Moving or changing to a school in Swindon
Before making your application
You should read the relevant admissions guide before you start your application. These documents contain important information about how we will consider your application.
If you are applying for an academy or free school, you can view their admissions policy on the school’s website. There is no need to contact the school directly. See a note about Swindon Academy.
General things to consider
Your reasons for wanting your child to change schools will depend on your circumstances. Before you go ahead, you should consider the following:
- Schools may not follow the same curriculum. Your child may be required to follow a different curriculum and/or may miss out or repeat parts of a curriculum.
- How will your child travel to the new school? Bear in mind that it's a parent's responsibility to make sure you can get your child to the school you apply for.
- Have you considered the cost of buying new school uniform? There is no financial support available for this.
If you are applying because you are moving home
- You should be aware that you can choose to keep your child at their current school. However, this may affect any entitlement you have to school travel support.
- We advise you to contact School Admissions to check if there is any availability within the area you are moving to
- Moving into a school’s catchment area does not guarantee your child a place at the school. The decision is based entirely on the availability of spaces in the relevant year group at the school.
If you are applying for more than one child
You should be aware that each request will be considered on an individual basis. You cannot make a joint application. If one child is offered a school place, it does not guarantee a place at that particular school for any other child in the family.
If you are applying so that your child starts at the beginning of a new term
- For a September start date that is not part of a phased transfer (Infant to Junior school or Primary to Secondary school) you should apply in plenty of time. We normally consider applications from June of the same year.
- To start after the Christmas or Easter holiday, you should apply in plenty of time and refer to the process periods timetable
- Be aware that we cannot process applications during school holidays because schools are not available to discuss or confirm places. Where an application has been received over the holidays and can not be processed before the new term starts, we would expect the child to return to their current school until we can process the application and offer a place.
What to do if you are offered a school place
If your child is offered a school place, you should contact the allocated school as soon as possible to accept the offer and arrange a start date.
An offer may be withdrawn if it was made in error by the local authority or the school. This can only happen if:
- the mistake is identified shortly after the offer is made
- your child has not yet started at the school
Make sure your contact details are up to date, including how to reach you if you are away from home temporarily. We will always try to contact you more than once with your offer.
If the offer was based on false or misleading information
If it is found that an offer was made based on a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application, we will review the offer.
We will reassess your application using the correct information, where possible. If your child would still have been offered the place, the offer will remain. If they would not have received an offer, we will consider whether to withdraw it.
We will seek the school's view and may withdraw the offer even if your child has already started at the school, as long as they have attended for fewer than 16 school weeks (one school term).
Please be aware that if your first preference offer is withdrawn:
- your second and third preference schools may already be full
- an alternative school may be further away from home
- you may not be entitled to free school transport
Responding to a refusal of a school place
If your application is unsuccessful and your child is offered a place at an alternative school, you should contact that school to arrange admission. If you decide to decline the offer, you must tell us or the school in writing or by email. You must also explain how your child will receive an education.
You can still:
- accept the alternative offer
- apply for other schools
- submit an appeal
Doing any of these will not affect your child’s position on a waiting list or your right to appeal.
If you choose not to apply for another school, we will assume that your child will continue in their current form of education.
You cannot apply again for the same school in the same academic year unless the school’s admission authority agrees that your child’s circumstances have significantly changed.
Queries about applications made by another parent
If a person with parental responsibility asks about a school application made by someone else, we may share basic information, unless there is a legal reason not to. This could include a court order or a safeguarding concern.
We may also contact the person who submitted the application before deciding whether to share any information.
Application forms are treated as personal data and are subject to data protection law.
If we do share information, it will not include any reasons given for the application unless we are legally required to provide them.
A note about Swindon Academy
Swindon Academy is on two sites: Alton Close and Beech Avenue. If you are applying for a place at Swindon Academy in any year from reception to year 6, you can specify a preferred site, which the school itself will consider. It won't always be possible to offer the preferred site.
As the local authority co-ordinate applications, we do not take your preferred site into consideration. If your application for Swindon Academy is successful, we will inform you of this. However, Swindon Academy will be in contact to tell you which site your child will attend.