Third Round offer day is 2  June 2023. If you submitted a late application by 16 April 2023 you will receive a letter by post confirming the outcome. 

National offer day is 1 March 2023.  If you made an online application, parents and carers will be able to log on to the Citizen Portal to view their child's secondary/upper school allocation.  If you completed a paper application form, you will receive a letter.

You can log on to the Citizen Portal here to see your child's school place offer

If you have submitted an application for a school place for September 2023

For parents who submitted their application to the council by 31 October 2022, emails or letters will be sent on 1 March 2023 with notification of the school place offered.  Parents who applied on the Citizen Portal can also log on to see their school place offer. You can view the allocation profile here.  This gives information about how places were allocated and schools that may have vacancies for September 2023. 

IMPORTANT:  Parents do not need to contact the council or take any action if they are satisfied with the school place.  The school you have been allocated is now responsible for sending joining instructions to parents. For parents whose applications are late, between 11 March 2023 and 16 April 2023, school place offers will be sent on 2 June 2023 by letter.

Please note, if your child has been allocated a place at Ousedale School or Walton High, you will receive a separate letter from the school informing you which campus has been allocated.  Please do not contact the council to find out about campus allocations.

If you have not yet submitted an application

APPLY ONLINE HERE - The portal is now closed

The online portal to make an application closed on 31 October 2022.  Applications can now only be made on the late application form for moving up to secondary school.  Completed applications must be returned by email to secondaryadmissions@milton-keynes.gov.uk

When choosing your four school preferences we advise you to look on the allocation profile here to see which secondary schools are oversubscribed.   

If you no longer need the school place you have been offered

If you have made other arrangements for your child’s schooling, or have a change of family circumstances such as moving away, please email secondaryadmissions@milton-keynes.gov.uk with your child’s name, date of birth, home address and details of the school your child will be attending. We are obliged to keep records of where children live and which school they attend.

If you have not been offered a higher preference school

If the school you are offered is not one of your higher preferences, this would have been due to the popularity of the schools you applied for and where your child was ranked in comparison to other applicants to these schools.  You can see the oversubscription criteria of the last child offered a school place at your preference schools on the allocation profile here.

To pursue a higher preference school

If the school you are offered is not one of your higher preferences, your child's name will automatically be added to the waiting list and you do not need to contact us . You can also request an appeal. If you do request an appeal, you are advised not to decline the place you have been offered in case an appeal or waiting list is not successful. The following information applies to Milton Keynes schools only.

Waiting lists

Waiting lists are ordered in line with the oversubscription criteria of each school and not by date received, so a child’s position on a list can move up or down. Waiting list position information will become available after 5 May 2023.  Waiting lists will be held until 31 December 2023.  After that parents should check with the individual school to see whether the waiting list will continue to be held.

Appeals

To appeal against not receiving a higher preference school please read all the information here https://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/schools-and-lifelong-learning/school-admissions/school-admissions-appeals. You need to contact the school directly to request an Appeal pack. To facilitate appeals to be arranged prior to the end of summer term appeal requests should be submitted by 31 March 2023 but you should check this with individual schools. 

If you applied for a school in Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire or Northamptonshire and have not been offered your choice

You need to contact the relevant local authority to enquire about waiting lists and appeals.

Buckinghamshire:  www.buckscc.gov.uk/contactadmissions

Northamptonshire: schoolallocations.ncc@northnorthants.gov.uk

Bedford Borough: admissions@bedford.gov.uk

Central Bedfordshire: admissions@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk

Applying after the closing date

The closing date for applications was 31 October 2022.  Applying after this date means your preferences will be considered after all the preferences received on time have been allocated, reducing the possibility that you may get one of your preferences.

The online application process is not available after 31 October 2022, you will need to complete a late application form if you are applying after this date.

If you apply late, the offer dates will be as follows:

Applications received between	Offer day
1 November 2022 to 10 March 2023	5 May 2023
11 March 2023 to 16 April 2023	2 June 2023
17 April 2023 to 26 May 2023	7 July 2023
27 May 2023 to 16 June 2023	19 July 2023
Applications received thereafter will receive an outcome in August 2023

Before applying

It is VERY important that you read the guide for parents and carers which gives you all the information you need about the application and allocation process.

Research the schools that you are interested in applying to:

• Visit schools you are interested in, most have open days you can go to.  Check each school’s website for details.  
• Find your catchment area school.  There is no guarantee that your child will be offered a place at your local school.  This will depend on how many applications are received for the places available
• Understand the admission criteria for your preferred schools (read section D of the guide for parents and carers or visit the schools website for details).  This information should give you an indication of how likely your child is to be offered a place, especially for those schools that are oversubscribed
• Read the schools Ofsted reports, or visit school websites for information
• Check the school league tables

Choosing school preferences

Once you have done your research you are ready to decide your preferred schools.  There is no right to a particular school place.  You can state four preferences for schools on your application. 

The school preferences you make are treated equally.  This means that no matter where you place a school in your list of preferences, it will be treated the same way as all other applicants who also chose that school, regardless of where they have placed the school in their list. 

The reason it is so important to list the schools in the order of preference is that if a place can be offered at more than one of your preferences, you will be offered the highest preference from the list you provided. 

Naming other schools will not affect your chance of being offered a place at a higher preference school.  If there are no places available at any of your preferences, a school place will be offered at the nearest school to your home address with a place still available.

Applying for a school place

Applications are made online via the Citizen Portal and need to be completed by midnight on 31 October 2022.  Important things to remember when applying:

• Your are advised to use all four preferences.  Listing a school more than once or only listing one school will not increase your chances of receiving an offer
• Ensure all information has been completed correctly and no information missed.  Any mistakes could affect your application
• You are advised to choose your catchment school as one of your preferences, should higher preferences not be available
• Ensure your school preferences include a school(s) that your child is most likely to meet the admission criteria
• If you apply after the closing date you are far less likely to get a place at one of your preferred schools
• If you are moving house during the application process, refer to the Applying for a school place whilst moving home section of the parents guide
• If your preference is to attend a school outside of Milton Keynes, you are still required to apply via Milton Keynes Council
• If you are unable to apply online, contact the Education Access team at secondaryadmissions@milton-keynes.gov.uk for a paper application form

 

Information relating to attending schools

Home to school transport

Parents and carers are responsible for ensuring their children attend school regularly and for arranging their safe arrival at school and journey home at the end of the day.  See if your child is eligible for assistance in getting to and from school and how to apply.

Free school meals

Parents and carers who receive certain benefits may be eligible for either pupil premium funding or free school meals.  Enquiries about free school meals should be made direct to individual schools.

Children with Special Educational Needs (SEN)

If you have any queries about your child’s special needs or wish to request a leaflet explaining the transfer process, please contact the SEN casework team.