Apply to move school

If your child is at primary, junior or secondary school and you want to move them to a different school during the school year, you need to apply. This is called a mid-term or in-year transfer.

Before you apply

If you are applying for an Academy, Foundation, Voluntary Aided school, Trust school or Free school, you need to check with the school whether a supplementary application form is needed.

Moving school as you’re moving house

If you're moving house and your child / children are already at a school, but will no longer be able to attend that school, you need to:

• tell the school that you're moving, the school will inform us to enable us to update our records.
• find a school in Leicestershire.

If you'll no longer live in Leicestershire, you need to find a school in the area you will live in. 

It is important that your child continues to attend school, where possible.

Applications for mid-term transfer

School places cannot be reserved to be taken up at a future date as determined in the School Admissions Code. 

Where a place can be allocated and offered within Leicestershire, you will have a window of 20 school days in which to take up the place and for your child to be placed on roll or the offer will be withdrawn. You should therefore apply for a mid-term transfer no more than four weeks before your preferred start date.

Moving school in Years 10 and 11

Parents are strongly advised that in their child’s best interests, it's never a good idea to move school once the child has embarked on a two-year GCSE course. This is because, even if the intended school has availability, it's unlikely that the school will be able to accommodate the options the child has already opted to do at the current school.

Popular options may already be full and they may have to do options the child has no interest in. The new school may not be able to meet the combination of options requested, it is also likely to be following a different curriculum or may have started from a different point, and it may be following a different examination board. In some instances, schools will have already started some option subjects from Year 9.

Parents are therefore advised to work with the current school and see through the GCSEs as their child is well settled, the teachers know the child and will get the best out of them, to minimising education disruption by not changing school during such vital school years.

Moving school due to a dispute or another reason

You should think very carefully whether moving your child to another school is the best option for your child.

Most problems parents and children have can be sorted out by talking to the child or speaking to relevant people at the school eg teachers, tutors, Head of Year, Headteacher, school Education Welfare Officer.

There is no guarantee that your preferred school(s) will be able to offer your child a place. You should not remove your child from their current school before you have an offer of a place at another school.

Meeting the criteria

Before you apply for your child’s school place, please make sure the following applies to you:  

1. You know what Leicestershire school you would like your child to go to.
   If you’re not sure, use our find a school search.
2. You know how your child will get to school
   If not, see the school transport section.
3. You’ve read the Your Guide to education for primary or secondary applications, which includes everything you need to know to apply for a school place and the priority criteria for how school places are allocated. Allocations are made using the admissions criteria and not the preference order. Choosing more than one school doesn't affect how your higher preference school(s) are considered. 
   You can view the catchment area map in the find a school search or on the school's website.
4. You've read our Tips for applying and watched our Applying for a school place in Leicestershire video, to improve your chances of securing a place at a preferred school.