In Gloucestershire you apply for a school place through Gloucestershire County Council, not through the school. You list the schools you would like, in order, and each school gives out its places using its own published rules.
The short version
- Check which schools are realistic for your address. The last distance offered is a good first guide.
- Read each school's admissions policy: the rules it uses when it has more applicants than places.
- Apply to the council by the closing date, listing your real first choice first.
- Accept your offer, even if you want to wait for a different school, then join waiting lists or appeal if you want to.
Who you apply to
You apply to your home council: the council for the area you live in. If you live in Gloucestershire, that is Gloucestershire County Council, even if you want a school in another county. If you live outside Gloucestershire, apply to your own council, even for a Gloucestershire school.
When to apply
- Starting Reception, or moving to Year 3 at a junior school, in September 2027: apply by midnight, 15 January 2027. For Reception, this is for children born between 1 September 2022 and 31 August 2023.
- Starting secondary school in September 2027: on-time applications closed at midnight, 31 October 2026. This was for children born between 1 September 2015 and 31 August 2016. Late applications are still accepted, but they are dealt with after on-time ones.
See every key date for 2027 entry.
How your list of schools is used
Gloucestershire uses the equal preference system. Each school looks at every application against its own rules, without knowing where you ranked it. If more than one of your schools could offer your child a place, you are offered the one you ranked highest.
This means putting a school first never harms your chances at your other choices. So list your real favourite first, and use your other choices for schools where you have a good chance of a place.
If none of the schools you listed can offer a place, the council offers a place at the nearest school to your home that still has room.
What happens when a school is full
When a school has more applicants than places, it is oversubscribed. It then gives places using its oversubscription criteria: a list of priority groups, in order, that every school must publish.
For community and voluntary controlled schools, where the council sets the rules, the usual order is:
- Children in care, or who used to be in care (“looked-after” and “previously looked-after” children).
- For a junior school, children at its linked infant school.
- Children with a brother or sister at the school when they start.
- Everyone else, by how close they live to the school.
Academies, foundation schools and voluntary aided schools (many of them church schools) set their own rules. These can include faith, a catchment area or children of staff. The council publishes every school's rules in its information booklets.
Children with an education, health and care (EHC) plan, a legal document setting out a child's special educational needs, get a place at the school named in their plan. They go through a separate process with the council, not the normal application.
How distance is measured
For schools where the council sets the rules, distance is measured in a straight line (“as the crow flies”), from your home's Ordnance Survey address point to the school's, using the council's computer system. It is not the walking or driving distance. Schools that set their own rules say how they measure distance in their policy.
Use your child's permanent home address. Councils check addresses, and a place given on a false or temporary address can be withdrawn.
Catchment areas
A catchment area is an area drawn on a map by a school, whose children get higher priority. Most Gloucestershire primary schools do not have one, but some academy, foundation and church schools do, and several secondary schools do. Living in a catchment area does not guarantee a place, and living outside one does not rule a place out.
Grammar schools
Gloucestershire has seven state grammar schools. They choose pupils using the 11+ entrance test. You must register for the test with the grammar schools, and also list the grammar schools you want on your council application.
For children starting secondary school in September 2028, test registration runs from noon, 8 February to noon, 19 March 2027, and the test is planned for Saturday 3 July 2027 (planned). Grammar schools on the council website.
If you don't get the school you wanted
- Accept the place you are offered by the deadline, so your child is sure of a school. Accepting it does not stop you joining waiting lists or appealing.
- Waiting lists: you can ask to go on the waiting list for schools you ranked higher. Lists are kept in order of the school's rules, not by when you joined.
- Appeals: you have the right to appeal to an independent panel for any school that refused your child. You get at least 20 school days from your offer to lodge an appeal; the date is in your offer. How often appeals succeed in Gloucestershire.
Starting school
Children can start Reception full-time in the September after they turn four. They do not have to be in school until the start of the term after their fifth birthday, so you can ask the school about starting part-time or later in the year. You still need to apply by the closing date.
Where this comes from
This guide summarises Gloucestershire County Council's admissions pages and booklets for 2027 entry, checked on 7 November 2026. If anything differs, follow the council. Gloucestershire school admissions · Reception and junior, 2027 · Secondary transfer, 2027.