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Secondary schools your child can go to

There are 16 secondary schools in Bexley.

All our secondary schools are academies, which means they can decide their own priorities for allocating places.

A few are grammar schools, which means they can choose who goes there based on a selection test (which used to be known as the ’11 plus’ exam).

You can apply for all schools through our form. If you’re applying for a place in a faith school, check with them if they need an extra form with more information.

When you apply, you can choose up to six preferences for your child. You don’t have to fill in all six, but putting down only one doesn’t give you a better chance of getting in.

Visit all the schools you’re interested in

We strongly recommend that you visit the schools you’re most interested in to find out more about them. We have a list of all school details, and you can get in touch or check their websites to find out about open days and appointments.

Check if your child needs to sit a test

Our grammar schools are selective, which means they can choose pupils based on test results. You have to register for your child to take the selection test.

Some schools use ability banding tests to decide how many pupils to admit at each level. You should check with the schools you’re interested in to see if your child will have to sit one.

Check the admissions arrangements at your chosen schools

All our secondary schools are academies, and they can set their own arrangements. That means that if there are more applicants than places available they won’t all have the same priorities for deciding who gets one.

You can check those arrangements with each of the schools you’re interested in, or read through our Admission to Secondary Schools 2024 to 2025.

For a faith school, you’ll usually also have to fill out an extra form about your child’s religious background. They will always prioritise children who attend services regularly.

If your child is already at Harris Garrard Academy and you want them to stay there for secondary, you don’t have to apply again.

Co-ordinated secondary school admissions scheme

This statement explains the role of the London Borough of Bexley as the coordinating authority for applications for all secondary schools in Bexley. All the secondary schools in Bexley are Academies and the Local Authority is longer the admission authority for any secondary school. This statement is provided in accordance with the Department for Education School Admission Appeals Code of Practice.

Co-ordinated Secondary School Admissions work on the basis that parents submit a Secondary Common Application Form (SCAF) to their home Local Authority listing their preferred schools regardless of the Local Authority area in which the schools are situated. The London Borough of Bexley allows parents to express up to 6 preferences. The Bexley selection test results are available before the closing date for secondary applications so that parents can make informed preferences.

Local Authorities exchange application information with each other so that each Local Authority has a complete list of all the children for whom applications have been made to schools within its area.

The School Admissions Team of the London Borough of Bexley submits to each Academy in the borough a list of children whose parents have applied for the school on their SCAF. The list includes the home-to-school distance calculated by the London Borough of Bexley’s Geographic Information System (GIS) map measuring system. This allows schools to sequence applicants within oversubscription categories, where the school uses home-to-school distance as the “tie break” test. The Governors of the school put the applicants in rank order in accordance with the school’s oversubscription criteria, after conducting tests to place applicants in ability bands if appropriate and return the list of applicants in that order to the School Admissions Team. The “rank order” of each applicant is entered on the Authority’s database.

Some Academies choose to delegate the sequencing of applicants to the Local Authority where their oversubscription criteria are identical to those previously used by the authority for community schools.

The allocation process is then run in three parts:

  1. Each preference is considered separately regardless of its rank on the application form. The system records whether or not the child is eligible for each preference.
  2. The second part of the process looks at children who are eligible for more than one preference. In those cases, the highest preference is retained. Any lower preferences that the child qualified for are discarded as “not required as a higher preference is being offered”.
    At this stage, Local Authorities inform each other of the places that can be offered in their schools to children resident in other areas.
  3. Applicants who have not qualified to be offered any of the preferences expressed are offered a place by the home Local Authority at the nearest school to the family home that has vacancies at this stage of the allocation process.

Bexley’s School Admissions Team notifies the parents of every child living in Bexley for whom there is an on-time application, of the outcome of their application, whether the school offered is in Bexley or another Local Authority area. Emails were sent to those who applied online on 1 March 2024, and letters were posted by first class post on 1 March 2024 to those who applied on a paper form and to online applicants not offered their first preference. Parents offered a place in a Bexley school but who do not live in the borough, received the offer letter from their home Local Authority.

The Local Authority provides each school with a list of the applicants who have been offered places. It collates waiting list requests from its own residents and residents of other Local Authorities and sends waiting list requests to admission authorities. When notified by a school that an additional vacancy has arisen and which child the vacancy should be offered to, the Local Authority makes the offer of the place to Bexley residents on behalf of the admission authority or informs the applicant’s home local authority that the offer can be made.

Admission arrangements

Admission arrangements for secondary schools in Bexley:

Supplementary information forms

Some schools, mainly voluntary aided faith schools, ask parents to complete a supplementary information form when applying for a place for their child at the school.

The supplementary information forms for schools in Bexley are listed below. Forms should be returned directly to the school concerned. You can also obtain paper copies from the schools.