Does Education Leeds look after all transfers in Leeds?

There are a number of different arrangements for admitting children who transfer between schools. Most schools are known as ‘community schools’ and Education Leeds is responsible for admissions into these schools. You should print the school transfer form and return this to us at the address on the form

In all Catholic, Jewish and most Church of England schools admission is controlled by the governing body. You should approach the school direct to ask about their in-year admission arrangements. You can see a list of these schools from this site.

Are there different admission arrangements if I move into Leeds outside of the ‘normal admission round’?

The ‘normal admission round’ means the time when children would usually apply for and be admitted to a school place for reception or year 7.

When children require a school place at a time other than when we would normally allocate school places we call this ‘out of the normal admission round’ and we have different admission arrangements which we use.

This is because the Government is concerned that people who move into an area outside the ‘normal admission round’ may have difficulty finding a school place as a lot of schools will already be full. For this reason they recommend that local authorities  have different admission arrangements for children seeking a school place during the year, and in Leeds we have a separate admissions policy – called the “In-year Admissions Policy” which we use to allocate places.

How does the In-year Admissions Policy work?

Schools have something called Planned Admission Limit or PAL and this is the number of children who can be admitted to each year group in the school. The PAL is decided in consultation with the school governors taking into account the physical space in the school and the curriculum of the school.

The In-year policy works in the following way:-

As a parent you have the right to express a preference for any school, and we will do our best to meet this preference. We ask that you complete a Transfer Form which gives us the basic information we need. We will assess whether you request falls into the ‘automatic’ category, for example have you moved into Leeds and are without a school, or whether it falls into the non-automatic category for example are you transferring schools because of some unresolved issue at your current school.

If your request is automatic we will identify whether your preferred school has a place for your child and if so we will offer you one. If your preferred school does not have room we will tell you of the nearest school that has places available. We will also advise you about the independent appeal process. We do no keep any waiting lists for schools.

If your request is non-automatic we may refuse your transfer request and ask that you resolve the issue that has caused the request. This is because we have many parents wishing to transfer schools without talking to their current school about the problems.

What if I am not happy about the school place I am offered for my child?

If we are unable to offer a place in your preferred school you have the right of appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel. When we write to you to tell you about the school place we can offer for your child, we will explain how the appeals process works and what you need to do if you want to submit an appeal.