School admissions guidance for Ukrainian refugee sponsors and parents

This guide is for the sponsors or parents of Ukrainian children applying to start school during the academic year (in-year transfer).

To find out the most appropriate national curriculum year group for a child you can enter their date of birth into our schools checker.

Schools will place children in a year group where their abilities fit best. Schools are best placed to make this decision and may decide a younger year group is more appropriate.

You can view a list of current school vacancies online.

As the child's sponsor or parent you should include sensible local school preferences in your application.

You can include any local schools, even if they're not included in the school vacancies list. We will still discuss the application with the school(s) concerned.

To apply for a school place you can either:

• use the online form for standard in-year admissions, but make it clear that the child's previous address was in Ukraine
• download an application form translated into Ukrainian

To get started see Apply to change school during the academic year (in-year transfer)

You must provide:

• a copy of the parent and child's entry visa
• a copy of the parent and child's Ukraine passport
• confirmation of the host family's address - we will verify this with the Home Office scheme

A simple statement will be enough to confirm the address, for example:

If the child has special needs you should mention this in your application and tell us if they had a Ukrainian equivalent of an education and health care plan (EHCP).

We will make sure our Special Educational Needs team supports any children who need specialist placements.

We always aim to provide school places quickly.

However there is no pressure for the child to start on the first date we suggest. You can agree an appropriate start date with the school if the parent and their child need some time to settle in.

If our Admissions team is working on high numbers of applications there could be a short delay before they confirm your offer in writing. But this should not stop you agreeing a start date with the school.

If the child needs home to school transport then we will consider this as part of your school application.

We will consider:

• existing transport legislation
• our current school to home transport policies

We expect that most Ukrainian children will be entitled to free schools meals when they arrive in the UK.

This is based on the government's recent suggestion that Ukrainian parents will be entitled to benefits.

Ask at the school and they will try to assist you.

If you need further information you can contact our Admissions and Transport team online.

A welcome pack for refugees from Ukraine will also be made available by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The welcome pack will include advice on obtaining a school place.

The advice in the Afghan welcome pack (annex B) is also relevant to refugees from Ukraine applying for schools.