Apply for a middle school place for Year 5 in September 2025.
If your child was born between 1 September 2015 and 31 August 2016 you may wish to apply for a middle school place to your home local authority.
There are no middle schools in Bristol. Middle schools are in some neighbouring local authority areas such as Somerset and Dorset. You can apply for a place if you live in Bristol.
You need to apply by 15 January 2025.
Online
Apply online from 12 September 2024 for September 2025 admissions.
You'll need to register for an account on our Parent Portal admissions system.
Before you apply:
- check your local authority area Go to https://www.gov.uk/find-local-council (opens new window)
- if you live in Bristol and pay your council tax to Bristol City Council apply to us for a Bristol school reception place
- if you live in Bristol and pay your council tax to Bristol City Council and you want to apply to a school in another local authority area you also need to apply to us
- if your child has an Education, Health and Care Plan don't apply to School Admissions, see Apply for a key stage transfer school place for a child with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan on our Local Offer site or email the Special Educational Needs Team at sen@bristol.gov.uk for how to apply
- check application timetable
- read information about Bristol Primary schools
- you must use your child's legal name on the application
- upload with your online application your preferred schools written response to your request to consider an application for a child working outside their chronological year group. This must be received before the 15 January 2025 closing date to enable you to make an online application.
For other year groups school place applications make an In year application to the Local Authority where the school is located.
Applications from outside the UK or other ways to apply
If you're applying for a school place outside the UK and have problems applying online or want to make a paper application email school.admissions@bristol.gov.uk before the closing date for guidance.
Application deadlines
Apply by 15 January 2025.
Offers of school places for on time applications will be sent on 16 April 2025.
Applications after 15 January 2025 will be processed after the initial round of allocations is complete on 16 April 2025.
Second round allocations
The final date and time for making an application or changes to an existing application for the second round of allocations is midnight on 8 May 2025. The second round of allocations will be from May 2025.
School preference
You can express a preference for up to three schools in your order of preference from one to three. All your preferences are considered equally against the schools admission criteria regardless of whether you have put them as preference one, two or three.
If your child qualifies for a place at more than one of your three preferred schools your highest ranked preference school will be offered to you and lower ranked preferences withdrawn.
Changes you can make
You can only make the following changes by 20 January 2025:
- change the order of school preferences
- confirm a change of address, we'll need documentary evidence to confirm your new address
- confirm a sibling link at your preferred school(s), we'll need documentary evidence to confirm sibling link
How to tell us about a change
You must write to your home local authority about any changes to your application.
Change of address to another local authority area
If you are planning to move address to another local authority area, you may be asked to provide documentation to confirm your new address. Contact the local authority where you are planning to live for more information including deadlines for submitting documentation.
How and when we tell you about a new middle school place offer.
If you applied by 15 January 2025 for a new middle school place and you applied by:
- online parent portal you'll get an email on 16 April 2025 with a link to log in to the Parent Portal Go to https://parent.bristol.gov.uk/web/portal/pages/parents/admissions (opens new window)
- email and opted to be contacted by email, we'll send you an email on 16 April 2025
- post we'll send you an offer by first class post on 16 April 2025
School Appeals
Contact the Local Authority where the school is based for details of where to send your written grounds of appeal and the submissions deadline.
Offers for late applications made after 15 January 2025 for a middle school place will be sent from May 2025.
For security reasons we can't:
- tell you about an offer by phone
- send responses to email addresses not provided prior to the offer date
- send by email if you applied using a paper form
You must respond to your offer by 30 April 2025.