How the admission process works

The admission authority for each type of school

The type of school you apply for affects the way decisions are made. For all types of school, you must apply to the Cumberland Council’s School Admissions and Appeals Team for a place.

We are not responsible for allocation decisions made by voluntary aided, foundation or free schools or academies.  

Community and voluntary controlled schools 

Cumberland council is the admission authority – it decides the admissions policy and makes decisions about the allocation of places.

Read the admission policies for:

• Community and voluntary controlled schools
• Community and voluntary controlled schools (year 12)

Voluntary aided and foundation school

Each school’s governing body is responsible for the admissions policy and decisions about the allocation of places. Please check the admission policy for the relevant school.

Academies and free schools

The academy trust is responsible for the admissions policy and decisions about the allocation of places. Please check the admission policy for the relevant school.

How school places are allocated

The School Admissions and Appeals Team collates all applications for school places from parents and carers of children living within the local authority area of Cumberland. 

We then start a process of liaising with foundation and voluntary aided schools, academies and free schools, and with neighbouring local authorities where necessary (for example if a family lives close to the county boundary and wants their child to attend a school in the neighbouring county). This process is called coordination. 

Each admission authority (in the case of community and voluntary controlled schools this is Cumberland council) then looks at all applications for their school, regardless of whether they have been named as a first, second or third preference. This is because all preferences must be treated equally.  This is known as the equal preference scheme and means that each of your preferences is treated as a separate application.

Each school has a Published Admission Number (PAN) which is the number of places that a school has available to offer. The allocation process is straightforward when a school is not oversubscribed – you are likely to get a place at your first preference school. Unfortunately, schools are sometimes oversubscribed, and, in this case, admissions authorities need to work out who has the highest priority for the places in a fair and consistent way. They do this by using the oversubscription criteria contained in their admissions policy to rank all the applicants in order of priority. 

If it is possible to offer a place at more than one of your preferred schools, we will offer a place at whichever of those schools that you ranked the highest. 

If it is not possible to offer you a place at any of your preferred schools, you will be offered a place at the next nearest school with a place available, including faith-based schools. We will decide which is the nearest by measuring the shortest walking route by road using the Local Authority GIS mapping system.

Understand more about choosing your preferences before you apply for a school

Reading your preferred school admission policies

You should check the admissions policy for the schools you are considering to see what level of priority you would have. 

If a school has been consistently oversubscribed in the past and you would have a low priority under the oversubscription criteria, you should think seriously about whether you want to apply for this school. 

You should think carefully about naming popular schools for all three preferences, particularly if you have a low priority under the admissions policy. Other applicants that rank more highly using the school’s admissions policy may be allocated all the available places. 

Find your preferred schools admission policy in the schools directory

If your child is on a waiting list

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee a place will ever become available from a waiting list. By adding your child's name to a waiting list, you are waiting for other children who were originally offered a place at that school to give up their place. If a place does become available, it will be offered to the child who is at the top of the waiting list at that time.

Waiting lists are not held on a first come, first served basis, and are ranked in the order of the school admissions oversubscription criteria for that particular school.

If you’re not happy with the school you’ve been offered

Usually, your child will be offered a place at one of your preferred schools. If you have put three preferences.

If you are not offered a place in your preferred school or if you are unhappy with the school place allocated for whatever reason, you have the right of appeal to an independent admission appeal panel.

How to appeal a school place offer

If a place becomes available

If you have not been offered a place at one of your preferred schools on National Day because the school was oversubscribed, your child will be considered for any places which become available. 

We will reallocate any available places after the reallocation deadline. 

All outstanding applications will be considered, including any late applications, using the school’s oversubscription criteria to prioritise. 

A decision will be sent to you within four weeks of the reallocation deadline, please do no contact school admissions until after this time period.