Apply for a secondary school place

It is important to plan and prepare before you start your application. Read our top tips to help you decide which schools to apply for.

Are your preferences realistic?

• Consider how likely it is that your child will be offered a place at your preferred schools.
• Read the admissions criteria for each school and look to see which criteria apply to your child.
• Visit the website of the school you are interested in to see their admissions criteria.

Do you live close enough to get a place?

• Find out your home to school distance.
• Compare with cut-off distances from last year.
• Does your child attend a feeder school (listed in the school's admission arrangements?)
• Find the distance to your preferred schools using the Direct Gov schools finder
• How places were allocated

Remember that although this information can be used to give you an idea of how likely it is that you will be offered a place, the ‘last distance’ will change
every year. We can never guarantee any child will be offered a place at any school.

Types of schools

Visit the Gov.uk website for an explanation of the types of schools.

Visit schools

Each school holds an open day for parents of children in Year 6. Please check the list of open evening dates. You can also contact the school at other times to see if they can offer a tour or information about the school.

Read Ofsted reports

Brent has many ‘Good’ and Outstanding schools. You can view reports on the Ofsted website.

How will your child travel to school?

Secondary aged children can access free transport for TfL buses and trams. A journey time of up to 75 minutes is considered reasonable, however a longer journey to school on public transport may not be the best choice for a child.

Talk to your child and other parents

Remember that the right school for your friend’s child may not be the right school for your child. Don’t judge a school based on what others say – visit the school and see for yourself.

What are admissions criteria?

All schools must determine a set of rules - known as oversubscription or admissions criteria - which are used to determine the applications that will have priority for the available places. Oversubscription criteria are only used if a school has more applications than places available. If a school is undersubscribed then all children must be offered a place where the school is their highest available preference.

You should read the admission criteria for your preferred schools to understand the criterion under which your application may be considered.

It can be useful to look at statistics (like the furthest distance from school that a place was last offered) to determine how likely your application is to be successful.

• See information about offers in 2022

Brent Council is the Admission Authority for its Community Primary Schools, and is responsible for formally agreeing the admissions criteria for these schools. We also publish a 'Scheme of Co-ordination' which explains how the council will co-ordinate all applications received for children applying to start primary or secondary school at the beginning of September. Admission arrangements and oversubscription criteria for voluntary aided (faith), foundation schools and academies are also available on this page.

You can see the admissions criteria for every state school in Brent by visiting the school's website or on our admissions criteria page.

If you do not live in Brent and you want a place in a Brent school, you will need to apply to the council that you live in. 

• September / October - Visit schools during their open day or evening events
• 1 September 2022 - Applications open
• 31 October 2022 - Applications deadline
• 1 March 2023 - National offer day
• 15 March 2023 - Response deadline

Second round of offers

• 15 March 2023 -  Deadline for applications and changes
• Week ending 24 March 2023 - Second round of offers are made
• 31 March 2023 - Second round response deadline

Third round of offers

• 28 April 2023 - Deadline for applications and changes 
• Week ending 19 May 2023 - Third round offers
• 26 May 2023 - Third round response deadline

• September 2023 - Children start school

Apply for children born between 1 September 2011 and 31 August 2012 who will start secondary school in September 2023.

The deadline to submit your on-time application is Monday 31 October 2022.

Applications received after this date will be considered as 'late' and will not be considered until the second round of offers.

Important information about how to apply

Your address

• Use your child’s permanent home address on 31 October 2022
• Do not use the address of a relative or someone who provides temporary care for your child, a business address, a childminders address or any address other than the child’s permanent home address
• We will check internal databases to confirm your address and will write to you if you need to submit further evidence of your address
• If you submit a late application, use your child's permanent home address at the time you submit the application.

Your preferred schools

• List up to 6 preferences. List the school you want the most as your first preference
• Include your local schools amongst your preferences
• You can include schools outside Brent
• Listing only one or two schools does not increase your chances of being offered a place.

Additional information and evidence

• Attach additional information to your application online or post it to School Admissions, Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley, HA9 0FJ.
• A supplementary information form (SIF) is required for some schools. The online application form will advise you if a SIF is required. You should send SIFs direct to the school
• Evidence is required for looked after and previously looked after children. The social worker involved must provide a letter confirming that the child is in care. If the child was adopted immediately after being in care please provide a copy of the child arrangements order, special guardianship order or proof of adoption from your child’s home authority. If the child was adopted from state care abroad, please provide any relevant paperwork.

There are two further rounds of offers after National Offer Day.

We strongly encourage you to make your application on time. Applications received after 23:59 on 31 October 2022 will be processed as a late application and you will not find out what school you have been offered until the second or third round of offers.

You may be less likely to receive an offer at one of your preference schools if all places have already been offered, however we will still make an offer of a place at the highest available preference school

Late applications will be considered alongside the existing applications of on-time applications who did not receive an offer at their highest preferences schools and who have remained on the waiting list.