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We maintain the waiting lists for community and voluntary controlled schools and for some academies and foundation, free, trust and voluntary aided schools. Other academies and foundation, free, trust and voluntary aided schools maintain their own waiting lists.

You can find out who will manage a school's waiting list by checking our primary schools list or secondary schools list.

For schools we manage waiting lists for, you will have to let us know, in writing, if you want your child added to the school's waiting list. The exception is if you have applied for more than one child and not all children can be offered a place at the same school, in which case we will add your child to the waiting list automatically.

For academies and foundation, free, trust and voluntary aided schools which manage their own waiting lists, you should check with each school as their waiting list policies may be different.

As children leave a school, vacancies are created which will be filled from each school's waiting list.

Waiting lists are ranked according to each school's admission criteria. Your child's position on a waiting list may go down as well as up, for example, if other children with greater priority according to the school's admissions criteria are added to the list.

If your child's address has changed since you applied and they are ranked on the waiting list according to distance, then their new address will usually be used to determine their position on the waiting list. However, you must make sure you tell the admission authority for the school that your child's address has changed. If you are unsure which address is being used, please check with the admission authority for the school.

If you are applying for more than one child and only one is offered a place, let the admission authority for the school know. The other child may receive sibling priority on the waiting list. In many cases, sibling priority only applies once the first child has started at the school.

A significant change may take place to waiting list positions at the start of the autumn term. This may be due to:

• the volume of applications received during the school holidays
• removal of any children who have not applied to remain on waiting lists for the new academic year
• changes to the way admission criteria are applied at the start of the autumn term.

For schools we manage admissions for, we will maintain a waiting list until 22 July 2026 which is the last day of the summer term, after which it will be cancelled.

You can find out if we manage a school's waiting list by checking our primary schools list or secondary schools list.

In year applications that we receive up to 22 July 2026 that have not been processed by this date, will be carried forward and processed in the new academic year.

If your child's name is already on a waiting list for a school we manage and you still wish them to be considered for a place in the new academic year, you must complete a new in year application.

Applications for an in-year place for the new academic year can be submitted any time after 1 July 2026.

Waiting list positions for the new academic year will be available from 26 August 2026.

Academies and foundation, free, trust and voluntary aided schools which manage their own admissions may have different policies on cancelling their waiting lists. You should check their requirements for remaining on a waiting list with each school directly.