Starting secondary or upper school

When to apply

The closing date for secondary and upper school applications is 31 October 2024.

Any application or change made after this date will be classed as late. This means we will not consider it until after the on-time round.

We will let you know your outcome:

on 3 March 2025 if you applied on time (by 31 October 2024)
on 2 April 2025 if you apply late (between 1 November 2024 and 2 March 2025)

Applications received after the late round deadline will be processed as soon as possible following the completion of the late round allocations. This will be dependent on the date of application, receipt of required evidence and remaining space availability at the preferred school(s).

Initio Trust middle schools

The middle schools specified below also have a transfer point of entry at Year 7 (in addition to the normal Year 5 point of entry for a middle school):

Allenbourn Middle School
Emmanuel Middle School
Lockyers Middle School
St Michael’s CE Middle School

If your child is in Year 6 you wish to apply for Year 7 entry to any of these middle schools, you will be able to select these school preferences in the ‘Starting Secondary School in Sept 2025’ round when making your application.

Please note that these types of application must still be submitted before the secondary school deadline (31st October 2024).

Before you apply

Read our parents guide

Read our parents' guide for information about the different types of schools, the evidence we require and information you need to know before applying.

You must be a Dorset resident to complete this application form.

If you do not have a confirmed Dorset address but wish to apply for a Dorset school, please apply through the local authority admissions team in the area where you currently live. This includes if you live within Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP)

Apply for a school place

List up to 3 schools in order of preference. One of these schools should be your catchment school, if there is one. You'll receive a confirmation email once you've submitted your application.

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Religious school requirements

You may have to complete an additional form if you want to apply to religious schools. This is an extra form which should be sent to the schools themselves, unless stated differently, you must still complete an application form.

If you can't apply online

If you can't apply online, you can fill in and return a paper application from the 1 September, this should be posted by the closing date, make sure you include proof of posting.

Once you've applied

Make changes to your submitted application

If you want to make changes to your submitted application, you need to complete a change of preference form:

You must not make any changes via your online account. We process applications based on the information you give in your application. This means if you change your address after 31 October, we'll process your application using the address you were living at on the closing date.

How we inform you of your application outcome

If you apply online, you will receive your outcome by email on the relevant outcome date above. You will be able to find details of how places have been allocated on our school allocations page.

What to do when you have a school place offer

It is automatically assumed that the school place offered will be accepted so you do not need to contact us to confirm this.

If you wish to decline a school place offered, you must let us know via your online account response function and/or by emailing the admissions team with the reason for declining.

You can also request to go on the waiting list for any school that you have been refused in the same way.

There will be a 2-week response period following the outcome date during which you can respond via your online parent portal account.