Admission arrangements for Brighton & Hove schools 2025 to 2026

The Published Admissions Number (PAN) of a school is the number of places that must be offered in each relevant age group.  

Pupil numbers in the city have been falling and are forecast to continue to fall over the next few years. Too many spare school places in the city will result in some schools not getting enough pupils attending.

As schools are mostly funded on pupil numbers, if they do not have enough pupils attending, they may not be able to operate in a financially efficient way.

The law prohibits infant school classes larger than 30 pupils. If schools are required to operate small classes, they may not be able to afford to employ the required number of teachers which would impact their ability to provide an appropriate education. 

Consider the proposals being made about the possible closure of 2 one form entry primary schools from September 2024.

Brighton & Hove City Council’s aim with these proposals is to continue reducing the number of surplus places in the city and the associated risk of a school or schools being forced into financial difficulty. 

It's proposed that the following PAN reductions be made: 

• Brunswick Primary School from 120 to 90 pupils
• Goldstone Primary School from 90 to 60 pupils
• Patcham Infant school from 90 to 60 pupils
• Queens Primary School from 60 to 30 pupils
• Rudyard Kipling primary school from 60 to 45 pupils
• Saltdean Primary School from 90 to 60 pupils
• Stanford Infant School from 90 to 60 pupils
• St Lukes Primary School from 90 to 60 pupils
• Woodingdean Primary School from 60 to 45 pupils

The Council uses a catchment area system with random allocation being used as the tiebreaker in each admission priority in the event of oversubscription.

Cardinal Newman Catholic School, King’s School, Brighton Aldridge Community Academy (BACA) and Portslade Aldridge Community Academy (PACA) have their own admission priorities.

Visit our Apply for a School Place page or the school's individual websites for details. 

If a school is oversubscribed, after the admission of pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan where the school is named in the Plan, priority for admission will be given to those children who meet the oversubscription criteria set out below.

The oversubscription priorities are applied in the context of an equal preference system as required by the School Admissions Code. They are:

1. Looked after children and all previously looked after children, including those children who appear (to the council) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. (note a) 
2. Compelling medical or other exceptional reasons for attending the school. (note b)
3. Children eligible for Free School Meals up to the city average. (note c)
4. A sibling link (note d) applied for those living within the designated catchment area only. 
5. Those pupils living in the designated catchment area for the school(s).
6. Other children.

Visit the Notes section of this page to learn more about what these notes mean.

Within all these priorities, the tiebreak is random allocation.

The current catchment areas are set out in the attached catchment area map. It also includes information about which postcodes are in each of the catchment areas.

Parents must make a separate application for any transfer from nursery to primary school and from infant to junior school.

If a school is oversubscribed, after the admission of pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan where the school is named in the Plan, priority for admission will be given to those children who meet the oversubscription criteria set out below.

The oversubscription priorities are applied in the context of an equal preference system as required by the Admissions Code. They are:

1. Looked after children and all previously looked after children, including those children who appear (to the council) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. (note a) 
2. Compelling medical or other exceptional reasons for attending the school. (note b) 
3. Sibling link.  (note d)
4. For junior schools only: children attending a linked infant school. (note e) 
5. Other Children.

Visit the Notes section of this page to learn more about what these notes mean.

Within all these priorities, the tie break is home-to-school distance which will be measured by the shortest route from the child’s home to the nearest of the school’s gates.

This will be measured by specialist computer software based on Ordnance Survey data. It measures using the road network supplied by the Ordnance Survey and some other public rights of way which are paved and lit.

Routes across public parks or open spaces will not be accepted. When using roads for measurement purposes the computer measures along the middle of the road. It measures from the address point in the property to the nearest point on the road network and from there to the nearest of the school’s gates to the child’s home.

No other measurement systems will be used for school admissions decisions. Where the home addresses of two or more pupils are an equal distance from the school (eg. two children living in the same block of flats) and only one place remains available at the school in question, the place will be allocated randomly by computer to one of these pupils.

If an application is returned after the closing date without good reason it will be considered after all the on-time preferences have been dealt with and school places allocated to them. 

If there is a good reason for the application being late, such as a recent house move to Brighton & Hove, it will be considered as on-time if it is received by 22 January (Secondary) or 8 March (Infant, Primary & Junior). The application will need to be accompanied by independent supporting evidence demonstrating why the form is late. This could include a solicitor’s letter confirming the exchange of contracts or a recently signed tenancy agreement.

Applications submitted after the closing date listing revised preferences will only be considered from mid-June onwards unless there has been a house move.

This is to ensure that parents and carers who do this do not gain an unfair advantage over others by having the opportunity to list more than 3 preferences.

The school admissions team will allocate school places using the address the child lives at on the closing date for applications 31 October (Secondary) or 15 January (Infant, Primary & Junior) although late changes of address will be considered if proof of address is received by 22 January (Secondary) or 8 March (Infant, Primary & Junior). 

Only one address can be used for admission purposes even if the pupil spends equal time at two households. If it is unclear what is the pupil’s main address this will be taken as the address where the child is registered with a doctor.

Children start school in the school year during which they have their fifth birthday.  Children are allowed to start full-time in September or can defer admission or attend part-time until they reach compulsory school age.

Children become compulsory school age in the term after their fifth birthday. Children whose fifth birthday falls between 1 September and 31 December may defer or attend part time until January. Children whose fifth birthday falls between 1 January and 31 March can defer admission or attend part time until the start of the summer term. Children whose fifth birthday is between 1 April and 31 August don’t become compulsory school age until the following September however they can also defer admission or attend part time until the start of the summer term.

Where a place is deferred it will not be given to another child provided the place is taken up by the beginning of the school term following the child’s fifth birthday and within the school year that the offer was made.

Parents can request for a ‘summer born’ child to start school outside of their normal age group, and be admitted to reception rather than Year 1 as detailed in the Admission outside a normal age group section.

Parents who are applying for their child to have a decelerated entry to school, for example to start later than other children in their chronological age group, should initially apply for a school place in accordance with the deadlines that apply for their child’s chronological age.

Parents who are applying for their child to have an accelerated entry to school, for example to start earlier than other children in their chronological age group, must initially apply for a school place at the same time that other families are applying for that year group.

Applications should be accompanied with the additional form to request that the child is educated out of year group. Reasons for the request and any evidence to support the case should be included with the form. Evidence could include information about:

• the child’s personal development
• the child’s social development
• the child’s emotional development
• the child’s academic development
• the child’s medical history and views of a medical professional (if relevant)
• whether the child has previously been educated out of year group
• whether the child was born prematurely

The admission authority will consider each case on its merits, taking into account the child’s best interests and either agree or refuse the request on that basis. Where the council is the admission authority, the views of the headteacher of each school will be sought before a decision is taken.

Parents will be made aware of the outcome of the request for admission out of year group before national offer day and reasons for the decision will be shared with them.  Late requests will be considered up until 8 March (Infant, Primary and Junior) or 22 January (Secondary) if there is good reason why the request could not be made by the closing date for applications. Requests made after this date will not be considered until after national offer day. 

The council holds waiting lists for community schools, and Bilingual primary school. Pupils who have not been offered one of these schools as their first preference will have their name added to the waiting list for this school. Parents can request that their child’s name is also added to the waiting list for their second and/or third preference school by contacting the school admissions team.  Waiting lists are held until 31st December at which point pupils’ names will be removed from the list. 

Parents can keep their child’s name on the waiting list for the following term by contacting the admissions team in the last week of each term to request this. Pupils are added to waiting lists according to the oversubscription priorities listed above and consequently a pupils name can move down the list as well as up.  Waiting lists for secondary schools are called reallocation pools. Each time the council is able to offer a place, or places at a school with a reallocation pool, the list is re-randomised and the place allocated to the child at the top of the list.

Late applicants will also be added to waiting lists as soon as possible after they apply. Late changes of preference (revised applications) will be added to the waiting list for the new preference as soon as possible from mid-June onwards. The pupil’s name will be removed from the waiting list for the previous preferences.

Note a: Previously looked after children

Previously looked after children are children who were adopted (or subject to child arrangements orders or special guardianship orders) immediately following having been looked after and those children who appear (to the council) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. 

A child is regarded as having been in state care outside of England if they were in the care of or were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation, or any other provider of care whose sole or main purpose is to benefit society.

Note b: Exceptional Circumstances

This priority applies to pupils with a specific need that can only be met by one school rather than any other. This could include medical or social reasons that make it essential for the child to attend a particular school.  Independent supporting information must be provided from a professional, for example, a doctor, consultant, social worker or other professionals working with the family which makes a compelling case as to why the child’s needs can only be met at the preferred school and no other. 

A medical condition or diagnosis in itself will not automatically result in priority being given.

Advice may be sought from the consultant community paediatrician or other relevant professionals where necessary to determine whether or not the evidence provided is sufficiently compelling to qualify under this category.

Note c: Free School Meals

Children will be considered under this priority if they are eligible for free school meals on the closing date for applications or on the date the application is submitted if it is late or outside the main admission round. 

The city average will be taken as the average percentage of children eligible for free school meals for the applying cohort (this will be Y6 pupils for the main admissions round) taken from the October school census in the application year.

The number of places available at each school under this priority will be calculated by applying the city average to the school's PAN. 

Note d: Sibling link

For the purposes of the school admissions process, children are siblings if they share the same main address and live as part of the same household. A sibling link will apply if the sibling will be attending the school in September 2025.

Where separate junior and infant schools are linked (see linked Infant/Junior school below), the sibling link will apply across both linked schools the sibling may be at either school and may be older or younger. If two children, of whom one is due to start junior school and the other infant school in the same September, the junior school child’s allocation will be done first and a sibling link will count for the infant child. 

A sibling link is only taken into account if children live at the same main address and the sibling has already been allocated a place at the school.

Twins or multiple births do not qualify for the sibling link unless one child has already been offered a place. 

Where a sibling attends a nursery class on the same school site or a sixth form it will not be counted as a link for admissions purposes.

Note e: Linked infant/Junior Schools

Children who are attending or have been offered a place at an infant school in the list below will have priority for places at the linked junior school providing the allocation took place by 8 March in the admission year.

• Downs Infant - Downs Junior
• Hertford Infant - Hertford Junior
• Patcham Infant - Patcham Junior
• Stanford Infant - Stanford Junior
• West Hove Infant Portland Road – Hove Junior Portland Road
• West Hove Infant Connaught Road - Hove Junior Holland Road

There is no link between West Hove Infant Connaught Road and Hove Junior Portland Road, or between West Hove Infant Portland Road and Hove Junior Holland Road.