Awarding school places: Criteria

Page updated on: 07/04/2020

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

There are changes to the admission appeals regulations during the coronavirus outbreak. On the 4th May 2020, Welsh Government released temporary changes to School Admissions Appeals.

The new temporary regulations will remain in force until 31st January 2021. The temporary regulations will apply to:

Appeals lodged between 4th May 2020 and 31st January 2021
Appeals that have already been lodged before 4th May 2020 but have not yet been decided

Find out what the key changes are and what it means for you as a parent.

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If there are more applications than available places at a particular school, the allocation of places will be based on the following criteria listed in priority order:

Looked-after and previously looked-after children i.e. Fostered or Adopted children
Children who live in the school’s catchment area and have a brother or sister living at the same address attending the school at the same time.
Children who live in the school’s catchment area.
Children who live outside of the school’s catchment area and have a brother or sister living at the same address attending the school at the same time.
Children who live outside of the school’s catchment area.

Where there is a Statement of Educational Needs (SEN) naming a particular school then this must be stated clearly on your application form. SEN applications are dealt with separately before the above criteria is applied.

For further information on how we award places when a school has more applications than available places, please refer to the Information for Parents handbook.