Admissions & Attendance

We are a voluntary controlled school and the admission authority is Leeds City Council. 

The school’s admission authority sets the admission policy every year. You can read our school’s admission polices below:

Our school admissions policies (leeds.gov.uk)

How to apply for a September 2025 Reception Place 

If you are applying for a reception place for September 2025, all applications are made in advance. The national closing date is 15 January 2025. Offers are made by the Local Authority on national offer day (16 April 2025).

Our Published Admission Number (PAN) is 60 places, and this is the number of places the school can admit in reception in 2025.

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 key dates 
• a search tool to see if your home address gives 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 will 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 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.

You can also see information about our school, including previous admission data, on our school page on the Leeds City Council’s website 

St Bartholomew's C of E Primary School Information

Application timetable

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

	Children born between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021 are due to start reception in September 2025
1st November 2024	Applications open. You can apply online at leeds.gov.uk/apply
15th January 2025	National deadline for applying for Reception 2025.
12th February 2025	Deadline for making changes that will be considered as being on-time for our school.
28th February 2025	Final date Leeds City Council uses for adding late applications or receiving change of address evidence.  Any new applications received after this date will not be offered a school place until the first round of reallocations in May.
16th April 2025	National offer day.
30th April 2025	Deadline for: Accepting your offer for a place at our school.  Making any changes to your application before Leeds City Council carries out the first reallocation of places.
20th May 2025	All reception appeal submitted by this date will be heard before the summer holidays start. Leeds City Council arranges our appeals.
May to end of August 2025	Any available places automatically allocated from waiting lists by the local authority. Lower preference school offers are also withdrawn automatically (even if accepted).
June to July 2025	Appeals heard by independent appeal panels.
September 2025	Start primary school.

 

In-year applications

If you are moving into Leeds or want to change schools in Leeds, you need to make a school transfer – often called an in-year application.
This includes 

• applications for a place in reception after the start of term in September 
• and applications for a place in all other year groups (year 1-6)

Moving schools can be a difficult experience for a child. You should always speak to your child's current school before trying to move to see what support they can offer you.

How to apply for an in-year place

We are part of the Leeds coordinated in-year application scheme. 

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

If you have moved house, please submit evidence of the house move at the same time you make your online application. You can find out what you need to provide on the above website. 

We have to offer places by applying our admission policy criteria to your child’s application.   Leeds City Council will contact you with our decision no later than 15 school days from when you apply.  If they cannot offer your child a place at our school, they will:

• Add your child to our waiting list in case a place becomes available during the school year  
• Send you a letter to explain the reasons we cannot offer a place (usually that we are full) and tell you how you can appeal 

Our waiting lists are kept until the 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. 

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 is 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 appealing for a reception place for September 2025, you need to submit your appeal form by any deadline set out on the above page 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 infant 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.

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Starting Nursery

Children must be three years of age to attend the Nursery. Enquiries must be made directly to the school. Children's names can be put down on the waiting list from any age.

We have an admissions policy which can be viewed below:

Starting Nursery - Information for Parents

Children receive five free sessions a week.

The sessions available are:

• Monday to Friday: 08:30 - 11:30
• Monday to Friday: 12:30 - 15:30
• Monday and Tuesday: 08:30 - 15:30 & Wednesday: 08:30 - 11:30
• Wednesday: 12:30 - 15:30 & Thursday and Friday: 08:30 - 15:30 

Please discuss your preferred choice when you register child. Please note, as we fill up not all sessions will be available.

We do offer a small number of 30 hour places to those who are eligible, however these are in high demand and are not available to everyone. Please ask at the office.