When Do Secondary School Places Come Out in 2024?

Secondary school offers education after primary school and before college. In the UK there are two types of secondary schools – a lower secondary school which is for students aged between 12 to 16 and is also compulsory to attend and an upper secondary school which is for students aged between 16 to 18. As it is a way to help you with your higher studies it is important to get into the right secondary school for you. This may leave us with the question of when secondary school places come out.

Quick Takeaways

• Secondary school places will be offered nationally on 1 March 2024. 
•  It is important that you should write down at least six schools to which you want to apply.

However, you must read till the end so that you get a better understanding of when the secondary school places come out.

When will secondary school places come out in 2024?

As mentioned above the date for the place offered for secondary school is 1st March 2024. This data is also known as national offer day. However, if this date comes on a weekend or on a bank holiday the offers are sent on the next working day. You can make your acceptance decision by 15 March 2024.

What is the last date for applying to secondary school?

Generally, you will have to apply for a secondary school in the months of September and October of the preceding year. This means that the official deadline to apply for secondary school is 31st October 2022 if you want to study in secondary school in 2023.

What happens after the closing date?

You can expect the following things after the national offer day-

• The applications that they have received our processed and the addresses are checked.
• Offers are generally prepared and drafted for students.
• All the offers that are made by the secondary school are listed and the highest possibility matches.
• The files and the data are exchanged with the local authority that is outside of the area of the school.
• All the applications that the secondary school are checked by them and ranked accordingly.
• After the offers are finalized, outcomes are ready by the national offer day.

When should you start looking at secondary schools?

Secondary school opens their applications for students in year 5. However, if you have grammar schools in your area then you must try to look at the schools in starting of your 5. It will help you to decide if your child should sit 11+ in that school could not. Though if you have already decided where your child should attend secondary school then you should start looking when they are in year 6.

The open days of a school are advertised many times. They will provide all information and the learning culture of their schools. It will help you in deciding the school you want to reply to.

How many schools should you apply to?

When you are completing your application form you may see a section in which they would ask for your preference orders. According to the government website, it is important that you should write down at least six schools to which you want to apply. This is because if you have listed 6 schools, it is a possibility that you will get selected for one of the schools on your preference list. It will also help you to get safe from the school that is randomly given to your child by the council.

However, you must check on each school’s admission policies and straight so that you could have an idea of if your child will get an offer or not. Another important factor that you should consider is the tuition fee of the school.

How do you choose a secondary school?

Following are the tips that you should consider while applying to secondary school-

1. Trusting your instincts

As a parent, you know what is best for your child. Therefore if you think that that particular school is best for your child’s skills and interests then you should apply to that secondary school.

2. Looking for admission criteria

The next step is to check for the admission criteria. If your child does not fit the admission criteria of the school there is no fun in wasting your time. Look for other schools where your child may fit in proper admission criteria.

3. Select more than one school

As mentioned earlier you should select at least more than one school for your child. Try to select a minimum of 6 schools to easily get admission according to your preferences. You must also consider to which school you want to send your child. You can neither send them to the faith school nor the grammar school.

4. Fill out the form properly

The application form that you fill out is the last option for sending your child to secondary school. Therefore you must fill it out appropriately. Try not to leave any questions blank as it may reduce the chance of getting your child selected.

5. Check for the documents

Giving them the right documents is what you should do. You must check that the documents that you are submitting are right and correct. Check whether all the details that are mentioned in the documents are correct or not. It would be best if you remembered that providing the wrong documents may again decrease the chances of getting selected for secondary school.

Conclusion

The secondary schools will officially announce their plans on 1st March 2024. This data is also known as the national offer date and if this date is on any holiday, the plans are offered on the next working day. You can apply for secondary schools till 31st October. Remember that you must apply to six secondary schools so that you could get the school of your presence list. When you reply to secondary school you must consider the application requirements and should fill out the form properly. You must also recheck documents before submitting them with the application form. The date for accepting the offer is by 15th March 2024.