Admissions
Derbyshire County Council Admissions
Making your application
Before you make your application, you should read the information provided by the Department for Education on school admissions.
If your child is due to start primary, junior or secondary education and you live in Derbyshire you should apply to us even if the school you want is located in the area of another council.
If you live outside Derbyshire (or in Derby) you should apply through your home council, even if you want to apply for a place at a Derbyshire school. Find your home council.
We have parents' guide to secondary admissions and parents' guide to primary admissions to help you.
Applying for your child's primary, infant and junior school place
If you want to apply for your child to move from one primary, infant or junior school to another you can find out how to change schools.
If your child was born between 1 September 2022 and 31 August 2023 you should apply for a primary or infant school place between 9 November 2026 and 15 January 2027. You can still apply after this date, but your application will be treated as late.
If your child was born between 1 September 2019 and 31 August 2020 and is in their last year of infant school you should also apply for their junior school place between 9 November 2026 and 15 January 2027. You can still apply after this date, but your application will be treated as late.
This also applies to children attending a school outside of Derbyshire which operates a different pattern of education and they're due to transfer to a primary school phase next September, for example, transfer to middle school.
You should only apply to us if you pay your Council Tax to:
- High Peak Borough Council
- Derbyshire Dales District
- Chesterfield Borough Council
- North East Derbyshire District Council
- Bolsover District Council
- Amber Valley Borough Council
- Erewash Borough Council
- South Derbyshire District Council
Do not apply to us if you pay your Council Tax to Derby City Council, or any other council not listed. We do not forward applications made to us in error to your home authority.
If you don't live in Derbyshire you can find your local council.
Apply for a primary, infant, or junior school places
Children with education health and care plans (EHCP)
If your child has an education health and care plan (EHCP) your child's school place will be arranged by the local authority's SEND assessment service (SENDAS). You should not complete the online admissions form.
If you have any queries, speak to your special educational needs co-ordinator at school, or view school admissions for children with special educational needs.
Non-Derbyshire residents should contact their home council.
Changing schools in-year
You may want to apply for your child to change schools other than when they're due to start primary, junior or secondary education. This could be because of a change of address.
If you want to apply for a place at a school in Derbyshire, view the guidance about changing schools during the school year.
If you want to apply for a place at a school in another council area, you should contact the council where the school is located.
School preference
You have a legal right to express a preference for which school you want your child to go to. This isn't the same as being able to choose.
Where you have told us of a preference for a particular school and there are places, we'll try to offer you a place at that school.
However, there is no automatic right to a place at a particular school and it may not always be possible to offer a place at your preference.
You have the right to make a school admission appeal if you're unhappy with the offer made.
Parental agreement
We expect parents to consult with each other and agree on the school, or schools, for which they wish to express a preference. We don't investigate whether applications have been agreed, or resolve disagreements between parents.
Where the child spends time at 2 different addresses with their parents and each parent makes an application, we'll process the preferences of the parent who cares for the child for the greater part of the school week (where the child normally sleeps between Monday evening and Friday morning).
Where we're unable to determine the home address and where there is no parental agreement or court order, we'll be unable to process the application further until the matter has been resolved. We encourage parents to resolve any disagreements quickly as delay may affect the availability of places at preferred schools.
Once we've offered a school place, any disagreement on the child's school placement is for the parents to resolve between themselves.