Apply for an infant, primary or junior school place
School preference
Parents have a legal right to express a preference for which school they want their child to attend.
This is not the same as being able to choose, but means that if a parent expresses a preference for a particular school, and there are places available, then a place should be offered at that school.
However, in law there is no automatic right to place a child in any particular school, and it may not be possible to offer a place at a preferred school.
Applying for your child's school place
You should only apply to us if you pay your Council Tax to:
- High Peak Borough Council
- Derbyshire Dales District
- Chesterfield Borough Council
- North East Derbyshire District Council
- Bolsover District Council
- Amber Valley Borough Council
- Erewash Borough Council
- South Derbyshire District Council
Do not apply to us if you pay your Council Tax to Derby City Council, or any other council not listed. We do not forward applications made to us in error to your home authority.
If you don't live in Derbyshire you can find your local council.
Children with education health and care plans (EHCP)
If your child has an education health and care plan (EHCP) your child's school place will be arranged by the local authority's SEND assessment service (SENDAS).
If you have any queries please speak to your special educational needs co-ordinator at school, or view school admissions for children with special educational needs.
Non-Derbyshire residents should contact their home council.
Parental agreement
We expect parents to consult with each other and agree on the school or schools for which they wish to express a preference. We do not investigate whether applications have been agreed, or resolve disagreements between parents.
Where the child spends time at 2 different addresses with their parents and each parent makes an application, we'll process the preferences of the parent who cares for the child for the greater part of the school week (where the child normally sleeps between Monday evening and Friday morning).
Where we are unable to determine the home address and where there is no parental agreement or court order, we will be unable to process the application further until the matter has been resolved.
We encourage parents to resolve any disagreements quickly as delay may affect the availability of places at preferred schools.
Once we have offered a school place, any disagreement on the child's school placement is for the parents to resolve between themselves.
Normal area / local area school
We advise you to include your child's normal area school / local area school as one of your preferences, but it does not have to be your first choice.
If you do not include the normal area school as one of your preferences, then a place may not be available there if your other requests cannot be agreed.
You can find your:
Supplementary information forms
Some Derbyshire schools have supplementary information forms which you can use to support your application.
Home to school transport
Consider how your child will travel to school.
If none of your preferences can be agreed, you'll be offered a place at the nearest Derbyshire school with places available. This could involve you paying transport costs to a distant school.
View our school transport policy.
Apply for a primary or infant school place
If your child was born between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021 your child will be eligible to start school in September 2025.
Our parents guide to primary admissions will help you to choose a school and make an application.
You can apply online from 11 November 2024 until 11.59pm on Wednesday 15 January 2025.
Apply for a junior school place
If your child was born between 1 September 2017 and 31 August 2018 and is in their final year at infant school they will transfer to junior school in September 2025.
If your child attends a school outside of Derbyshire which operates a different pattern of education and they are due to transfer primary school phase in September 2025 this information also applies to you.
You can apply online from 11 November 2024 until 11.59pm on Wednesday 15 January 2025.
Making changes to your application
You can make changes to your application until it's downloaded by us. The application status you can see will change from 'submitted to LA' to 'LA has received the application' once this is completed.
Once your application has been downloaded, you can still make further changes to your application. Changes made after the closing date of 15 January 2025 will be classed as late.
Getting your offer
We will let you know which school your child is being offered a place at on 16 April 2025 by email.
Appeals
If you cannot get a place for your child in your preferred school you can make a school admission appeal.
Changing school at other times
You may want to apply for a school place for your child at other times, for example if you have recently moved.
Find out everything you need to know about changing schools and how to make an application.