Apply for a school place

Planned maintenance

Please note that the portal will be unavailable on the following days due to planned maintenance:

  • Tuesday 21 November 2023 4pm-6pm
  • Tuesday 12 December 2023 all day

The UK education system

To assist parents we have produced advice on the UK education system which has also been translated into Romanian, Polish, Russian, Arabic, Dari and Punjabi.


Apply for a school place in Year R, Year 3, for a Junior School or Year 7

If you pay your council tax to Southampton City Council then you must apply for schools through us, even those not in Southampton. If you are unsure, you can check whether we are your local authority for school admissions.

Applications for school places for September 2024 will open on Monday 4 September 2023

To apply for a school place after applications close you can submit a late application.


Check before you apply

Otherwise you can apply through the portal below.

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Before you fill in this form

You won't be able to save this form to complete later, so please allow yourself 10-15 minutes to fill in the form. You will need to provide:

  • Proof of address

Apply for a school place

To apply for a September 2024 place, you will need to

  1. Find and decide the order of your preferred schools. We strongly advise looking at the admissions policies for each school, so that you know how applications are considered and how the distance from home to school will be measured
  2. Register and apply through the Citizen Portal. This is a separate login to any other account you may have registered with us.
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Before you fill in this form

You won't be able to save this form to complete later, so please allow yourself up to five minutes to fill in the form.

Register for the portal

Citizen Portal guidance is available to use when applying.

Additional supporting information is required if you are:

  • Applying to a faith school under the faith criteria
  • Applying to a particular school for a significant medical or psychological reason
  • Active members of the Church of England and require a Church of England controlled school

Remember: Places are withdrawn every year because parents give a false address on their application. This includes cases where parents buy or rent a property solely to use the address in the application, without any intention of taking up permanent residence there.

We will investigate all allegations of false addresses and may monitor residency details if use of a temporary address causes concern.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if I miss the deadline? SHOW


I want to make a change to my application SHOW


My child attends a link school. Will they get a place at the next school automatically? SHOW


My child attends a pre-school or nursery that is on the site of the school or is part of the school, will I be offered a place at the school? SHOW


Am I guaranteed a place at my catchment school? SHOW


My child has already started school but I need to move them to another school, what do I need to do? SHOW


What if I'm not living in the Southampton city boundary in time for the application deadline? SHOW


My child lives between two addresses, which do I use? SHOW


How are applications processed? SHOW


Why should I include three preferences on my application? SHOW