Primary school admissions - September 2026

We accept:

• The child’s birth certificate / adoption certificate
  OR
• The child’s passport (must be valid)

The home address on the school place application must be where you live with your child. This is unless you can prove that your child lives elsewhere with someone who has legal care and responsibility for your child.

It is important that the address you give on your child’s application is your child’s permanent or main residence at the time of application. ‘At the time of application’ means the closing date for applications unless you are in the process of moving house.

We expect the child’s home address to be a residential property that is the child’s only or main residence. It should not be an address at which your child may sometimes stay or sleep due to your domestic arrangements. The property must be owned / rented / leased by the child’s parent or carer, or the person with legal care and responsibility for the child.

As part of the school admissions process, we ask you to provide proof of address. We are committed to following strict address verification procedures. School place offers are conditional until we receive confirmation of proof of address.

Please provide any two of the following documents:

• A copy of a current tenancy agreement signed by all parties and arranged through a letting/estate agency
• Current private tenancy agreement (not arranged through a letting/estate agency) must be supported with three copies of utility bills.
• A letter from your solicitor confirming exchange of contracts on your new property you are purchasing stating a full postal address and including a completion date
• A copy of your council tax bill for the current year
• A copy of a recent utility bill for your home address, showing usage - gas, electricity, water, telephone (not mobile phones)
• A copy of your driving licence
• A copy of your rent book for a current council tenancy
• A copy of a letter from a Housing Association confirming that you and the child are living at the address
• A copy of your house insurance dated within the last 12 months
• HMRC tax notification documentation
• Credit card statements dated within the last three months
• Statement from your bank / building society dated within the last three months
• TV licence (valid for the current year) with the name and address
• Letter from National Asylum Support Service (NASS) OR UK Border Force (UKBA) confirming placement at the address

Parental responsibility means having all the rights, duties, powers and responsibility for a child in your day-to-day care. This is set out by the Children Act 1989.

We can only:

• Accept applications from a person who is legally responsible for the child
• Accept only one application per child
• Consider the application from one home address

Where there is any doubt about parental responsibility, we will ask you to provide proof of parental responsibility.

Any recent change of principal carer or parental responsibility must be supported by satisfactory evidence. For example, if a child moves to live at another address.

Who has parental responsibility and proof required

A mother usually has parental responsibility for her child from birth.

A father usually has parental responsibility if he is either:

• Married to the child’s mother
• Listed on the birth certificate (after a certain date, depending on which part of the UK your child was born in)

You can apply for parental responsibility on GOV.UK if you do not automatically have it.

Examples of documents that prove parental responsibility:

• The child’s birth certificate
• Marriage certificate
• Parental Responsibility Agreement entered into by birth parents
• Copy of a Court Order giving the father parental responsibility
• Child Arrangement Order in respect of the child
• Adoption Order
• Formally appointed guardian of the child

We can only accept applications from a person who is legally responsible for the child. When a child lives with relatives instead of their parents, you will need proof such as a Will or a Court Order. A private fostering arrangement will not give parental responsibility.

Please let us know if a parent who lives elsewhere should get updates about their child's application progress and result.

To apply, you must live in Peterborough. If you are moving from overseas or out of area, you cannot apply based on a future house move.

When you apply may affect when your application will be processed. Please email admissions@peterborough.gov.uk for advice. You may need to provide evidence of a previous application to the local authority.

To have the school offer based on a future house move, include it on your application form along with supporting evidence. You must prove to the school your child lives at this address before September start date.

If you change your address after you have submitted your application, you must tell the Admissions Team right away. You must complete an amendment form on our website.

If you have recently moved, and your current address is not the same as the one on your application, you need to provide evidence. You must provide proof that you were living at the address at the time of application with either:

• A closing Council Tax bill, or
• A closing utility bill for gas, water or electricity

You will also need proof of your new address. To use an address, you must live there permanently and prove you have no connection to your old address. We will investigate all address changes to make sure they are permanent, not temporary for a preferred school. We cannot consider a temporary address. This includes:

• Other property owned by the applicant
• Temporary rental agreements
• Temporary moves to live with friends or family.

Please email admissions@peterborough.gov.uk for advice.

We can only accept one application per child. We can only consider the application from one home address.

When parents share responsibility for a child, the child's residence is where they spend most school nights (Sunday to Thursday).

Where residency is equally split, we will consider the 'residence' as the home where:

• The child is registered with their GP or health professional
• Child benefits are paid

When parents are not living together but share responsibility for a child, they should talk and decide which schools to apply to. If we receive different applications or if the Admissions Team is told about a dispute between two parents, we will put all applications on hold. We will not process them until:

• one joint application is made, signed by all parties: or
• written agreement is provided from both parents; or
• a court order is obtained confirming which parents’ application carries precedence.

If multiple applications are received, you risk your child not being considered for a school place or an offered place being withdrawn.

If one parent has custody and needs to change schools due to moving, the application can proceed based on that parent's preference. If a child isn't getting an education, both parents with parental responsibility can be prosecuted.

Disputes

Parents are expected to discuss and agree upon important decisions relating to their child’s education together. However, sometimes parents do not agree, or one parent makes a unilateral decision on a child’s schooling without the other’s consent.

If you feel you have tried everything and cannot reach an agreement, then it might be time to seek legal advice. If this happens, your application will be paused.

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS)

How SENDIASS can help you

The Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and Rutland SENDIASS Team offers impartial advice and information about Special Educational Needs. They help parents or carers, children and young people to navigate through the Special Educational Needs process.

SENDIASS can inform you about your rights to make sure the educational needs of the child or young person are met. They can give you information and advice to help you understand the areas of education, health and social care law, and to enable good working relationships with schools, education, children's services, health and other professionals. They offer information about support services and organisations and are able to help resolve disagreements.

The school admissions process differs whether the child or young person has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or not.

Children without an EHCP

If your child does not have an EHCP, then children and young people who have Special Educational Needs must be educated in mainstream settings, subject to certain very limited exceptions. This is set out in Section 34 of the Children and Families Act 2014. A school must not refuse to admit a child with Special Educational Needs because it does not feel able to carer for those needs.

If the mainstream school has a special unit, they are usually not special schools, but part of the mainstream school to which they are attached. However, places are in demand and those who outwardly show high levels of need are prioritised. Therefore, it’s unlikely that a child or young person would be able to access such provision without it being specified in an EHC plan.

Children with an EHCP

For those with an EHCP, you do not go through the usual school admissions process. The Statutory and Monitoring Team support you through the process of naming a school. You can request a particular nursery, school or college when you receive a draft EHC plan or an amendment notice setting out proposed amendments to an existing EHC plan. This might be when your child or young person is getting an EHC plan for the first time, if the EHC plan is being amended after an annual review, or if the EHC plan is being amended at any other time (for example, if your child or young person has moved to a different Local Authority in England).

Contact SENDIASS for help

Whether your child or young person has an EHCP or not, we can support you through the relevant process and, if needed, appealing the local authority’s decision on the school given or named in the EHCP. The best way to get in touch is to complete our online referral form.

You can also contact: 0300 365 1020 or email SENDIASS@peterborough.gov.uk.

The service is available all year during office hours from Monday to Friday and a 24-hour answering service is available. Please leave your name, number and a brief message and a member of the team will get back to you within one working day.

Peterborough Information Network | SEND Information Advice and Support Service - SENDIASS (Local Offer)

You can change the information and re-submit your application up until the closing date.

After the deadline you need to complete an amendment form to make any changes. Depending on circumstance this may be classed as a late application.

If you apply for a school place or move into the area after places are allocated, you can still apply and list up to three preferences.

We will offer your child a place at one of your preferred schools if this is possible. If your preferred schools are full, your child will be put on a ‘continuing interest list’ in order of priority. We will allocate your child a place at the next nearest school to your home with available places.

If you can’t apply online, you can:

• Visit a Peterborough library
• Visit a Peterborough Family Hub

Both have internet access and you can receive support to set up a free email account and apply online for a school place. They also have scanning facilities if you need to provide any documentation.

Alternatively, please contact our School Admissions Team for help:

Email: admissions@peterborough.gov.uk
Phone: 01733 864 007 (open Monday to Friday, 9am to 2pm - excluding bank holidays)

If you provide false information, the School Admissions Code allows for us to withdraw the offer of a school place. This applies even if the child has started at the school. Providing false information could also lead to prosecution.

If you don’t provide the required documentation to prove where you live, we will withdraw the offer of a school place. We will then offer a place at the nearest school to your home address with an available place. This may be some distance away.

If you think someone has lied to us, you can report it by emailing admissions@peterborough.gov.uk. We investigate all reports received.