Year 6 into 7 Admissions

Students due to go into Year 7 who will be starting secondary school in September 2024 will be able to apply for a place between 1 September 2023 and 31 October 2023. All applications for Year 7 pupils starting secondary school in September 2024 need to be made via the online application system.

Parent/carers can apply for a secondary school place by going to www.leeds.gov.uk/admissions.

Parent/carers will need a valid email account in order to set up and create an account in the online system. Free computer access and help with setting up an email account is available in Leeds City Council Libraries and One Stop Shops.

• Applications for places in Year 7 open either online or by post on the 1 September 2023
• The deadline for applications is the 31 October 2023
• National offer day is the 1 March 2024, you will either receive an email if you applied online or the offer will be posted on the 1 March 2024 by second-class post.
• The deadline for accepting offers for Guiseley School is the 15 March 2024, failure to accept an offer by this date may result in the place being withdrawn and offered to another applicant.
• Places are allocated from waiting lists and appeals from March 2023 to 1 September 2024
• Waiting lists for Year 7 will be maintained throughout the academic year and offers made where places become available.
• All applications to Guiseley School after 1 September 2024 should be made directly to the school

Anybody who is still having difficulty with completing an application online can contact the Admissions Team on 0113 222 4414 to access individual support including alternative methods of application if required. Alternatively, you can contact them by email at [email protected].

We will offer places to children in the following order of priority:

Children with a statement of special educational needs will be admitted to the school named on their statement or education health care plan

Priority 1

• Children in public care or fostered under an arrangement made by the local authority. (see note 2)
• Students without a statement but who have Special Educational Needs, or with exceptional medical or mobility needs, that can only be met at a specific school. (See note 3)

Priority 2

• Children with older brothers or sisters who will be at school at the start of the academic year and are living at the same address (see note 4). This priority will not apply where the older sibling joined the Sixth Form from a different school.

Priority 3

• We will give priority to parent//carers who put their nearest school (see note 6). If we have more applications than there are places, we will offer places first to children living nearest to the school (measured in a straight line) (see note 5).

Priority 4

• We will give priority to parent/carers who choose Guiseley School when it is not the one nearest to their home address (see note 6). If we have more applications than there are places, we will offer places first to children living nearest to the school (measured in a straight line) (see note 5).

Guidance notes

Note 1
If we cannot offer parent/carers a place for their child at any school they put on their preference form, we will offer their child a place at the nearest school that has places available when we make the offer (this may include voluntary aided and foundation schools or academies where their governing bodies have given us permission to do so).

Note 2
Children who have been adopted from local authority care, children with a residency order and those with special guardianship immediately following being Looked After will all be included within the higher priority for looked-after children (priority 1a).

Note 3
Leeds City Council promotes inclusion in local schools and it is an expectation in Leeds that all mainstream schools are able to provide for the majority of children with learning and medical disabilities. It is also an expectation that all Leeds schools provide an inclusive and nurturing environment that can meet the needs of those vulnerable children who have social and emotional needs. Children with exceptional needs who require additional support above that expected of a mainstream school will usually have a statement or education health care plan. In some instances, there are some children with a particular need such as a significant physical disability or complex sensory impairment who require the expertise only found in a particular school, e.g. blind children who need to access Braille. It is these instances where priority for admission may need to be considered.

Applications in this category must be supported by an SEN SIF, available from the Admissions Team, which must include a statement in writing from a paediatrician/doctor or another relevant professional who can evidence why a particular provision is needed over another. The statement must also evidence why the school of choice is the only school that can meet the particular need in question. This is necessary as the LA will be assessing if your child has a stronger case than other children. Cases will be considered individually the LA in consultation with the school preferenced.

Advice and support can be sought from the Parent Partnership Service on 0113 395 1222.

Note 4
For these purposes, brothers and sisters must be living at the same address as your child. Siblings refer to brother or sister, half brother or sister, adopted brother or sister, stepbrother or sister, foster brother or sister. The definition does not include cousins or other family members sharing a house.

Note 5
In Leeds, we use a straight-line distance system. We use a national computer system to run our school-admission system. As part of this system, there is a program that measures the ‘straight-line’ distance from the centre of the main school building to your home address. The point we measure to at your home address is determined by the Royal Mail Postcode Address File. This information provides us with coordinates for every dwelling. If we are not able to match your address with the Postcode Address File then we will use the centre of your dwelling.

In the unlikely event, there are insufficient places for two (or more) pupils living in the same building (e.g. flats) or otherwise equidistant from the school, then any final place will be allocated by the drawing of lots.

Note 6
If you live in Leeds and your nearest school is a school in another local authority, then your nearest Leeds school by straight-line distance will be your nearest eligible school. You can apply for any school but the nearest priority only applies to Leeds schools. It includes all community and voluntary controlled schools, as well as Foundation schools and Academies who have chosen to include a priority for ‘nearest’.

If you live in another local authority and the nearest school to your home in a straight line is a Leeds community, voluntary-controlled or foundation school, or academy we will give you the relevant priority under our admissions policy.

If you live in another local authority and the nearest school to your home, by a straight line, is a school not in Leeds you are still able to apply for a Leeds School but priority 4 will not apply.

Nearest School
When we say the ‘nearest’ school, we do not include voluntary-aided (faith-based) schools. This is because they apply their own admissions policies and, if they are oversubscribed, they mainly offer places based on the religion practiced by the child and family. If Free Schools open subsequently that have not included a ‘nearest’ priority these would also be excluded.

Address
For admission purposes, the home address is where the child usually lives with their parent or carer. You must not give the address of a childminder or relative. We will investigate any queries about addresses and, depending on what we find; we may change the school we offer your child. When we make an offer, we assume your address will be the same in the following September as we have on record. If you plan to move house, you must still give your current address. If you move house after the deadline of 31 October 2015 for Secondary places, you must tell us your new address as we may have to offer your child a place at another school.

Late applications
If you return the preference form after the deadline we cannot guarantee to consider your preferences at the same time as those received on time. Any secondary applications returned after 28 November 2022 will only be dealt with once all other preferences have been considered unless there are significant and exceptional reasons. Late applications will be considered before placements are made (where no preference could be met)

Accepting offers
Parent/carers will be asked to accept the offer of a school place. This will not affect their position on any waiting list for a higher preference, or their right to appeal. Parent/carers who do not wish to accept the offer, or do not accept the offer within a reasonable time, may have the place withdrawn.

Waiting List
Between offer day and 31 August, you can join a waiting list to start at a Leeds school if you have:

• received your offer and want to try and get a place at a different school
• missed the deadline to apply to start primary, junior or secondary school

If a place becomes available before the first day of school, we will automatically give it to a child on the waiting list for that school. If we change your child's school, we will write to you and let you know.

Join the waiting list within 2 weeks of offer day for a better chance of getting a place at a school you want. An online form will be available on this page from offer day.

If you wish to amend your existing September 2024 Year 7 application please email [email protected].

Temporary school site
If a school has to move to a temporary site for any reason, such as the building being damaged by a fire, we will base our distance measurements on the school’s permanent site.