Guide to moving up to secondary school

Often, there will be more applicants for a school than there are places available. Where this is the case, we use admission rules (oversubscription criteria) to work out which children should be offered places.

Each school’s admission rules are set out in their admissions policy, and you can download a copy from each school’s website.

Common admission rules may include (but are not limited to): children with a sibling attending the school; children living in the school’s catchment area; children with exceptional medical or social needs; children living closest to the school.

Read the admission rules carefully for each of the schools you would like to include in your application (including any schools outside of Buckinghamshire), so you know how your child’s application will be treated.

We use the information you provide in your child’s application (and Supplementary Information Form if applicable) to work out which admission rule is correct for your child.

When allocating school places, we put all children applying for a particular school in an ordered list, with those children who best meet the admission rules in highest priority. We then use this list to work out which children should receive an offer.

Some schools ask families to complete a Supplementary Information Form (SIF) in addition to submitting an application to collect specific information that is relevant to that school’s admission rules. The extra information you give in the SIF will help to determine which admission rule is right for your child’s application.

The School Directory will tell you if any of your preferred schools have a SIF. If your preferred school has a SIF, make sure you complete it and return it directly to the school by 31 October.

Some grammar schools give higher priority to qualified children in receipt of Pupil Premium. Additionally, some grammar schools have a limited number of places available for unqualified children in receipt of Pupil Premium, if they achieve a certain score in the Secondary Transfer Test (slightly lower than the usual qualification score of 121). Your child may need to live in the school’s catchment area to be eligible under this rule.

You should check your preferred grammar school’s admissions policy to see if this rule (criterion) is included. If it is, and you think your child is eligible, you should provide evidence of your child's eligibility directly to your preferred grammar school by 31 October.

You must provide evidence for your child to be considered under this rule.

Some schools have an exceptional medical or social needs priority rule that applications can be considered under. If you need to apply under this rule, you will need to submit independent evidence for exceptional medical or social needs rule.

Information about how places have been allocated at Buckinghamshire secondary schools in previous years can be found on our policy pages as well as by using our ‘Find my child a school place’ service.