Admissions
Applying for a Reception place for September 2023:
The closing date has passed and the offers will be sent to families on 16th April 2023, for those who have applied. If you have not yet applied please apply through Waltham Forest Admissions.
https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/schools-education-and-learning/apply-primary-school
Applying for a Reception place for September 2024
If your child was born between 1 September 2019 and 31 August 2020 they are due to start in reception class at a primary school in September 2024.
You must apply for a reception class place for your child even if they attend a school nursery or have an older brother or sister at your preferred school. If your child currently attends a nursery attached to a school this does not give them any priority for a place in reception class at that school.
If you and your child live in Waltham Forest, you must apply through us. If you and your child live outside Waltham Forest, you must apply to the local authority in which you live, even if you are applying for schools in other areas.
How to apply
The brochure Starting Primary School 2024 (3MB PDF) contains all the information you need to know about applying for a reception class place. Please check the latest admissions information below for updates to this brochure.
https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/schools-education-and-learning/apply-primary-school
The best way to apply is online, through the eAdmissions website. This is a secure way to apply for your child’s school place.
The eAdmissions website opens on 1 September 2023. The closing date is 15 January 2024. If you apply after this date, your application will be considered as late.
You can download a guide explaining how to apply for your child's school place online (140KB PDF).
There are FAQs and guidance sheets to help you complete your online application on the eAdmissions website. If you are having a technical problem completing your application please email support@eadmissions.org.uk.
If you are unable to apply online you can download the primary common application form (70KB PDF). Instructions for how to submit your paper application are on the back of the application form.
Fraudulent applications
The London Borough of Waltham Forest takes very seriously any attempt to gain an advantage in the admissions process by giving false information.
It is really important that the admissions system is fair for everybody. Nobody should be allowed to cheat by using a friend or relative’s address, a business address or by temporarily renting a property near to a popular school. Each year a number of parents try to get a school place by providing false information, which could result in them taking a place that should have gone to another child.
The Local Authority will investigate all instances where a parent is thought to have provided false or misleading information in order to gain admission to a school. Your address will be checked by reference to various records and, if necessary, by a council officer visiting the application address.
A false application may, in addition to possible prosecution, lead to the withdrawal of your child’s place in the school applied for, even if the child has already started school.
For details on how we use your information for fraud prevention, including sharing with fraud prevention agencies, please see our updated Anti-Fraud Fair Processing Notice.
If you suspect someone has provided false information on a school application form please report fraud online. Alternatively, you can call the fraud hotline anonymously, 24 hours a day on 0300 003 1099 or you can email us at fraud@walthamforest.gov.uk.
Parental responsibility
If one parent has parental responsibility (as evidenced by documentation) that parents’ application is the one that will be accepted. If parents are separated and both have parental responsibility, then they must determine between them who will make the application and if they cannot agree then either parent may seek to have that determined by a Court. In the event of a dispute between parents who do not have this matter resolved by the Court we will accept the application by the parent with whom the child resides the majority of the school week and where that is equal we will determine whose application is progressed with reference to the parent who is in receipt of Child Benefit, and if no one is in receipt of child benefit then we will consider all of the circumstances and make a determination as to the application which will be accepted and provide our reasons for doing so. This will ensure the child has an active application for a school place.
We have to make a decision of where the child’s home address is because the allocation of school places under the Admissions Policy, where the criteria of distance is used, is determined by reference to the child’s ‘home address’. Where a child lives with each of their separated parents for different parts of the week, we will treat the child’s home address on any application to be where the child sleeps for most of the school week. Where this is an equal time this will be determined by reference to the parents’ address who receives the Child Benefit. In cases where the recipient of child benefit is clearly not a main carer of the child, or no one receives Child Benefit, we will consider all of the circumstances and make a determination as to the ‘home’ address which will be used and provide our reasons for doing so.
National Offer Day
National Offer Day is 16 April 2024. This is the day you will receive the results of your reception application, if you apply by the closing date of 15 January 2024.
If you apply online by the closing date, an email with the outcome of your application will be sent to you in the evening on 16 April 2024. For paper applications received by the closing date, a letter will be posted to you first class on 16 April 2024.