Primary school allocation day 2025: Date you will find out primary school offers, everything you need to know

Parents of children aged three and four will have submitted applications to secure their child’s place at primary school for the next academic year starting in September 2025.

Parents will discover which primary school has offered their child a place for September 2025 on Wednesday, April 16, 2025.

The decision will be sent by the local council by either letter or email.

Some councils allow parents to view their results through the admissions portal or system.

Exactly what time the offers will be released varies from area to area.

All schools have admission criteria to decide which children get places, set by the school's trust or governing body or the local council.

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These criteria are used where the school receives more applications than there are places available

While all state-funded schools must give top priority to admitting children who are in care or have been in care, admission criteria are different for each school.

For example, they may choose to give priority to children:

• who live close to the school
• who have a brother or sister at the school already
• who are from a particular religion (for faith schools)
• who are eligible for the pupil premium
• whose parent has worked at the school for two years or more. 

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Your local council can give you information about a school’s criteria. You should also be able to view these on your local council website.

If you’re not offered your first-choice school, you can appeal the decision. Your decision letter will tell you how you can do this. 

However, even if you're appealing a decision, the UK Government recommend accepting the offer your child did receive so that they have a school place if the appeal is unsuccessful.

Accepting another offer won’t affect your appeal or limit other options available to you.

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Parents or carers who want to appeal a decision should first contact the school’s admission authority, which is responsible for organising the appeal panel.

Parents and carers can find their school’s admission authority by visiting their local council website.

The appeal panel is independent and will look at the case presented by both the admission authority and the parent before coming to a decision.

The decision of the appeal panel is binding – if the appeal is upheld, the admission authority must offer the child a place at the school.

Admission authorities and appeal panels must comply with the statutory School Admission Appeals Code, which is available here. Guidance for parents on the admission appeals process can also be found  here.