Primary school questions answered

In England, applications for a Reception place open in the autumn and close on 15 January, for a child starting the following September. You apply through your local council, not the school, and you can usually name three to six schools in order of preference. Offers are sent on National Offer Day, 16 April, or the next working day.

Use every preference you are given. Councils run an equal preference system: each school considers your child against its own admission rules without seeing where you ranked it, and if more than one would offer, you are given the highest-ranked of those. Ranking a realistic school lower down never harms your chance at your first choice, but leaving the form half empty can leave you with an allocated school you did not pick.

No. Most community primary schools admit on a published order of priority — looked-after children, then medical or social need, then siblings, then distance from the school — and a catchment or priority admission area, where one exists, sits inside that order rather than replacing it. In an oversubscribed year the effective cut-off can be much shorter than the printed catchment.

There is no fixed limit, but distance affects both your chance of an offer and daily life for the next seven years. Check the last distance at which the school offered a place in recent years, and walk the route once at drop-off time before you decide.

Treat it as one input with a date on it. A grade can be several years old, the leadership team may have changed since, and the report text about behaviour, curriculum and personal development usually tells you more than the single word on the front. Read the trajectory across inspections rather than the label.

They are useful and limited. Key Stage 2 results describe a cohort that has already left, and in a year group of thirty pupils one or two children move the percentage by several points. Look at two or three years together, compare against the national and local picture, and pay attention to progress as well as raw attainment.

For most families: how the school handles behaviour, how a child who falls behind is caught up, how a child working above the expected standard is stretched, what happens for a child with additional needs, and whether wraparound care fits your working day. None of that is in a league table — it comes out on the visit.

An all-through primary takes children from Reception to Year 6 in one place. Infant schools finish at Year 2 and feed a separate junior school, which usually means a second transfer at age seven — normally near automatic, but worth confirming in writing with the council before you apply.

The council must offer a place somewhere, usually the nearest school with space. You can accept that place and still join the waiting list for the schools you preferred, and you can appeal to an independent panel. Accepting an allocated place does not weaken either the waiting list position or the appeal.

Yes, but councils apply the address rules strictly and ask for evidence — a tenancy agreement or completed purchase, often with a council tax record. A future address is normally only used once you can prove it, so check the deadline your council sets for address changes.

Most schools run open days and open evenings from September to early December, before the 15 January deadline. If you miss them, ring the office and ask for a tour during a normal school day — a weekday visit while lessons are running tells you more than an evening event.

Visit every school you intend to name on the form, and at least one you expect to be your realistic offer. Comparing three or four is enough to calibrate; beyond that they blur together unless you write notes on the day.

Ask the things published data cannot answer: what a typical day looks like in Reception, how reading and maths are taught, actual class sizes and adult-to-pupil ratios in the year group your child would join, how behaviour is handled in practice, what happens when a child falls behind or races ahead, who coordinates additional needs support, and what before- and after-school care costs.

How adults speak to children when nobody is performing for visitors, whether children's work on the walls is recent and theirs rather than printed, how calm the corridors are at transition, what the outdoor space is used for, and whether the children showing you round seem genuinely at home.

Only to hear the explanation. The figures are already published, so a better question is what the school changed after its weakest results, and how it stretches children who are already above the expected standard.

Ask who the SENCO is and how much of the week that role gets, how many children are on SEN support, what provision looks like day to day rather than on paper, how the school works with outside specialists, and what a first term would look like for a child with your child's particular needs.

To at least one visit, yes. Children notice different things and their reaction to a place is real information. Evening events are usually adult-focused; ask whether a daytime tour would suit better.

Ask how far out the school offered places last year, whether it has been oversubscribed recently, how the waiting list typically moves after National Offer Day, and whether any supplementary form is required and by when.

Write your notes before you leave the car park, against the same handful of factors at every school, and score each one while it is fresh. Comparing like for like is the whole point — a printed checklist beats memory a month later.