Apply for a primary school place

Before you apply, research the schools in your area. You could contact schools, read the school's most recent Ofsted reports or check school league tables.

You can express three preferences. You are strongly encouraged to use all three as these are considered equally at the outset. The Local Authority or the governing body will allocate a place.

Where more than one offer is possible, only then will the priority order on your application be considered as a tie-break. Where a place at none of your preferred preferences is available, an alternative offer will be made.

Most Lancashire applicants will receive an offer for one of their three preferences. All applicants resident in Lancashire will receive a single offer issued by the Local Authority.

For more information, please see how we allocate school places.

Think carefully about your preferences, if you need advice, contact your local area education office.

It is always best to include a school near to where you live as one of your preferred options. Demand for school places is high, in some areas greater than others, and this helps towards you being offered a local school.

Your nearest school for admission purposes is measured by a straight line. But, for help with travel costs, the nearest school is measured by walking distance. If travel cost is an important factor in your school preference or you are in any doubt over the distance between your home and a school please check with the area education office.

Chances of getting into your preferred school

The best way to assess the chances of your child getting into the school you want is to study that school's oversubscription criteria.

Before applying on-line or filling in an application form, please make sure that you have read and understood the oversubscription criteria for the schools you are listing. You need to think carefully about whether your child is likely to meet these criteria.

One of the most important criteria for many schools is the distance you live from the school. The distances from which schools allocate places change from year to year, depending on demand. You may need to check with the school whether they have been able to admit children from your address in recent years. When deciding your preferences, be realistic about how likely you are to be offered a place there.

Some third party websites offer parents an indication of their chances of securing a school place. Lancashire County Council does not validate the information on these websites and so parents should exercise caution when making decisions based on the data that they provide.

Having considered all these matters, rank the schools you want in order of preference.

Remember that other people will choose the same schools as you. If their children meet the criteria of a particular school better than yours, they will be offered a place ahead of your child.

Admissions criteria are the rules for who is given priority for places in each school. They are applied when a school is oversubscribed (has more requests than there are places available).

School places are not allocated on a first come, first served basis.

You can view a summary of the admission policy for each school which includes oversubscription criteria.

You can view the full admissions criteria for community and voluntary controlled primary schools on our website.

For each voluntary aided, foundation, free school and academy the full policy is described on the school's website.

How admission arrangements differ

There are several types of publicly funded schools and academies. They have different admission arrangements. 

Most schools cater for the age range 4-11 but some just for infants (4-7) or juniors (8-11). 

Also, there are the following categories of school:

• Community and voluntary controlled Schools - for these schools Lancashire County Council as the admission authority, sets the admissions policy and allocates places. 

• Voluntary aided and foundation schools - these are Lancashire maintained schools where it is the Governors who are the admission authority. The Governors set the admission policy and decide which children to admit.

• Academies and free schools - these are independent state schools not maintained by the local authority. It is the governing body who are the admissions authority, set the admissions policy and decide which children to admit.  Admissions are, however, co-ordinated by the County Council.  Free schools may be exempt from co-ordination in the first year that they open.

Admission number

The published admission number (PAN), is how many children can be admitted each year. This is published together with a summary of the admission policy for each school.

Multiple birth

Where a single place remains and the application being considered is for twins (etc), the Admission Authority will exercise flexibility wherever possible. If places for both (all) children cannot be offered, the family will be advised accordingly. Where only a single place can be allocated a random draw will decide which child receives the offer.

Infant class sizes

An infant class should have no more than 30 pupils per single qualified teacher for all ordinary teaching sessions.

This applies to Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 classes. 

There are some, very limited, exceptions for in-year admissions, but the class size limit applies to all community, voluntary controlled, voluntary aided and foundation primary schools, academies and free schools.

Supplementary information forms (SIF)

Some church schools and academies may require you to complete a supplementary information form (SIF). Arrangements relating to the SIF will vary. Contact schools and academies directly if you need further information about their form.

Failure to complete a SIF may disadvantage your child and they may be ranked under an incorrect category.

Medical, social and welfare

Please note that not all schools have a medical, social and welfare criterion within their admission policy. This can only be applied where it is part of the determined policy for a particular school or academy.