Secondary school place offers

Secondary school place offers

All parents who applied for their child's secondary school place by the deadline of 31 October 2024 will have received an offer of a secondary school place in one of two ways:

• Online: Offers were emailed on 3 March 2025
• By letter: Offer letters were posted on 3 March 2025

See Apply for a secondary school place for schools' admission arrangements and the application process.

Accepting an offer

In North Northamptonshire, we do not require you to accept an offer.

• If the school is within North Northamptonshire: We will assume that you have accepted this offer unless you let us know that it is no longer needed.
• If the school is situated outside of North Northamptonshire: You should contact the school directly to check whether you need to formally accept the place for your child.

If you have made alternative arrangements for your child's schooling please let us know as soon as possible that the place is no longer needed by emailing [email protected].

The following information explains how places were allocated at each secondary school in North Northamptonshire (where we have this information) as of 3 March 2025.

Options available if you have not received a place at a preferred school

For a small number of families, we regret that we have been unable to offer your child a place at your one of your preferred schools.

What can you do? There are 3 options available to you:

1. Join a waiting list

You can add your child's name to a waiting list for any school where you have been refused a place. You must have applied for this school on your original application form.

You can either:

• Email [email protected]
• Write to: School Admissions, North Northamptonshire Council, Tithe Barn Office Block, Tithe Barn Road, Wellingborough, NN8 1BN

Please do not call us - you will be told to put your request in writing.

Correspondence to School Admissions

You must include your child's name and date of birth, otherwise it will cause a delay in processing your request.

For schools with foundation, voluntary aided or academy status, your request will be forwarded to the schools, if they hold their own waiting lists.

Rounds of reallocation

Any places that are still available or become available for Year 7 places will be allocated in additional rounds of reallocation between April and July 2025.

Places are not allocated on a ‘first come - first served’ basis. If places become available, all children on the waiting list, together with those who have submitted late applications and those who have submitted an appeal, will be considered and available places will be allocated using the school’s oversubscription criteria.

There is no guarantee that a place will be allocated. You should not decline your existing offer of a place on this basis.

If you are successful in gaining a place, you will be notified by email. You do not need to contact us on the dates the rounds begin. View key dates and deadlines.

Waiting lists

Waiting lists will be held for Year 7 for all secondary schools until 31 December 2025. Names placed on a waiting list between March and September 2025 will also be removed at the end of December 2025. You must contact us to renew your request to remain on the waiting list in the Spring term.

Some foundation, voluntary aided and academy schools hold their own waiting lists. You should check with the school directly about their waiting list policy.

2. Apply for a place at a school that still has places available

If you wish to be considered for a place at a school which still has places available (check 'Allocations for secondary schools' above), you will need to make a new application.

Making changes to your application

If you have already received a school offer and choose to submit an additional application, we will not contact you before processing the new application. Any new school place will automatically be allocated and any original school place offer will be reallocated to another child.

Should you wish to withdraw an unprocessed application prior to a reallocation round, please email [email protected] to advise of this, providing your child's full name, date of birth and details of the application you wish to withdraw.

Timescales

The allocation process can take several weeks, depending on how many applications are received.

There is no need to contact us after completing the form - we will contact you once a decision has been made.

3. Appeal against the school’s decision to refuse a place

Parents have a statutory right to appeal against the refusal of a place at a school for which they have applied.

If you choose to appeal, you will need to complete an online appeal form, or request a paper appeal form in writing to the Admissions Authority of the relevant school below.

You may appeal for a place at more than one school but you must have applied for a place at the school and been refused a place, in the first instance.

Late applications

Late applications are applications that have been received after the closing deadline (31 October). They are dealt with in rounds and each round has a cut-off date for applications to be included in it. The processing time for applications in each round may take a number of weeks, depending on how many applications are received.

Emails will be sent to all late applicants who apply online. We will only inform parents of children on a waiting list if we are able to offer a place. If we cannot offer a place, the child’s name will remain on the waiting list to be considered in the next round.

There is no need to contact us after completing a late application form, or on the process start date - we will contact you if an offer has been made.

The rounds may take up to 4 weeks to process and send offers to parents.

Applications received after 27 June 2025 will be processed as and when received throughout July and August 2025. Any applications received after then will be processed according to our in-year policy from the end of August 2025.

Last updated 03 March 2025