Primary and secondary schools coordinated admissions scheme 2021

Applications will have been made to the child’s home LA and details forwarded to Buckinghamshire Council.

The LA will notify all Buckinghamshire schools and Academies of the details of the children who will be offered a place at the school before offer letters and emails are sent, in accordance with the timetable.

The LA will send out all offer letters/emails to Buckinghamshire parents on behalf of all admission authorities.

If it is possible to offer a Buckinghamshire place to a non-Buckinghamshire resident, BC will coordinate with the home LA, to determine a single offer.

Offers of school places will be published on the online portal, emailed and (where necessary) posted on 1 March or the next working day (secondary scheme) and 16 April or the next working day (primary scheme).

The offer email/letter and/or summary background information on the website will give details of:

• The name of the school or Academy offered
• Where to find further information regarding the way places were allocated at each of the other Buckinghamshire schools and Academies
• General information about any out county ranked schools
• The date by which the place must be accepted: the acceptance of offers should be notified to the LA by parents within 14 days either in writing or via the online portal response function.
• How to join the waiting list and/or appeal for a preferred school or Academy
• any timescales for responding

The same late applications process will be followed for in and out-of-county applications.

Applications will not be processed until after the offer date if they are received after:

• 31 December (secondary scheme)
• 29 January (primary scheme)

Preference changes (i.e. in the order of preferences or additional late preferences linked to moving home) will be accepted up to but not after the above dates for inclusion in the first allocation round.

Later applications will be processed in batches on a regular basis, as indicated in detail within the timeline in the ‘Guide for Parents’.

Following an admission round the names of children who have not been allocated a place at a preferred school or Academy for which they are appropriately qualified will be placed on the appropriate waiting list.

The waiting list will be ranked in accordance with the Academy or school’s admission rules.

Parents will be advised to notify us if they do not want their child to be included on the waiting list and subsequently will be expected to reaffirm their wish to leave/remain on the waiting list at regular intervals.

Waiting list positions will be released according to a timescale published on in the relevant web pages for secondary waiting lists or primary waiting lists.

Following each allocation the waiting list position of each child will only be refreshed in preparation for further allocations.

Applications made in the allocation rounds before Transition day will automatically result in any place at a lower preference being withdrawn as the place is offered.

From August, parents are expected to reaffirm their wish to remain on the waiting list, and from 17 September continuing applications would be managed within the in-year processes.

Two weeks after the beginning of term, phased entry waiting lists will be formally dissolved unless a reaffirmation is received in which case the application is included in the in-year process