Drighlington Primary School

Admissions 

Welcome to Drighlington Primary School. We are delighted that you are considering applying to our school and we hope you find the following information useful. 

Whether starting school for the first time, or aiming to transfer mid-year - to apply for a place at our school from Reception to Year 6 please find the relevant information further down this page.

On the Leeds City Council Admissions Website where you will find information about starting school, transferring to another school and timetables about admissions appeals. Please Click here for Leeds City Council Primary School Admissions Website or call the Leeds City Council Admissions Team on: 0113 2224414 for further help and advice.

We are a welcoming, highly inclusive, two form entry school. This means that there are two classes for each year group from Reception through to Year 6. Each class  has a limit of 30 places. Our Nursery has a total of 78 places (39 morning and 39 afternoon). We always enjoy welcoming new children to school.

If your child has a special educational need or disability (SEND); if your child is classed as 'Looked After' or 'Post Looked After'; is on a Child Protection Plan or has parents / carers in the military - please do call us to discuss your personal situation so we can offer the best help and advice for you.

Admission into Nursery

Please contact the school office if you would like to request a place in our Nursery. Registering your child is simple - before your child reaches Nursery age it is a matter of completing an informal request form, giving your child’s name, address, telephone number and date of birth. Your child will then be put on our waiting list. If a place is available, children are invited to attend our Nursery after their third birthday. Nursery children receive places primarily on an age order basis, and we follow Leeds City Council Admissions guidance. 

We offer flexible places that run as follows:

• all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning (2.5 days)
• Wednesday afternoon , all day Thursday and all day Friday (2.5 days)
• every day, a total of 30 hours - some families will meet the eligibility criteria to receive a free Nursery provision. 

In order to claim 30 hours of free child care, we will require a 30 hour code. For more information please go to: https://www.gov.uk/apply-30-hours-free-childcare or the HMRC website to check your eligibility or ask to speak to our school Business Manager who will be able to offer advice. 

 We will endeavour to get to know your child as well as possible before they start in our Nursery so that we can ensure the best possible care - we will work with families to do this.

Click here for Nursery application form

Admission into Reception

We are a community school and the admission authority is Leeds City Council, who sets our admission policy every year.

You can read our school's Admissions Policy here - https://www.leeds.gov.uk/schools-and-education/school-admissions/our-school-admissions-policies

How to apply for a September 2024 place

If you are applying for a reception place for September 2024, all application are made in advance.  Offers are made by the Local Authority on national offer day.  PLEASE DIRECT ANY ENQUIRIES ABOUT ONGOING APPLICATIONS TO LEEDS CITY COUNCIL. Please click the link below to see responses to Frequently Asked Questions.

Frequently Asked Questions

You must apply to the local authority who empties your bins.  If this is Leeds, go to www.leeds.gov.uk/apply.  The website is a composite prospectus for all Leeds schools and this includes:

• all the steps you need to go through to make an application .
• the keys dates.
• a search tool to see if your home address give any higher priority for admission to any school(s).
• an explanation about how places are offered if there are more applications than spaces (oversubscribed).
• the online application portal - apply online and you'll be sent your offer by email.
• a summary of each school's individual admission policy criteria.
• data about who got a place in the last 3 years - this will help you work out if there is a reasonable chance of your child qualifying for a place.
• Information about applying under a specific admission criteria (such as your child being previously looked after).  It is really important to ensure you submit all supporting evidence by the deadline to show you meet any such criteria.

You can also watch the Leeds City Council school admissions video for more information. Click on the blue words to follow the link.

The council's social media pages will also tell you about any Q&A sessions where you can ask questions.

 You can also see information about our school, including previous admission data, on our school page on the Leeds City Council's website - follow this link to find details about our school: Check a school's admissions details (leeds.gov.uk)

Application timetable 

The timetable below applies to applications made to Leeds City Council.  If you apply to another local authority, they may have different dates:

Transition into school

We put great emphasis upon getting transition right for children. When children first start school we plan visits so that they can meet their new teacher and new classmates. We think it is important that plans are amended if needed where children require additional time to adjust - in some cases the transition into school is very personalised. Our staff always prepare handover information for the next teacher and this includes learning levels, information about key strengths and areas for development, and friendships. Our staff are also given allocated time to ensure that they handover the relevant documents and have time to talk to the next teacher. Where children have specific needs, our staff engage with parents before the end of the year, and prepare individual strategies such as transition books with photographs of the next teacher and support staff. We ask that families let us know if they have concerns about transition so that we can address them quickly and put into place secure action plans for children.

In Year Transfers

Parents / carers considering transferring their child after they have started at another school should first discuss this with their current school as this can be a very difficult experience for a child. Parents, carers or the current school are welcome to contact us by telephone to talk to the Head Teacher about why they wish to move and what support they may require. 

How to apply for an in-year place

Leeds City Council has delegated the decision making for in-year applications to our Governing Body.

You can apply for a place online using the Leeds in-year application form at Before you move schools.  You can apply for places at our school and any other Leeds schools who are are part of the centralised Leeds in-year application scheme at the same time.

If you have moved house, please upload evidence of the house move with the online application.  You can find out what you need to provide on the Leeds City Council website.

We have to offer places by applying our admission policy criteria to your child's application and we will contact you with our decision about offering you a place.  We will consider each situation as an individual case and take into account the needs of the prospective child, balanced against the needs of our current children and our capacity to give high quality provision to all children in the class. We will tell you our decision no later than 15 school days from when you apply.

If we cannot offer you a place, we will

• write to you to explain the reasons.
• explain how you can appeal and
• add your child to our waiting list in case a place becomes free.

Our waiting lists are kept until end of each school year.  You will need to make a new application if you want to be on the waiting list for the following school year.

If your child is classed as having Special Educational Needs, is Looked After or Post Looked After, please do let us know - we would like to offer the best possible care and support to your child and your family.

At Drighlington Primary School we always endeavour to accept all new children, but occasionally our evaluation outcome is that we cannot do so. 

Appeals

If we cannot offer you a place, you will have the right of appeal.  The appeal panel is independent of the school and council and their decision is legally binding.

 Before you appeal you:

• should accept any place that you have been offered in case your appeal is not successful.
• should think about why you are appealing and check if it's likely to be successful.
• could read the advice for appealing school places on GOV.UK.
• could get independent advice on making an appeal from a charity.

Leeds City Council arranges our appeals and you can find the appeal form at School appeals (leeds.gov.uk).

 If you are applying for a reception place for September 2024, you need to submit your appeal by the deadline to ensure the appeal will be heard before the summer holidays.

Appeals for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 - these classes are limited to 30 pupils per teacher by law.  This means that appeals for these places are less likely to be successful.

If our school refuses your child a place because of this limit and you want to appeal, you will need to make an infect class size appeal.  You can see if your reasons are likely to be successful by reading the Department for Education's information about infant class size appeals.

Other appeals - You can appeal because you want your child to attend a particular school.  These are successful if the panel agree that the reasons for your appeal outweigh the school's decision not to admit any more children.

Wanting your child to go to a school because you think it is the best one in the area is not likely to convince the panel that your child should get a place there.

Fair Access

If you believe your child is eligible for Fair Access, please let us know. The more detail you put down on the In Year Common Preference Form (ICPF), the better. There is a separate form to complete if your child meets any of the criteria. The Fair Access Criteria is set out below:

Home School Agreement

We ask that all families who would like their child to come to Drighlington Primary School to read the Home School Agreement very carefully to ensure that they are able to commit to working together to ensure the best possible education for their child. It is vital that we all have a clear understanding about how we can support each other. We as a school are committed to this agreement and we ask families to do the same.

Click here for Home School Agreement