Late applications 

If your child lives in Reading and you have not yet applied, click the button below to access the parent portal and look for ‘Apply for a School Place’.  

Please note, you can only use this link if you have not already submitted an on time application. If you wish to change your preferences, please email the team.

Paper copies of the late application form are available from your child’s nursery (or other early years setting) (if your child attends a setting within Reading Borough) or via the school admissions team on 0118 937 3777 or admissions@brighterfuturesforchildren.org. You may post your completed form to the school admissions team or return it to your child’s current provider (if in Reading).

Where there is good reason for a late application, it may be considered as on-time up to 1 February 2023.  Examples of a good reason might include: illness preventing a single parent/carer from returning the form, or a family moving into Reading after the closing date. Such cases must be supported with appropriate evidence. Where no evidence is provided, an application will be considered “late” and not processed until after 3 May 2023.

Applications received after 2 February 2023 will be considered as late, regardless of whether supporting evidence is provided.

Where a late application is made to change a child’s preferred schools, it will replace any previous on-time application (i.e. the new application will be marked ‘late’). Please carefully consider the use of this option before National Offer Day.

Before applying, please read our Primary School Admissions Guide. If you would like a paper copy of this document, please contact the admissions team on 0118 9373777.

Please note that some schools use a supplementary form as part of their admissions process. These should be completed in addition to your Reading application form. Please see below for more information on these schools.

The admissions team aims to acknowledge all late applications within 15 school days of receipt, however, in busy periods this may not be possible. Please contact the team if your application has not been acknowledged after 20 school days.

Children can start full-time at school from the September following their fourth birthday. However, they are not legally required to start full-time until the beginning of the term following their fifth birthday (i.e. statutory/compulsory school age).  

If you do not want your child to start school in September 2023 the following options are available: 

• Defer their place up to (but not beyond) the point at which they reach statutory/compulsory school age.  

• Request that your child be “offset” to start Reception Class in September 2024, rather than September 2023 (i.e. educated outside the year group suggested by their date of birth). 

You may also request that your child start school on a part-time basis. However, this cannot continue beyond the point at which your child reaches compulsory school age.  

In each of the above cases, you must still submit your child’s application to start school in September 2023 (as the deferral or offset will be agreed later in the process).  

Further details on deferring and offsetting may be found in the defer offset leaflet. If you are a Reading resident and wish to request an offset for your summer-born child to start in September 2024, please read the guidance document here. You must complete an application form as normal, together with the Reading Offset Request form and return it to the School Admissions Team, who will coordinate the request with your preferred schools.  

You must apply for a school place even if your child already attends the nursery of your preferred school. 

Your catchment area school (also known as designated area school) is the one for which your address has priority. You should always consider including your catchment school on your application (although doing so will not guarantee your child a place). Some addresses in Reading may have more than one catchment area school. The admissions guide above gives more details.

Our school search allows you to find your catchment area school but it does not include schools from neighbouring council areas for which you may be ‘in-catchment’. For further details, please see the admissions guide.

NB: Not all addresses have a catchment area school.

If your child has special needs, but does not have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or statement, they will be considered for a place at your preferred school in the same way as any other child.

If your child has an EHCP to support their special needs, you should apply through the SEND team and discuss their primary school transfer with your case officer as your application will be considered differently. You may wish to speak to your SEND case officer for more information.

Information on applications to other year groups not part of routine admissions can be found on our in-year admissions page.

We recommend that you visit schools prior to submitting your application. Details of school open days can be obtained from each school. 

All schools have an admission policy and, where there are more applicants than places, allocations are made according to the published oversubscription criteria of the school. These criteria are listed in the Primary Admissions Guide.

On your application form, you may list up to four preferred schools. Each of your preferences is considered equally; no priority is attached to your preference ranking. Listing a school as your first preference will not improve your chances of gaining a place at that school. Equally, listing only one preference will not increase the likelihood of your child being allocated a place at that school. We recommend that you list four schools in order to increase the probability of your being offered a preferred school.  

In some cases, we can offer a place at more than one of your preferred schools. In these situations, we refer to your preference order and offer whichever school you listed highest. This process is explained more fully in the guide (see above link). If we cannot offer any of your preferred schools, we will allocate your catchment area school (if it has places available). Where this is not possible, we will allocate a place at the closest Reading school to your home address with spaces available. 

Please note: While you have a right to list preferred schools, where there are more applicants than spaces available, places are allocated in accordance with a school’s oversubscription criteria. The local authority only has a duty to allocate preferred schools where possible. If we cannot offer a place at your preferred school(s), you will be offered a reasonable alternative school place. 

You should think carefully about the likelihood of your child being offered a place at the school(s) you list, bearing in mind oversubscription criteria and allocations in previous years (details of which are available in the admissions guide). 

Places are not reserved for students at their catchment area school. If you do not list your catchment area school and it becomes full, you will not receive a place there and may be allocated a school further from your home. The same is true for other schools: if you do not list a school and it is oversubscribed, you will not be considered.  

Information regarding home-to-school transport can be found on our school transport page.