Newsroom Archive

Telford & Wrekin Council’s school admission team dealt with over 4300 on-time applications for children to start in reception or Year Seven for the current 2019-20 academic year.

Families who have a child starting primary or secondary school next year may be wondering when they need to submit their application.

Here is the council's advice for children starting school from September 2020.

Children who were born between 1 September 2015 and 31 August 2016 can take up a full-time place to start at a primary or infant school from September 2020.

The deadline for applying is Wednesday 15 January 2020.

Even if a child has been attending nursery classes at school, families will still need to apply for a full-time school place.

Parents and carers of children who are due to transfer to a junior school next year will also need to apply by 15 January 2020.

This year, 98% of primary applicants were offered a place at one of their three preferred schools.
For children who are due to start in year 7 at a secondary school next year, the deadline for applying is much earlier – 31 October 2019.

Children attending a Telford school in year 6 should have brought home a ‘How to apply letter’ about secondary school admissions.

For the current academic year, 94% of secondary applicants got a place at one of their three preferred schools.

Residents need to apply to their home local authority for a school place for their child.

Those who live in the borough will need to apply to Telford & Wrekin Council by visiting www.telford.gov.uk/admissions

While those who live in Shropshire will need to apply to Shropshire County Council www.shropshire.gov.uk/school-admissions

Residents can apply for any school in the borough, county or further afield regardless of where they live.

Any applications for school places received after the deadlines will be treated as late and will only be dealt with after all the on-time applications.

Councillor Shirley Reynolds, Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet member for Children, Young People and Education, said: "It’s really important to apply on time for your child’s school place.

"There are guides available on our website that fully explain the admissions process. You might also like to go and visit your local schools. However, we do not set the admissions criteria for all the borough’s schools – for example, academies set their own admissions criteria.

"We know that starting or moving school can be an anxious time for families, so we try to make the applications process as straightforward as possible.

"And don’t forget that you can make as many changes to your application as you need to between now and the closing date, by simply logging back in to your application."

Applications allow you to list four school preferences for your child.

Councillor Shirley Reynolds said: "Some parents think only putting one school down increases their chances of getting in there. However, the risk with this is that if that school is full, you will be allocated an entirely different school that you haven’t chosen.

"For this reason, we strongly advise that you use all of your preferences. In this way, you will increase your chances of gaining a place at a school you have named.

"You won’t increase your chances of getting in at one school if you only put one school down.

"Also, we strongly recommend including your catchment area school as one of your preferences as your child will usually get priority for a place here. This means your child can still attend a local school if you don’t get a place at the others."

A customer support session is taking place this week where admissions staff can help with applications. It is on Friday 25 October, 9.30am–1pm at Southwater One..