walk to the school.
Your child goes to the primary 'feeder' school for the secondary school so why can’t you get a place?
Some primary schools may have an established and ongoing relationship with a particular secondary school where the majority of the year 6 cohort from the primary school transfers to that particular secondary school. These are called “feeder schools”.
However, they do not affect current admission criteria for secondary schools.
Should you apply for more than one school?
Yes.
If you only name one school and you are not successful in being offered a place there, you may not get a place at any other school that you may also like. Applying after the closing date, in particular on/after the National Offer Day, will reduce your chance of getting a school place at your alternative school, as all of the places may have already been allocated.
Your child cannot be considered for a school unless you have applied for it. We would recommend that you apply for at least 3 preferences on your initial application form. This will give your child priority over children whose parents have not and will increase your chances of getting a place that you are happy with.
If you decide not to list your catchment school as one of your preferences but are unsuccessful with all of your choices, your child will only be considered for an alternative place at the catchment school if places are available.
You can ask to be allocated an alternative place at your nearest available school if you are unsuccessful with your school preferences.
Selecting only one preference will not improve your chances of being offered a place in that school. If you only ask for one school, then you could end up with no school and only have places available at a school you may not wish for them to attend.
How do you change your school choices?
Parents must email admissions@anglesey.gov.wales if they wish to change their school choices.
Changes made on/after the National Offer Day will be considered as late applications. This could mean that your child will miss out on a place at your preferred school.
What if you move house during the application process?
It is your responsibility to advise us of any changes in circumstances - including a change of address - following submission of your application.
Please contact admissions@anglesey.gov.wales.
A new address can only be taken into consideration when determining the outcome of your application if you live there by the National Offer Day, providing evidence of this, and inform the Admissions Officer before the offer of places has been made.
Where the number of applications is more than the number of places available, we will apply a set of criteria to identify which pupils should be prioritised for a place, known as oversubscription criteria and found in our School Admissions Policy.
If you are moving into or within Anglesey you should not assume that your child will be allocated a place at the catchment area school. There is no guarantee of a place at any school, and if the school is already full in the relevant year group, your application will likely be refused.
What happens when you submit your application?
If you make an online application, you will receive automatic email confirmation as soon as the application is submitted.
The council cannot accept responsibility for any applications or evidence that is not submitted correctly.
Once received, your application will be assessed with all others that are submitted by the closing date.
It is your responsibility to advise us of any changes in circumstances - including a change of address, change of preference or change of circumstance - following submission of your application.
Please contact admissions@anglesey.gov.wales as soon as possible. If we don’t know until after the Offer Day of any change of preference, we may not be able to offer places to your preferred school if it is already full.
What should you do if you miss the closing date for applications?
You must do your best to get your application into the admissions authority by the published deadline.
If you are late submitting your application without good reason, it will not be looked at with the ones that were on time.
Should all the places be allocated to the applications received before the closing date, this could mean that your child will miss out on a place at your preferred school.
How long will it take to get a decision?
We will inform you of the result of your application for a school place by email on the National Offer Days.
These days are 16 April for nursery/reception applications or the first working day in March for applications to secondary school (year 7).
How will the decision be made?
We will consider how many places are available in each school and how many pupils have applied to attend that school.
Where the number of applications is equal to or less than the number of places available, all pupils will be admitted.
Where the number of applications is greater than the number of places available, we will apply a set of criteria to identify which pupils should be prioritised for a place, known as oversubscription criteria and found in the School Admissions Policy.
Which pupils are given priority if the school is oversubscribed?
If the number of applications for entry into the reception class at a school is greater than the admission number of that school then pupils will be admitted up to the admission number in accordance with the following criteria, if the authority is satisfied that the reasons given by the parents in expressing their preference to educate their children at the school satisfies one of the following criteria which are listed in order of priority:
- Looked After Children and previously Looked After Children.
- Pupils recommended for placement at the school regarding their additional learning needs, where a child’s local authority Individual Development Plan (IDP) or Local Education Authority Individual Medical Plan (IMPLAN) names a particular school. Such placements must be confirmed by the local education authority’s professional advisers.
- Pupils who live within the catchment area of the school and have a sibling already attending the school who will remain on the school roll when the child is due to start.
- Pupils who live within the catchment area of the school.
- Pupils who live outside the catchment area but have a brother or sister already attending the school who will remain on the school roll when the child is due to start.
- Pupils who live outside the catchment area.
In a tie-break situation within any of the criteria, the authority will give priority to pupils whose home is nearest the school via the shortest appropriate walking route, which will be measured using official maps, showing the catchment area boundaries that can be seen at the Learning Service or at the school. If there is any doubt, then the authority will arrange for the route to be measured in more detail.
Where a pupil has been refused admission, the admission authority will, in accordance with this policy, use its best endeavours to explain its decision in writing and to discuss the options that are available to parents in order to secure suitable education for their children, including the right to appeal against the authority’s decision.
Siblings include full, half, step, adopted or fostered siblings living in the same household.
In cases of applications for twins or multiple birth children where the authority is unable to offer all the places required, parents may accept the places that have been offered and accept places at another school for the remaining child(ren). The child(ren) will be added to the waiting list which will remain until 30 September.
Are school places held back for children moving into the area?
No, we have to admit pupils up to the admission number of the school and are not permitted to reserve or hold back places in case families move into the area or for any particular group of people.
It is not possible to remove children from a school if a child with higher priority under the oversubscription criteria subsequently requires a place.
If you are moving into or within Anglesey, please do not assume that your child will be allocated a place at the local school.
There is no guarantee of a place at any school, even if it is your catchment school, and if the school is already full in your child’s year group your application will be refused.
What happens if you are refused a place at your preferred school(s)?
Where we are unable to offer a place at your preferred school(s) as a result of applying the published oversubscription criteria and you live in Anglesey, you will be offered a place at your catchment school if places are available.
If your catchment school is unavailable, we will tell you about the next nearest school to your home address that has places available and ask you to give additional preferences for consideration.
If your application is unsuccessful and you do not live in Anglesey, you are advised to contact your home local authority for an alternative school or submit additional preferences for other schools in Anglesey.
Where a school preference has been unsuccessful, you will be offered the right of appeal against this decision - submitting an appeal is the only way to challenge the local authority’s decision to refuse your child a place and there is no other way to do this (e.g. telephone calls or emails). Note there is no right of appeal for nursery admission.
Your child’s name will be automatically added to the waiting list for any school preference that is refused (until 30.09 for the normal admission round of applications).
If places become available, all children on the waiting list will be considered together for the place and prioritised as detailed in the School Admissions Policy’s oversubscription criteria.
Waiting lists do not give priority to children based on the date the application was added to the list. Inclusion on a waiting list does not guarantee that a place will eventually become available.
Can you find out where your child is on the waiting list?
As we do not rank or order the waiting list until a place becomes available in the relevant year group, your child’s position on the list will be provided as an indication only upon request.
What if you are unsuccessful with your application and want to appeal the decision? How does the appeals process operate?
Where your school preference has been unsuccessful, you will be offered the right of appeal against this decision (there is no right of appeal for nursery admission). Details will be included in the decision email you will have received.
Should you wish to appeal, you will need to inform us within 10 school days. You will then be advised of the date and time of your appeal hearing (held within 30 days of your decision to appeal), how to submit further information relating to your case and invited to attend.
The council’s case for refusal will be presented to an independent panel of three people not connected to the school concerned or the council. You (and the panel) will then have an opportunity to ask any questions and present your own reasons for appealing.
In submitting an appeal, you are making a case for your child to attend a specific school and the case should be based upon why your child should attend that school.
The appeal hearing will be as informal as possible but if you feel you need some advice on how to present your case you should seek this independently. This is purely a matter for each individual, but many parents do not consider this necessary.
Members of the council, local authority officers, Members of the Senedd or local politicians cannot accompany you to your appeal hearing, as this may lead to a conflict of interest, unfairness to other appellants and place undue pressure on the panel.
During the appeal process, you can still choose an alternative preference school for your child. Please contact the school admissions team (email and address). Note that accepting an alternative school does not affect your right to appeal.
In all school admission appeals, the decision of the panel is final and binding on all parties.
The Public Services Ombudsman can investigate written complaints about maladministration on the part of an admissions appeal panel. Maladministration covers issues such as a failure to act independently and fairly, rather than complaints where a person simply feels that the decision taken is wrong.
An appeal panel’s decision can only be overturned by the courts where the appellants or admission authority are successful in applying for judicial review of that decision.
What happens at the appeal?
Your appeal will be heard in private.
If there are a lot of appeals for one school, the first stage of the appeal may be done as a group and have other parents present who have also appealed.
The appeal hearing will follow a pattern.
Stage 1
- The presenting officer will explain why the admissions authority turned down your/the application(s) (e.g. the school would be too crowded).
- Parent will have an opportunity to question the admission authority’s reasons for refusal.
If at this stage the panel decides that there was no need to refuse a place, for instance, if the school would not be too crowded, the hearing will end, and the parent will be informed that the appeal has been successful.
If the panel decides that there were reasons for refusal on the grounds that the school would be too full, then a second stage will follow, these will always be individual (private) appeals.
Stage 2
- The parent will explain why their child should be provided with a place at the school even though it is full.
- The panel and the admissions authority will have an opportunity to question the parents’ reasons.
- The admissions authority will then sum up the case.
- You will also have an opportunity to sum up your case.
The panel will listen to all sides of the case and may ask questions at any time if they need clarification or more information to reach a decision.
The panel’s decision should be sent by written notification within 5 working days.
Group appeals may take longer.
See Welsh Government's website for more information on appeals.