Secondary applications close on 31 October — and it is a Saturday
Published 12 October 2026
Secondary applications close on 31 October — and it is a Saturday
Published 12 October 2026
The short version
- If your child is in Year 6, the deadline is 31 October. This year that falls on a Saturday.
- Do not assume you get the Monday. Check what your council says.
- Missing it does not mean no school. It means your application is looked at after everyone else's.
Two weeks left
If you have not applied yet, this is the fortnight.
The secondary deadline is 31 October, and in 2026 that is a Saturday. Your council's own arrangements decide what that means in practice — some will take applications up to midnight on the Saturday, some will say the working Friday, some will extend to the Monday.
🔒 Do not guess, and do not assume the deadline moves. The next-working-day rule that gov.uk describes applies to offer days, not to deadlines. Look at your council's page this week, and if it is not clear, apply before Friday 30 October and stop worrying about it.
What happens if you miss it
Not nothing, and not a catastrophe.
A late application is still an application. But it is treated as late, which in practice means it is considered after every on-time application has been allocated. By then the popular schools are full.
You will be offered a place somewhere — councils have a duty to find your child a school place — but it may not be anywhere you chose, and it may not be near you.
So: two weeks. It takes about twenty minutes.
The five-minute version of how to do it
- Apply through your council, not the school. One form, even for a school in a different borough, an academy or a faith school.
- Use every preference you are given. Usually three to six.
- Rank them by what you actually want. Schools do not see your order.
- Listing a school lower down does not hurt your chances there. This is the most commonly believed wrong thing about admissions.
- Include one realistic choice. Not defeatism — it is the difference between a place you can live with and one you had no say in.
- Use the address you actually live at, and be able to prove it. This is the thing that gets offers withdrawn.
- Check whether any of your choices need a supplementary form. Some faith schools do. That is filled in as well as the council form, not instead.
"We haven't decided yet"
Apply anyway.
You can usually change your preferences up until the deadline, and in some areas for a short window after. An application you refine is much better than one you did not make.
If you are stuck between two schools, put both down. That is what the preference list is for.
What if we are moving?
Use the address you will be living at, if you will be there in time and can evidence it. Tell the council about the move.
If the move is uncertain, apply from where you are now. You can inform the council later; you cannot un-miss the deadline.
And then it goes quiet
You apply, and then nothing happens until 1 March 2027, when every family in England finds out on the same day.
That is a long wait and there is nothing useful to do in it. We will cover offer day, waiting lists and appeals in February, when they matter.
One thing worth doing while you are there
Read the admission criteria for each school you have listed.
They are published by the school and by the council, and they are ranked — children in care first, then usually an education, health and care plan naming the school, siblings, distance, and for faith schools a religious criterion.
Last year's cut-off distance is the single most useful number you will find, and it is usually published. It tells you more about your realistic chances than any league table.
Doing this now means offer day in March is either expected or a pleasant surprise, rather than a shock.
Where this comes from
- School admissions: how to apply, gov.uk — the 31 October deadline, the 1 March offer day, applying through the council, and the next-working-day rule for offer dates.
⚠️ Late-application handling, admission criteria and cut-off distances are set and published locally. We have described the common shape; your council's published scheme is the authority.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.