After your child is offered a secondary school place
You’ll get the results of your application in March 2024.
If you applied online, you’ll hear by email, or, if you’ve used it, on the ParentComm app. if you applied using a paper form, we’ll post you a letter on the day results are released.
What to do when you get your offer
If you got your first preference school, you don’t have to do anything. We’ll assume you’re accepting it unless you tell us otherwise.
If you got an offer for any other school, let us know right away whether you’re accepting it. You can do it online if you applied that way, or using the form in your letter. If we don’t hear by 15 March 2024, we can withdraw the offer.
What to do if you didn’t get your first choice
We strongly recommend accepting the place, even if you’re making an appeal or your child is on a waiting list. It doesn’t affect your appeal or list position, and you won’t risk your child missing out on a place altogether.
If you got an offer for a school on your list, but not your first choice, we’ll let you know how to put your child on a waiting list if you want to.
If we’ve had to offer you a place at a school not on your list, you have the right to appeal, and we’ll send you information about that. You should note that appeals are rarely successful.
If you choose to reject a place, you must tell us where your child will be going to school from September 2024.
Any questions?
Common questions about starting secondary school in Bexley
Can I choose my child’s secondary school?
When you apply, you can put up to six preferences on the form. We’ll treat each one as a separate application and then offer you the place that’s highest on your list. If there aren’t any places at any of the schools you’ve listed, we’ll offer a place at the nearest school that has one.
You don’t have to fill in all six, but putting down one doesn’t give you a better chance of getting in.
How do you decide which child to give a place to?
We’ll always do our best to offer your child a place at a high preference school. If there aren’t enough places to do that, every school has its own arrangements to decide priority. You can ask them for their policy or read our Admission to Secondary Schools 2024 to 2025.
We don’t have catchment areas in Bexley, though direct distance from the school is usually something we consider.
Why do all secondary schools have different admissions arrangements?
All the secondary schools in Bexley are academies, which means that even though they’re state schools, they’re not run by us. They set their own admissions priorities. Some are grammar schools, which means they can be selective on the basis of whether a child passes a test or not.
Find out more about Bexley secondary schools.
How do I get my child into grammar school?
If you want to apply to grammar schools, your child needs to sit the secondary selection test.
Find out about the test and applying to grammar school.
You haven’t answered my question
We go into more detail about all these things and more in the Admission to Secondary Schools 2024 to 2025 or you can contact us on selectiontest@bexley.gov.uk.