Primary co-ordinated admissions scheme for 2026

1.0 Timetable for primary co-ordinated admissions scheme for September 2026 intake

2.0 North Northamptonshire Council’s Co-ordinated Scheme for entry to Reception and Year 3 in schools in September 2026

North Northamptonshire Council (the council) is the local authority (LA) for North Northamptonshire. Throughout this scheme, the term “parent” refers to individual parents as well as those with parental responsibility for the child, e.g. carers.

2.1 Regulations

The School Admissions (Co-ordination of Admission Arrangements) (England) Regulations 2008 require local authorities (LAs) to formulate a scheme to co-ordinate admission arrangements for the normal admissions round and late applications for all publicly funded schools in its area (excluding special schools). The purpose of a co-ordinated scheme is to establish mechanisms for ensuring, as far as is reasonably practicable, that every parent of a child living within the LA who has applied for a school place in the normal admission round, receives an offer of a single school place on National Offer Day (16 April or the next working day). All schools must comply with the agreed scheme.

2.2 Applying for a place in a Primary, Infant or Junior school

The normal point of entry to Primary or Infant school is Reception. The normal point of entry to Junior school is Year 3. The local authority (North Northamptonshire Council, (NNC) co-ordinates the process of allocating places to these year groups.

2.3 Application forms

North Northamptonshire’s Common Application Form (CAF), whether online or paper, allows parents to apply for a Reception or Year 3 place at up to three primary and junior schools, including schools in other local authorities, and to give reasons for their preferences. If parents apply directly to a school, the governing body and academy trust must inform North Northamptonshire Council. All applications for the point of entry at schools will be co-ordinated by North Northamptonshire Council up to and including 31 August 2027.

While parents may express a preference for any state funded school - regardless of whether it is in the local authority area in which they live - admission authorities of schools cannot guarantee that a preference will be met.

Applications for the normal point of entry (Reception and Year 3) must be made to a child’s home local authority, regardless of where the school is situated.

It is the responsibility of all those making an application to ensure that they:

a) submit the application on time. Parents will receive an email which confirms that the submission has been successful. Every time a change is made to the application and every time an application is just opened to check it, the application must be re-submitted.

or

b) request confirmation of a paper application by emailing the School Admissions Team [email protected]. It is not the responsibility of the School Admissions Team to send parents reminders of the need to apply.

The application form (either online or paper) will ask the parent (the applicant) to provide the following information:

• The names of three schools listed in order of preference - if the applicant is resident in another local authority area where more than 3 preferences are permitted, the council will allow the same number of preferences as permitted in home local authority
• Details of siblings (if relevant) who attend the preferred school/s
• Details of the child for whom the application is being made (address, date of birth, any relevant medical information or special social circumstances)
• Confirmation that the child has an EHC Plan (if applicable)
• Reasons for their preferences
• The name of the child’s current school
• Details about the person completing the application (name, address, relationship to the child, contact details)

Parents are encouraged to apply online wherever possible.

For those who do not have access to the internet, requests for paper application forms should be made to the council’s School Admissions team and parents are advised to use recorded delivery when posting a completed application. The council does not accept responsibility for applications not received or for applications which were received after the closing date because insufficient postage was used.

Applications received after 15 January 2026 will be considered as late applications and will not be processed until after National Offer Day.

Supporting documents

Parents may submit any additional paperwork (e.g., proof of a house move) electronically or by post to the School Admissions team at the council, clearly stating the name of child, date of birth and the name(s) of the school(s) they are applying for.

If a house move takes place after the closing date, the school allocation will be based on the address the School Admissions team holds at the closing date for applications (15 January 2026).

2.4 Residence in another local authority

Parents of children residing outside North Northamptonshire who wish to apply for a Reception or Year 3 place in a North Northamptonshire school must apply on the application form provided by the LA where they live (i.e., they must apply through their home LA).

The School Admissions team will receive applications electronically from other LAs with preferences for schools in North Northamptonshire. These will be recorded and passed on to the OAA schools as appropriate. All applications received for Reception or Year 3 places at schools in North Northamptonshire will then be processed.

2.5 Exchange of information

LAs and admission authorities in the area must exchange information on applications received and potential offers to be made by the dates specified in the scheme (see section 1). LAs should exchange information on applications across their borders and seek to eliminate multiple offers across LA borders wherever possible. A maintaining LA must inform the home LA if it intends to offer a place at one of its schools to an applicant living in a different LA area. The exchange of data must, where possible, be carried out using secure data protection systems.

2.6 Information for parents

Parents who live in North Northamptonshire are encouraged to apply online.

The benefits of using the online application process are as follows:

1. Parents are less likely to make errors as the system guides them through the application process
2. Parents are able to change or amend preferences up until midnight on the closing date
3. On National Offer Day, parents will be able to log on to the system to find out which school has been allocated (a letter naming the allocated school will be posted on National Offer Day to all parents who applied using the paper application form)
4. Parents will receive an email with details of the school offered
5. Parents will be helping to reduce paper usage and postage cost if they apply online

There is a composite prospectus providing details about the admission criteria for all primary and junior schools in North Northants, ‘Applying for a Primary School Place in North Northamptonshire 2026-27’. This will be available on the School Admissions pages of North Northamptonshire Council’s website from September 2025. Paper copies of the composite prospectus may be obtained by contacting the School Admissions Team:

The prospectus contains information about:

• how to apply online
• how to complete a common application form
• information about primary and junior schools in North Northamptonshire
• the Published Admission Number (PAN) for each school
• each school’s oversubscription criteria
• whether individual schools were oversubscribed in September 2025
• key dates for the application and allocation process
• children with special educational needs
• home-to-school transport
• the process for late applications
• contact details for the North Northamptonshire Council’s School Admissions Team

2.7 Parents living in the North Northamptonshire Council area wanting to complete a paper application form

Requests for paper application forms and composite prospectuses (for those who do not have access to the internet) should be made to the North Northamptonshire Council School Admissions Team.

2.8 Supplementary Information Forms (SIFs)

Some schools - academies, foundation, free and voluntary aided schools - may require parents to complete Supplementary Information Forms (SIFs) so that they can apply their oversubscription criteria. Places must be allocated on the basis of the oversubscription criteria only. Information about the schools which require a SIF can be found on the individual school’s website and links to SIFs for schools which require them will be available on the North Northamptonshire Council website from September 2025. The contact details for each school can be found in the council’s composite prospectus.

Supplementary Information Forms must be returned to the preferred school by 15 January 2026 unless otherwise advised in the school’s admission arrangements.

2.9 Applications for schools which are their own admission authorities (OAAs) - Foundation, Voluntary Aided, Free Schools and Academies

Applications for all state-funded schools should be made on the CAF. The School Admissions Team will ensure that parents’ preferences are logged on the School Admissions database.

OAA schools are their own admission authorities, responsible for setting the admission arrangements for their schools and for deciding which children are allocated places. All applications received by the School Admissions team for places at Foundation, Voluntary Aided, Free schools and Academies will be passed to the schools by the date shown on the scheme timetable in section 1. 
The council applies the oversubscription criteria and ranks applicants for some own admission authority (OAA) schools. Schools which rank their own applicants will be asked to return ranked lists to the council by the agreed date in the scheme.

Parents who do not submit on time CAFs to the LA will not be included in the ranking lists with on-time applicants. The LA will check all OAA lists to ensure that this procedure has been followed correctly.

2.10 Applying for schools in another local authority

a) Applications for schools outside the LA

Applications from residents in the North Northamptonshire Council area for schools in other LAs will be logged on the Admissions database and information relating to those preferences and any additional information will be electronically forwarded to the relevant maintaining local authority by the date shown on the scheme scheme timetable in section 1.

Parents of children residing in North Northamptonshire must use the North Northamptonshire Council’s CAF even if the schools for which they wish to apply are in a different local authority.

b) Applications for North Northamptonshire schools from families living in other LAs

Similarly, the School Admissions Team will receive applications forwarded from other LAs for schools in North Northamptonshire. These will be recorded and passed on to OAA schools as appropriate. If the application is for a Community or Voluntary Controlled school, the School Admissions Team will process applications along with all other applications for North Northamptonshire Council schools.

Parents of children residing outside North Northamptonshire must use the CAF from the LA where they live if they apply for school in North Northamptonshire.

Applications received for schools outside North Northamptonshire will be logged on the Council’s Admissions database and information relating to those preferences and any additional information will be electronically forwarded to the relevant maintaining LA by the date shown on the scheme timetable in section 1.

2.11 Multiple applications

If more than one application is made for a child prior to the closing date, only the latest dated application form will be processed. Any previously submitted application forms will not be processed.

Following National Offer Day, if the applicant has chosen to submit further applications to be processed in late reallocation rounds, the latest-dated late application will take priority over any previous late applications. If it is possible to offer a place at one of the preferences on the latest-dated application, an offer will be made and the previous offer will be withdrawn without further reference to the applicant.

Applicants must inform the School Admissions team in writing (by email or letter) prior to the reallocation round, if they wish to withdraw applications.

Where there may be multiple applications from parents who are not living together, parents will need to refer to section 2.22 of this scheme for further guidance.

2.12 How the co-ordination process produces the offer of a single school place

All schools have a Published Admissions Number (PAN). This is the number of places available at the normal point of entry to a school e.g., Reception and Year 3. If an admission authority decides it is able to admit above its PAN, it must notify the council in good time to allow the council to deliver its co-ordination responsibilities effectively and reference to the change should be made on the school’s website.

Admission authorities must consider all of the applications they receive and, if there are more applications than places available, they must apply their oversubscription criteria to all applicants to decide which children will be offered places.

For community and voluntary controlled schools (where the LA is the admission authority), the School Admissions team is responsible for applying schools’ oversubscription criteria if the number of applications exceeds the PAN of the school. The School Admissions team may also apply oversubscription criteria on behalf of OAA schools as part of a Service Level Agreement (SLA). Any school wishing to use this service should inform the School Admissions team by 1 September in the year prior to the year of admission. All OAA schools applying their own criteria must return a ranked list of all applicants to the council by the date stated in the scheme timetable in section 1. The surplus places at undersubscribed schools will be allocated to children who were unable to obtain places at any of their preferred schools.

LAs must allocate a place at the highest preference school where the child can be offered a place. If a child is eligible for a place at more than one school, the applicant’s order of preference will be considered and the highest preference will be offered:

• If a child qualifies for a place at all three preference schools, the council will offer a place at the school that is ranked highest on the CAF - the child’s name will then be removed from the ranked list(s) at the lower preference schools so that lower ranked children may be offered a place
• If a child qualifies for a place at only one of their preference schools, they will be offered a place at that school regardless of the preference order on the common application form
• If a child cannot be offered a place within the PAN of any of their preferred schools, NNC will offer a place at the nearest NNC school with a place available (i.e., the nearest school which has not reached its PAN and therefore has a place or places available at the time)
• If a child is offered a place at a school which wasn’t their first preference, parents may request to be added to the waiting list for any of the schools which were a higher preference than the school offered
• Parents have the right to appeal against refusal of a place at any school for which they have applied, unless a higher preference has been allocated. Information about how to make an appeal is outlined in the offer letter

Where it is not possible to offer a place at any of the preferred schools, a place will be allocated at the school nearest to the home address where places are available at the time of allocation. Some pupils in this situation will be eligible for assistance with transport costs. Parents will be referred to the school travel assistance information on the council’s website.

Where further capacity is required to provide every child with a school place, the council will consult relevant schools to reach an agreement for additional places.

A single place will be identified for each child by the end of this co-ordinated process.

The council will publish details of how places were allocated on its website after National Offer Day.

2.13 Protocol for children with Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans

Parents of children with an EHC Plan must not use the CAF to apply for a school place. Instead, the allocation of school places is managed by the council’s EHC team and the appropriate provision will be named in the child’s EHC Plan. The admission of children with EHC plans to mainstream schools (where the school is named in the plan) will take priority over all other children.

Placement decisions will be made by the date shown on the scheme timetable in section 1 and the EHC team will inform parents of the school offered.

There may be circumstances where parents have not been informed of the school allocated by this date (15 February) and a school has not yet been named. In these cases, schools may be required to admit children over PAN if it is subsequently named on a child’s EHCP.

2.14 Notification of offers to all schools or other Local Authorities

As part of the co-ordination process, other LAs will be informed electronically - by the date shown on the scheme timetable in section 1 - of any offers of school places that North Northamptonshire Council is able to make to their residents. All schools, including OAA schools, will be informed of the final offers, which may include offers made to pupils living in other LAs, by the date shown in the scheme timetable in section 1. Schools must not communicate with parents until after the offer from North Northamptonshire Council has been sent.

2.15 Late applications

Every effort will be made to encourage parents to complete application forms by the closing date of 15 January 2026. If an application form is received after midnight on 15 January 2026, it will be deemed to be late. Late applicants will not receive an offer of a school place on National Offer Day (16 April or the next working day). Late applications will be processed in the additional round of allocations published in the scheme timetable in section 1.

Parents will not be allowed to change the order or schools listed as preferences between the closing date and National Offer Day (16 April). After this date, any changes to preferences must be made by submitting a late application form which will be processed in the further rounds of allocation (see section 1).

For OAA schools applying their own criteria, the council will forward any late applications directly to the schools for their consideration within each reallocation round (by the agreed timelines).

The co-ordinated process in North Northamptonshire continues up to and including 31 August of each year. The in-year process commences from 1 September.

2.16 Right to appeal

Parents have the right to appeal against refusal of a place at any school for which they have applied. When an admission authority informs a parent of a decision to refuse a place, it must include the reason why admission was refused; information about the right to appeal; the deadline for lodging an appeal and the contact details for making an appeal. Parents must be informed that, if they wish to appeal, they must set out their grounds for appeal in writing. Admission authorities must not limit the grounds on which appeals can be made.

The admission authority must establish an independent appeals panel to hear the appeal. The panel will decide whether to uphold or dismiss the appeal. Where a panel upholds the appeal the school is required to admit the child.

2.17 Waiting lists

The School Admissions Code requires admission authorities to maintain a clear, fair, and objective waiting list until at least 31 December of each school year of admission. North Northamptonshire Council will continue to maintain waiting lists for its schools - Community and Voluntary controlled schools - for the whole of the academic year. Each child added will require the list to be ranked again in line with the published oversubscription criteria. Priority will not be given to children based on the date their application was received, or their name was added to the list. Looked after children or previously looked after children allocated a place at the school in accordance with a Fair Access Protocol will take precedence over those on a waiting list.

The School Admissions team of the local authority (North Northamptonshire Council) administers the waiting lists for all year groups for all Community and Voluntary Controlled schools. In addition, the School Admissions team administers the waiting lists for some OAA school, at their request.

Parents who have been refused a place at a school (this could either be on National Offer Day or after making a late application) may wish to place their child's name on a waiting list. Parents must contact the School Admissions team in order to request that their child’s name is added to a school’s waiting list. Following Primary National Offer Day there will be no distinction drawn on school waiting lists between on-time and late applications; all applications on the waiting list will be ranked in accordance with schools’ oversubscription criteria.

The School Admissions team will hold a waiting list for every mainstream secondary school in North Northamptonshire. until 31 August 2026. At this point, School Admissions will transfer waiting lists to OAA schools managing their own in-year admissions who will then maintain their own waiting list until at least 31 December in the Offer year. The School Admissions team will retain a waiting list for all OAA schools opting into the in-year co-ordination scheme until 31 December. Following this date, waiting lists will be cleared. The waiting list will be re-established at the start of the next term and closed at the end of that term.

Parents who want their child’s name to remain on the waiting lists for the rest of the academic year, should make this request in writing (via email [email protected]) to the School Admissions team by 31 December and 31 March, providing the child’s full name, date of birth and address.

A new application form will need to be submitted if a place is required in the following academic year.

2.18 Applying for a place in a Junior School

The normal point of entry to Junior Schools is Year 3 and the LA co-ordinates the process of allocating places to these schools in this year group.

Parents of children who are in Year 2 at an Infant school and who want them to attend a Year 3 in a Junior in September 2026 need to apply for places in Junior schools using the Common Application Form.

Parents of children in Year 2 at an Infant school should not apply for a place in Year 3 at a Primary school on the Common Application Form, as this form is only used for applications at the normal point of entry to a school. As Year 3 is not the normal point of entry for a Primary school, any applications for a place in Year 3 in a Primary school for September 2026 should be made on an in-year application form, in accordance with the LA’s in-year process.

In-year applications for a Year 3 place at a Primary school should be made from June 2026.

2.19 National Offer Day

The School Admissions team will notify all on-time applicants of their school offer on National Offer Day (16 April or the next working day) by email (for all online applicants) or by post (a letter will be sent to all applicants who submitted a paper application). This communication will include information about what to do next and, if necessary, information about how to appeal. Breakdowns of how places were allocated in accordance with each school’s oversubscription criteria will be published on the council’s website. Links to this page will be provided on all offer emails and letters.

The School Admissions team will assume that the place has been accepted unless communication from the parents inform School Admissions to the contrary.

2.20 Declining a school place

Parents are required to notify the School Admissions team in writing (by email or letter) if they wish to decline the school place offered. Declines will only be accepted if the parent has secured alternative education. These places freed up will then be reallocated during the rounds of reallocation.

If a parent notifies a school directly that they wish to decline the offer of a place at the school, they should be advised by the school to contact the School Admissions team and the school itself should also notify the team. Checks will then be carried out by the team to ensure it is a true decline and the school will be informed at the end of the next reallocation round of any new declines. Schools should not reallocate declined places themselves. These places will be reallocated by the School Admissions team during the council’s further rounds of allocation.

2.21 Definition of a sibling and sibling link for Community and Voluntary Controlled schools

Some schools give priority to children whose brother(s) or sister(s) are already on roll at a preferred school (this is called a sibling link). A sibling is defined as a child’s brother or sister. North Northamptonshire Council‘s definition of ‘sibling’ for Community and Voluntary Controlled schools states that a sibling must be living at the same permanent address and as part of the same family unit (one or two parents plus children) to qualify for a sibling link and includes:

• half-brothers and half-sisters
• step-brothers and step-sisters
• adopted children
• children in foster care
• children living in the same family unit, even if they are not biological brothers and sisters - for example when the parents are not married or in a civil relationship

Cousins are not regarded as siblings.

The sibling link will only be valid if the sibling will be attending when the child applying starts school. This means that it would not count as a sibling link if a child wants a place in a primary school, but their brother is in Year 6 and will therefore have left the school when the child applying starts at the school.

Some admission authorities have different definitions of a sibling and sibling link. Parents are advised to check the information in the LA’s composite prospectus or in the school’s admission arrangements available on their website to see what their definition is.

2.22 Parents who do not live together

North Northamptonshire Council’s definition of a child’s home address states that when parents live separately and the child spends time with each parent, the home address will be treated as the place where the child sleeps for most of the school week (i.e., Sunday night - Thursday night inclusive).

If the child spends equal amounts of time at two addresses, the parents must agree which address they wish to be used as the child’s main address.

Other admission authorities may have different definitions of a child’s home address. Parents are advised to check the school’s individual admission arrangements on their website or in the LA’s composite prospectus.

Documentary evidence of ownership or rental agreement may be required, together with proof of actual permanent residence at the property concerned.

The LA can only process one application form. Where parental responsibility is shared, and where the adults with parental responsibility live at different addresses, it is important for the adults to agree which schools they wish to apply for, prior to making the application.

If multiple applications are received for the same child with conflicting address and preferences, or if the School Admissions team is made aware of a dispute between two parents, all applications will be placed on hold and will not be processed until:

• a new single application is made, signed by all parties; or
• written agreement is provided from both parents indicating which application they have agreed on; or
• a court order is provided confirming which parent’s application carries precedence

If no agreement can be made, parents are recommended to seek legal advice. If an agreement cannot be reached before the closing date, this may affect the chances of a child being allocated a place at their preferred school/s.

If an application has already been processed and a school place is offered before the School Admissions team were made aware of any disputes, we will not withdraw the allocated school place.

Further information on parental responsibility can be found on the DfE website.

2.23 Children who are part of a multiple birth group

In accordance with paragraph 2.16 (g) of the School Admissions Code (2021), if the last child to be admitted to a particular school is from a multiple birth group, all other children in the group will be offered places at the school, even if it means exceeding the Published Admission Number. This will also apply to siblings in the same year group.

These children will remain as ’excepted pupils’ for the time they are in an infant class (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2) or until class numbers fall back to the current infant class limit. Own admission schools may have their own policy in place concerning multiple births and parents should check by visiting the school’s website.

2.24 Random allocation

Random allocation, when used as a tie-breaker within an oversubscription criterion for a Community or Voluntary Controlled school, will be supervised by someone independent of the school.

If a place is allocated from the waiting list after the initial round of allocations, and the tie-breaker is used, a new round of random allocation will be performed.

2.25 Definition of Looked After and Previously Looked After Children (‘Children in Care’)

The highest priority in the oversubscription criteria for all schools must be given to ‘looked after children’ and ‘previously looked after children’. A 'looked after child' is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989) at the time of making an application to a school.

‘Previously looked after children’ are children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order). This includes children who appear, to the admission authority, to have been in state care outside England prior to adoption.

2.26 Summer born children

Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group, for example, if the child is gifted and talented or has experienced problems such as ill health. In addition, the parents of a summer born child may choose not to send that child to school until the September following their fifth birthday and may request that they are admitted out of their normal age group - to reception rather than year 1.

Further information regarding the admission of children outside their normal age group may be found in the School Admissions Code (2021).

2.27 Summer born children continuing at current nursery setting

Parents and carers of summer born children have the option for their children to stay in an Early Years setting rather than starting school. Children can attend an Early Years setting until the end of the Funding Block (Term) in which they turn 5. To ensure that the Early Years setting can secure the funded place for their child or children for September 2026, parents and carers must notify their Early Years setting before the end of the Spring Funding Block (Term) 31 March of the year in which they would normally be starting school. The Early Years setting can then consider the number of children at the setting when allocating places for September 2026. If parents and carers do not notify their Early Years setting until after nursery allocations have been released, nursery schools and classes will be under no obligation to offer a place above their normal intake number. Children can, of course, be considered for a place through the normal waiting list process.

2.28 Admission of children out of their normal year group (out of cohort)

Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group.

Where an admission authority agrees to a parent’s request for their child to be admitted out of their normal age group and, as a consequence of that decision, the child will be admitted to a relevant age group (i.e. the age group to which pupils are normally admitted to the school) the local authority and admission authority must process the application as part of the main admissions round, unless the parental request is made too late for this to be possible, and on the basis of their determined admission arrangements only, including the application of oversubscription criteria where applicable. They must not give the application lower priority on the basis that the child is being admitted out of their normal age group. A paper application form will be required where applications are made out of cohort.

Further information regarding the admission of children outside their normal age group may be found in the School Admissions Code (2021).

2.29 Sharing information with schools

When sharing information regarding the co-ordinated scheme with schools, the local authority (North Northamptonshire Council) will:

• supply information about what is required in the co-ordination process
• support schools in the co-ordinated process
• be clear about the dates when information should or must be returned to the LA

If schools already have a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the School Admissions Team, the team will carry out the agreed work and will share with the school the outcome of applications made to the school by sending out lists of successful applicants.

Schools wishing to establish an SLA for the co-ordination process should contact the School Admissions Team as soon as possible to discuss their requirements.

2.30 Relevant area

The relevant area for schools in North Northamptonshire is the area comprising North Northamptonshire and all adjoining local authorities.

Last updated 23 December 2024