We are delighted that you are considering Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School for your child. Whether your child is starting primary school for the first time in September, or moving from another school in-year, this page will tell you all you need to know about the admissions process.

We are an academy school and the admission authority is St Gregory the Great Catholic Academy Trust.

The school’s admission authority sets the admission policy every year. You can read our school’s admission polices below:

• In-year applications to start at our school between September 2024 and July 2025 – read our 2024-25 policy
• Applications for reception places in September 2025 – read our 2025-26 policy
• Applications for reception places in September 2026 – read our 2026-27 policy

 

How to apply for a September 2025 reception place

If you are applying for a reception place for September 2025, all applications are made in advance. The national closing date is 15 January 2025. Offers are made by the Local Authority on national offer day (16 April 2025). Our Published Admission Number (PAN) is 30 and this is the number of places the school can admit in reception in 2025.

You must apply to the local authority (LA) who empties your bins. If this is Leeds, go to www.leeds.gov.uk/apply. The LA website is a composite prospectus for all Leeds schools and includes information about:

• all the steps you need to go through to make an application
• the key dates
• a search tool to see if your home address gives any higher priority for admission to any school(s)
• an explanation about how places are offered if there are more applications than spaces (oversubscribed)
• the online application portal - apply online to be sent your offer day letter by email
• a summary of each school’s individual admission policy criteria
• data about who got a place in the last 3 years - this will help you work out if there is a reasonable chance of your child qualifying for a place

information about applying under a specific admission criteria (such as your child being previously looked after). It is important to ensure you submit all supporting evidence by the deadline to show you meet any such criteria.

If you are applying for admission under our faith criteria, you will need to send to our school (not the local authority) a competed supplementary information form (SIF). We need to receive this by 28 February 2025. You also need to make an application to the local authority asking for a place at our school. You do this online at the above link. If you do not send the application to the local authority, you will not have made a valid application for a place at our school.

You can also watch the Leeds City Council school admissions video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRU1SrS7iJE for more information.

You can also see information about our school, including previous admission data, on our school page on the Leeds City Council’s website at https://www.leeds.gov.uk/schools-and-education/school-admissions/check-school-details/display-details?schoolid=240.

Application timetable

The below timetable applies to applications made to Leeds City Council. If you apply to another local authority, they may have different dates.

	Children born between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021 are due to start reception in September 2025
1 November 2024	Applications open. You can apply online at www.leeds.gov.uk/apply
15 January 2025	National deadline for applying for Reception 2025 places
16 April 2025	National offer day
30 April 2025	Deadline for: accepting your offer for a place at our school making any changes to your application before Leeds City Council carries out the first reallocation of places
20 May 2025	All reception appeals received by this date will be heard before the summer holiday start. Leeds City Council arranges our appeals
May to end of August 2025	Any available places automatically allocated from waiting lists by the local authority. Lower preference school offers are also withdrawn automatically (even if accepted)
June to July 2025	Appeals heard by independent appeal panels
September 2025	Start primary school

 

In-year applications

If you are moving into Leeds or want to change schools in Leeds, you need to make a school transfer – often called an in-year application. This includes:

• applications for a place in reception after the start of term in September
• applications for a place in all other year groups (years 1 to 6)

Moving schools can be a difficult experience for a child. You should always speak to your child's current school before trying to move to see what support they can offer you.

How to apply for an in-year place

We are part of the Leeds coordinated in-year application scheme.

You can apply for a place online using the Leeds in-year application form at https://www.leeds.gov.uk/schools-and-education/school-admissions/before-you-move-schools. You can apply for places at our school and other Leeds schools.

If you have moved house, you’ll need to submit evidence of the house move at the same time you make your online application. You can find out what you need to provide on the above website.

We have to offer places by applying our admission policy criteria to your child’s application. Leeds City Council will contact you with our decision no later than 15 school days from when you apply. If they cannot offer your child a place at our school, they will:

• add your child to our waiting list in case a place becomes available during the school year
• send you a letter to explain the reasons we cannot offer a place (usually that we are full) and tell you how you can appeal

Our waiting lists are kept until the end of each school year. You will need to make a new application if you want to be on the waiting list for the following school year

Appeals

If we cannot offer you a place, you will have the right of appeal. The appeal panel is independent of the school and council and their decision is legally binding. Before you appeal you:

• should accept any place that you have been offered in case your appeal is not successful
• should think about why you are appealing and check if it is likely to be successful
• could read the advice for appealing school places on GOV.UK
• could get independent advice on making an appeal from a charity

Leeds City Council arranges our appeals, and you can find the appeal form at https://www.leeds.gov.uk/Pages/Making-a-school-admission-appeal.aspx 

If you are appealing for a reception place for September 2025, you need to submit your appeal form by any deadline set out on the above page to ensure the appeal will be heard before the summer holidays.

  
Appeals for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2

These classes are limited to 30 pupils per teacher by law. This means that appeals for these places are less likely to be successful.

If our school refuses your child a place because of this limit and you want to appeal, you will need to make an infant class size appeal.  You can see if your reasons are likely to be successful by reading the Department for Education's information about infant class size appeals.

   
Other appeals

You can appeal because you want your child to attend a particular school. These are successful if the panel agree that the reasons for your appeal outweigh the school's decision not to admit any more children.

Wanting your child to go to a school because you think it is the best one in the area is not likely to convince the panel that your child should get a place there.