School admission rules
Admission policies and arrangements for admission to primary and secondary schools
If a school does not have enough places for everyone who applies, the admission rules for that school will be used to decide who will get a place.
When school places are allocated by us, only one school place will be offered, even if your child meets the admission rules for more than one school. This avoids some children receiving no offer of a school place while others receive several.
Every school has a set of rules, known as the 'admissions arrangements' or ' oversubscription' criteria. Schools that are oversubscribed will follow these rules when allocating places. Admissions criteria are set by the school's admission authority. Oxfordshire County Council set the rules for community and voluntary controlled schools while governing bodies or academy trusts determine rules for other types of school.
The School Admissions Code came into force in September 2021.
The School Admissions Appeals Code came into force on 1 February 2012.
School admission rules 2025-26
- Determined coordinated admissions scheme 2025-26 (pdf format, 319KB)
- Determined admission arrangements oversubscription criteria 2025-26 (pdf format, 405KB)
- Determined admission numbers for 2025-26 (pdf format, 165KB)
- Determined in-year admissions scheme 2025-26 (pdf format, 255KB)
- Determined changes to catchment areas of Community and Voluntary Controlled primary schools 2025-26 (pdf format, 216KB)
School admission rules 2024-25
- Determined coordinated admissions scheme 2024-25 (pdf format, 311KB)
- Addendum to determined coordinated admissions scheme 2024-25 (pdf format, 146 KB)
- Determined admission arrangements oversubscription criteria 2024-25 (pdf format, 395KB)
- Addendum to Determined admission arrangements oversubscription criteria 2024-25 (pdf format, 221 KB)
- Determined admission numbers for 2024-25 (pdf format, 178KB)
- Determined in-year admissions scheme 2024-25 (pdf format, 240KB)
- Determined fair access protocol 2024-25 (pdf format, 274KB)
School admission rules 2023-24
- Transport Policy Statement for Post 16 students - 2023/24 (pdf format, 205Kb)
- Determined schedule of coordination 2023-24 (pdf format, 418Kb)
- Addendum to Determined schedule of coordination 2023-24 (pdf format, 146 KB)
- Determined admission arrangements and oversubscription criteria 2023-24 (pdf format, 386 KB)
- Addendum to Determined admission arrangements and oversubscription criteria 2023-24 (pdf format, 219 KB)
- Determined admission numbers 2023-24 (pdf format, 179Kb)
- Determined fair access protocol 2023-24 (pdf format, 208Kb)
- Determined extension to St Swithun's Primary School's designated area (pdf format, 1.7Mb)
- OCC Determined in-year admissions scheme 2023-24 (pdf format, 350 KB)