Admissions during the school year
In year applications
Make an application for a primary or secondary school place for your child or children during the school year, for example if you have moved or want to apply for a new school place for another reason. Please note, you cannot apply for a future year group using the in-year application form. This application can only be made online. You can choose up to 6 schools and put them in order of preference on your application. Check the nearest school to you .This is only a guide based on Google Maps, to give you an indication of schools near your home address. The distances provided are not the accurate measurements we use to allocate school places.
We advise all foreign nationals who wish to apply for a state-funded school place, to check that they have a right to abode, or that the conditions of their immigration status permits them to access a state-funded school. If a school is concerned that a child may not have a right to enter the country to access a state-funded school, it cannot deny them a place or remove them from the school roll. Schools will advise parents to check their rights or email the Home Office’s school referrals team so they can investigate further.
Only Seven Kings School, which is an all through school, has a primary catchment area. All other Redbridge primary schools have places allocated in accordance with their admission arrangements oversubscription criteria. For most applicants, this will be based on the distance from the home address to the main entrance of the school.
You are strongly advised to name your catchment school as one of the higher preferences on your application for secondary schools. You will not be offered a place at an over-subscribed Redbridge secondary school if you do not live within the catchment area. It is not possible to offer places to all applicants, even if they live in the catchment area, for some of our over subscribed schools.
Please be aware that we cannot ensure that siblings will be offered places at the same school. We are only able to offer available places at the nearest schools to your home address with a vacancy in the requested year groups.
You can make an application to any school in Redbridge except for:
- Atam Academy
- Wohl Ilford Jewish Primary School
- Chadwell Heath Academy
- King Solomon High School
- Palmer Catholic Academy
Contact the schools directly, if you want to apply for these or any other private or independent school in Redbridge.
If you are applying for a Redbridge community school, read the Admission Arrangements 2023-2024 carefully.
You can confirm if you live in the Seven Kings Primary School catchment area by going to check the nearest school to you and clicking on the Education tab, then the Secondary School Catchment Area tab and select Seven Kings. Catchment area boundaries are accurate.
Applying for a faith school or own admission authority school
You will need to complete supplementary information forms (SIF) when applying for a Redbridge faith school. Some have more than one form; reading the admissions criteria will explain which form or forms you or your religious leader will have to complete. These forms have to be returned directly to the school by the admissions closing date.
If you're applying for an Academy or Foundation school in Redbridge, please read their admission arrangements carefully as they can be different from the Redbridge community schools admission arrangements, with different oversubscription criteria.
Year 11 applications
Please be aware that any Year 11 applications received from 1 April 2024 will be referred to Connexions, who provide advice and guidance about post 16 options.
Proof of your residency in Redbridge
In defining a child’s ‘normal’ place of residence, we will not accept a business address, a landlord’s tenant’s address or a childminder’s address as a basis for allocating school places, nor will future addresses be accepted. Second homes with a short-term lease, will not be accepted as a normal permanent place of residence.
Proof of residence will be requested from you to prove your home address. It is your responsibility to provide evidence of the address used on your application. We have the right to withdraw an offer if you fail to provide the requested evidence set out below. Please contact the Admissions Team if you are unable to provide evidence of your address.
Accepted documents
Please remember to submit the required proof when you apply online. Please scan or photograph your document so you can upload it to your online application.
For Redbridge addresses, we can check your Council Tax reference number automatically. You will need to give us one further document from the list below:
- rent book
- tenancy agreement and a copy of your Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme or other deposit protection as applies to the tenancy
- utility bills, e.g. electricity/gas, water, landline phone which must show the home phone number, broadband contract (all dated within the last three months)
- TV Licence
- full UK Driving Licence
What happens after I make my application?
Once you have made your online application, we will consider your choices and email you within 10 working days to let you know which school we are able to offer. We will try to give you your first choice if we can, but sometimes schools do not have places available. If this is the case, we will place your child on a waiting list, so they may need to continue at their current school (if they are attending one) until a place becomes available. You will be able to check your child’s position using the online waiting list.
We close all waiting lists in July each year at the end of the academic year. Parents must submit a new In Year Admissions application form in August to confirm their preferences for the new academic year starting in September.
What happens if all the schools in Redbridge are full?
We have a fair access protocol that considers cases, where there is no school place available at a suitable school within a reasonable travelling distance of your child’s home. If there is no such place, a place will be offered above a school’s agreed admission number of places.
Redbridge has an agreed protocol to achieve a fair and balanced approach to the placement of vulnerable children including those not placed because of a shortage of places. All Redbridge schools are subject to this protocol even if they are responsible for their own admissions.
Apply for a school place online
