Today (Monday 3 March), many Nottinghamshire parents and carers will find out the outcome of their child’s secondary school applications for places starting in September 2025.

Continuing the success of recent years, 98% of the 9316 on-time applications from Nottinghamshire parents for secondary places in 2025 will receive a place at one of their preferred schools, and over 91% of children are being offered a place at their parents’ first preference.

Families who applied online will receive their offer by email, or by logging into their school admissions account on offer day, where they can find details of their school offer and the next steps required. Applicants who provided an email address will also be sent an email on offer day. Remaining applicants will receive letters that are expected to arrive in the next few days, after being posted on Monday 3 March.

Councillor Ben Bradley, Cabinet Member for Education and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities at Nottinghamshire County Council, said:

“The move to secondary school is a big step for pupils in year six and it is great news that a large majority of children are being offered places at one of their preferred schools, as in previous years.

Throughout the admissions process, parents are provided with lots of information from the school admissions team to help them understand how places are allocated and make best use of their preferences. The council has worked hard with schools to secure additional places in areas across the county – and another year of positive results shows that.

More and more families are making the move to live and work in Nottinghamshire, and we are committed to providing high-quality school places to those children. I want to thank everyone involved in the process and wish those families with children moving to secondary school the best of luck in preparing over the next few months.”

When parents and carers receive their offer, they have a number of options:

  1. Accept the school place – by 16 March.
  2. If their child has been refused a place at a preferred school, they will already be on the school’s waiting list.
  3. If they are not satisfied with the offer they have received, they are advised to contact the school where they have been refused for information about how to lodge an appeal.

 

Important: parents are advised to accept their child’s offer, even if they would prefer a different school and plan to appeal, until they have confirmed alternative plans for their child’s education.

The council follows the government’s statutory school admissions code, which ensures that all school places for maintained schools and academies are allocated in an open and fair way.

For anyone who submitted a late application or made changes to their application after the October deadline, those applications will start to be processed from 17 March and parents informed after 27 March.

For further advice, parents can visit the school admissions hub.