Starting Primary School

Starting primary school September 2025

National Offer Day for Primary School places

Parents who applied for a secondary school place by the closing date of 15 January 2025 will receive the outcome of their application on Wednesday 16 April which is the National Offer Day.

Parents who applied via the Capita Citizen Portal on our website should receive an email on the national offer day. Emails will automatically be released after 9am on Wednesday 16 April, we know applicants will be waiting for an outcome but please be patient as these may not all arrive immediately after this time. Please also check spam folders as well as your main in-box. Emails will only be sent to the email account used to submit the application via the portal.
Parents who submitted a paper application form by the closing date will receive a letter in the post. It is hoped that letters will also reach parents on Wednesday 16 March however please be aware that the Admissions Team cannot guarantee that these will be delivered by the Post Office on this day and may therefore arrive a day or two later.
Parents are kindly requested to wait for their outcome to arrive by email or post before contacting the Admissions Team as most children are likely to be offered a place at one of the preferred schools named on the application.
Parents who applied after the 15 January 2025 will not receive a decision on Wednesday 16 April. Late applications will be processed after the first round of offers and parents should expect to receive an outcome in late May.

Admissions Officers will be available to speak to after 9am on the national offer day. Please complete our Enquiry Form with details of your enquiry and an Admissions Officer will reply by email or telephone you if necessary.

If your child was born between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021, you NEED TO apply for a PRIMARY school place for entry in September 2025.

Letters will be posted to parents with further information.

If you do not live in Rotherham please do not apply here. Visit the website for your home authority where you will find details of how to submit your application, you will still be able to name any preferred Rotherham schools on your application. Applications made directly to us from non-Rotherham residents will be disregarded.

The National Closing Date for receipt of applications is 15 January 2025. You must submit your application by this date. If your application is late, you will be far less likely to get a place in your preferred school.
You are advised to have read and taken account of the information in our Admissions to Primary Booklet 2025 before making your application.
Follow the Make an Application link at the bottom of this page where you will be able to apply online via the Capita Citizen’s Portal. You will need to register to make an account first if you do not already have one.
Name three schools and choose them carefully. Name them in your order of preference. Applying for one school only at this stage will not increase your chances of securing a place at your first preference and, if your first preference is oversubscribed, you may miss out on the opportunity of a place at your second or third preference by not naming the school on your initial application form and only applying for it at a later date.
If you are including a school in another local authority on your application, we advise you check the website of the relevant local authority for the admission arrangements of your preferred school before submitting your application.
Submit your application – please ensure that you have submitted your application once complete or it will not be considered. You will be able to log back in and view or edit it until the 15th January 2025 however you must re-submit your application for it to be considered. Changes after this date are late applications, you will not be able to do these online.
All parents who live in Rotherham and apply by 15th January 2025 will be made a single offer of a school place on the National Offer Day of 16th April 2025. This will be the school named highest on your application for which your child is eligible for a place. If it is not possible to offer a place at one of your preferred schools, you will be made an alternative offer. No decisions will be given to parents before 16th April 2025.
Places will be allocated based on your child’s residential address on 15th January 2024.

Fraudulent Applications

Rotherham Borough Council takes very seriously any attempt to gain an advantage in the admissions process by giving false information. It is important that the admissions system is fair for everybody. Each year a number of parents try to get a school place by providing false or intentionally misleading information, which could result in them taking a place that should have gone to another child.

Whilst we do not request proof of address with every application, proof of residence at an address will be requested where an address on an application form differs from the information we hold or where there is an allegation or evidence that a parent may have provided false or misleading information in order to gain admission to a school. Your address will be checked by reference to various records.

Once the Authority has made an offer of a school place it may be withdrawn if the offer was made on the basis of a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application or information from a parent which effectively denied a place to a child with a stronger claim, even if the child has already started at the school.

Where a place or an offer has been withdrawn, the application will be re-considered and a right of independent appeal offered if the place is refused, the child’s name will also be placed on the waiting list if the preferred school is oversubscribed.

Applying on the Citizen Portal

Make an application

More details

For full details on how to apply for a primary school place:

Download Primary application booklet

Download Church school supplementary information Forms