If your child needs a Primary School place in Sept 2023, you need to apply before 15th January 2023
It is an important decision for many families when considering which schools to name on their application for starting school for the first time (entering Reception class) and when moving onto secondary school (entering Year 7). Please read the information below carefully as it will help you when submitting an application for your child’s school place.
Sefton Council has prepared two guides which provides parents/carers with lots of helpful and important information to guide you through the school admissions process. It is very important that you read both guides before you submit an application.
To help decide which schools you would like to apply for you should:
Read the Parents Guide - Applying for a Primary or Secondary School place
Refer to the Sefton Schools Admissions Information Guide to find schools in your area
Look at the admissions criteria for the schools you are considering
Think about which criterion your application would be considered under and review the numbers of successful applications in each criterion for previous years. This should help inform your choices and chances of a successful application.
Contact the school to enquire about open evenings/days or personal visits
Look at other sources of information such as school website and Ofsted reports
if applying to a faith school complete the supplementary information forms (which you should request directly from the school) if you want to be considered under the faith criterion. You will see if this is required for your preferred schools by reading the Schools Information Guide.
Look at whether you child would qualify for home to school transport for the schools you are considering - Section C of the Guide for Parents/Carers.
The Guide for Parents includes information on:
How applications should be submitted
The closing dates and deadlines for applications
How the Local Authority processes both primary and secondary applications
What happens if your application is late
What to do if you move house during the application period
How and when you will receive your offer of a school place around national offer days
Once you have read the Guide for Parents you can then view the Sefton Primary and Secondary Schools Admissions Information Guide. This includes information on:
Types of schools within Sefton, including the area in which they are located
Colour coded area maps of all Primary & Secondary schools within Sefton
The contact details for all Sefton schools
The Published Admission Number for 2023 entry for all Sefton schools
The admissions criteria for all Sefton schools for 2023 entry
Catchment area maps are included for the small number of schools that have catchment areas as part of their admissions criteria
Previous admissions patterns for each school over the last 3 years
Sefton Schools Admissions Information Guide 2023 24 (pdf 9.55MB)
If you have read both information booklets and are ready to apply for your child’s school place you can apply online via the Citizen Portal using the 'Do it Online' link on this page.
Important Dates for September 2023 Admissions
Applications for 2023 entry into Reception and Year 7 open on 1st September 2022 via the online Citizen Portal. If you do not live in Sefton you must apply to your home Local Authority even if the school you wish to apply for is within Sefton. Please submit your application as soon as possible but no later than the closing dates below.
You MUST your submit your application online via the Citizen Portal by the national closing dates which are:
Closing date for applications to start Secondary School is 31 October 2022
Closing date for applications to start Primary School is 15 January 2023
It will NOT be possible for you to apply via the Citizen Portal after these closing dates. Please submit your application as early as possible. Secondary school - late applications and changes The national closing date of 31 October has now passed. You can no longer use the Citizen Portal to apply or to make changes. You can still submit a late application or make a change to an existing application if you live in the Sefton Council area and in these circumstances: 1) After the national closing date has passed and the Citizen Portal is now closed for online applications. * 2) After submitting an application, you wish to make changes including changing your school preference(s) before National Offer Day.* 3) After National Offer Day either a) this is your first application for a school place or b) you wish to apply for an alternative school instead of the school that has been offered. IF YOU DO NOT RESIDE IN THE SEFTON AREA YOU MUST APPLY TO YOUR HOME LOCAL AUTHORITY EVEN IF THE SCHOOL YOU WISH TO APPLY FOR IS IN SEFTON. *IMPORTANT - Please note that in both these circumstances a cut-off date applies for these applications to be considered BEFORE National Offer Day. Please read the Parents Guide above for the relevant dates and further information about the processing of late applications or changes. To submit a late application or make changes to an application already submitted please select the appropriate form using the 'Do it online' link on this page.
