Starting primary school

If you have a child born between 1 September 2019 and 31 August 2020, you must apply for your child to start primary school in September 2024 by Monday 15 January 2024.

In this section

Key dates

  • The deadline for on-time applications is Monday 15 January 2024. 
  • National offer day was Tuesday 16 April 2024.

National offer day: Tuesday 16 April

You must accept your offer by Tuesday 30 April to secure your child's school place. 

If you applied online:

  •  you will receive an email on the evening of Tuesday 16 April, advising you to log back into your eAdmissions account to view and accept your offer
  • you will not receive an offer letter in the post
  • ·all relevant information will be available on the eAdmissions website. 

If you have changed your email address and do not receive an email, you can still log into your account on the evening of offer day.

Please note: If you applied online after Monday 15 January 2024, you will not be able to view your outcome online. An offer letter will be sent via email or post in accordance with our late application timetable.

Access your eAdmissions account

If you submitted a paper application, your offer letter will be emailed with full instructions on how to accept your school offer.

For data protection reasons, our school placement and admissions team cannot advise parents/guardians of the outcome of their application over the telephone.

Please note: If you did not submit an application before Monday 15 January 2024, you will receive an outcome on Thursday 16 May after 5pm.

Accept your offer online

Once you have accepted the offer, we will advise the school, who will contact you directly between April and July, with all the relevant admission information.

Please note: Different schools send their information out to parents/guardians at various times.

If you do not respond to the offer within 5 days, you will be contacted again for a response. At that time if you do not reply, we will withdraw the offer we have made, and offer it to another child.

Declining your offer

If you applied online, you can decline the offer online. Please ensure you state the reason(s) for the decline, for example if you have moved out of the area. If you are unhappy with the school offer, you are strongly advised to accept it. This will not affect any of your higher preferences and your child will be placed on the waiting list for all schools you named as a higher preference.

Waiting list

For Hillingdon Community schools please contact the Hillingdon Council's school placement and admissions team for more information.

All Academy, Foundation, Free and Voluntary Aided (faith) schools hold their own waiting lists. If the school is outside of the Hillingdon borough, please contact the borough in which the school is located, to query whether the waiting list is provided by the school or the local authority. Please do not contact schools in Hillingdon any sooner than 4 weeks from national offer day, as waiting lists will not be available.

Please note: Any child who is not offered a place at their preferred school in Hillingdon, will automatically be added onto the waiting list.

Appeals

You have the right of appeal under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, against the refusal of a place at any of the schools for which you have applied. 

You must contact the school directly to obtain all relevant information. If the school is outside of Hillingdon, please contact the school's borough to obtain the procedure and the date by which an appeal must be received by.

Appeals are heard by an independent panel and have no connection with the school concerned. Please contact the school directly for all appeal information, the process and any deadlines.

For Hillingdon community schools you must contact Hillingdon Council. If your appeal is submitted before the appeals deadline of Wednesday 15 May then your appeal will be heard before the start of term in September.

Late rounds of allocation

You can still submit a late application online up until Monday 19 August.

Alternatively, you can request a paper application by calling the school placement and admissions team on 01895 556644 or by submitting an online school query form below. However, your application will not be processed until after Wednesday 17 April.

For further information regarding when late rounds of allocation will be , please read our  late rounds of allocation timetable (PDF) [31KB]

Admission of children outside their chronological age group 

Please view our designated  Guidance on the admission of children outside their chronological age group (PDF) [311KB] for information and advice.

Before you apply

Proof of address

When you apply for a school place, you must have parental responsibility for the child and submit evidence to show that you and your child live at the address you've stated on your application, even if you have been placed in temporary accommodation.

Please read our Proof of address (PDF) [163KB] for details on what proof of address is accepted.

How to apply

The closing date for on time applications was Monday 15 January 2024.

You can still submit a late application online until Monday 19 August 2024. However, your application will not be processed until after Tuesday 16 April 2024.

Hillingdon Council cannot be held responsible for any delays in the post or problems with internet providers; we would, therefore, recommend that you submit your application by Friday 12 January 2024 to ensure it is received on time. 

Apply for a primary school place

Information on how to create and complete your application can be found on the Home | eAdmissions (opens new window) 

Supplementary information

If you are thinking about applying to a school that considers faith as a criterion, you must complete a supplementary information form (SIF) and return it to the school or address stated on the school's criteria.

The deadline for on-time supplementary information forms is Monday 15 January.
Any forms submitted after the deadline will not be processed until after national offer day (Tuesday 16 April).

The following schools consider faith as a criterion; please visit the school's website or contact them directly for further details.

Applications for families arriving from abroad, including from the EU

In most cases, children arriving from overseas have the right to attend schools in England. It is the responsibility of parents to check whether their child has a right, under their visa entry conditions, to study at a school before submitting an application. 

Read more about applications for families arriving from abroad

Statistics

The following provide information on furthest distances offered for community, academies, foundation and free schools. 

Parental responsibility and disputes

Our School Placement and Admissions team has seen a significant increase in the numbers of disputes between parents, relating to where their children should go to school. We understand that, when trying to come to a mutual agreement on child arrangements, parental disputes can be extremely upsetting for all involved (including the children). 

Protocol and guidance regarding parental responsibility (PDF) [141KB] has been published to help parents understand the council's protocol for dealing with situations where parents disagree. This is general guidance intended to help parents understand their rights and responsibilities in line with the law. 

Can't find the information you're looking for?

If you're unable to find the information you are looking for, please complete our online schools query form.

Submit a schools query form

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Page last updated: 16 Apr 2024
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