Applying for Transfer places

Applications open: 1 September 2024

Applications close: 31 October 2024

National Offer Day: 3 March 2025

Read:

1. Important information about Transfer 2025
2. Legal information - School Admissions

Important - Changes to waiting list process:

If a parent wishes for their child to be placed on a waiting list, they must request this in writing to the local authority’s School Admissions Team. Your child will not automatically be added onto a schools waiting list. If a parent has requested their child is added to a waiting list, that child will be kept on the waiting list, as long as it is a higher preference to the school which they were offered. For example, where a parent has been allocated a place at their second preference school, they may request to be placed on the waiting list of their first preference school but not their third.

Making the right choice

Find and compare schools

Use this search tool to find schools. This search tool allows you to :

• search for schools by postcode
• check school Ofsted ratings
• filter schools by religion

Find and compare schools

Visit the school

Visiting a school helps you decide whether it's right for your child. You'll be able to speak to teacher and ask questions.

Schools may have open days or you contact them to arrange a time to view the school.

Are you likely to be offered a place?

Each school has their own set of rules that they use to decide which children to offer a place to. This is called the oversubscription criteria and can be found in the school's admissions policy.

You can see how places were offered in previous years in the below link: 

• How reception and transfer places were allocated

All applications are ranked using these rules. School preference order is only used if we can offer a place in more than one school, at which point we will offer the school which is your highest preference.

Oversubscription criteria example

• Read the oversubscription criteria for each school.
• Check which category your child comes under (see individual school's website)

Example

Ahmed applied to North East Secondary as their first preference. Ahmed's child is not offered a place there, even though they live close to the school.

There were more applications than places so the school used their oversubscription criteria to decide who to give places to. One hundred places were available:

• one place went to a child who had been adopted (category 1)
• sixty places went to children who attended a feeder school (category 2)
• twenty places went to children with a brother or sister at the school (category 3) 
• one place went to a child with an exceptional medical need meaning they could only go to that school (category 4)
• the remaining eighteen places went to children who lived closer to the school than Ahmed and his child (category 5)

Instead, Ahmed was offer a place at their second preference of North Academy which also had one hundred places available:

• seventy places went to children who attended a feeder school (category 2)
• ten places went to children who had a brother or sister at the school (category 3)
• twenty places when to children who lived near the school, including Ahmed's child (category 4)

Apply here:

First to Middle applications 

Starting: Year 5 in September 2025

Date of birth: 01 September 2015 - 31 August 2016

• Put the schools in the order you want them. Preference 1 is the school you want most
• Newcastle has 4 middle schools, we advise that you apply for all 4 of them
• You can't apply for primary schools in this process

Apply here for a middle school place

Primary to Secondary applications

Starting: Year 7 in September 2025

Date of birth: 01 September 2013 - 31 August 2014

• Use all 4 preferences
• Put the schools in the order you want them. Preference 1 is the school you want most
• You can't apply for middle schools in this process

Apply here for a secondary school place

Middle to High applications

Starting: Year 9 in September 2025

Date of birth: 01 September 2011 - 31 August 2012

• Put the schools in the order you want them. Preference 1 is the school you want most
• Newcastle has two schools which have intakes into Year 9. Great Park Academy and Gosforth Academy. We advice that you apply for both schools
• You can't apply for secondary schools in this process

Apply here for a high school place