Guide to in-year admissions 2025 to 2026 - Secondary education in Bracknell Forest

Secondary schools cater for pupils aged 11 to 16. This is year 7 through to year 11.

If your child is year 10 or 11 it is important for you to discuss available GCSE options with schools before applying. Not all schools will be able to meet your child’s chosen options and it is important for you and the school to be aware of this before you apply. Read our things to consider page for more details.

Types of Bracknell Forest secondary schools 

Community schools - admission arrangements

Bracknell Forest is the admission authority for community schools and sets the oversubscription criteria for this school: 

Children with an Education Health and Care Plan that names a specific school must, by law, be admitted to that school. After this requirement has been satisfied the following rules will apply:

(A) Looked After Children1 and all previously looked after children. Previously looked after children are children who were looked after but ceased to be so because they were adopted2 (or became subject to a child arrangements order3 or special guardianship order4) immediately following having been looked after. This also includes those children who appear to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted5.

(B) Children who have either medical or social grounds for admission to a particular school. This evidence must set out the particular reason why the school in question is the only suitable school and the difficulties caused if the child had to attend another school.  The local authority's decision in these matters is final.

(C) Children of staff at a particular school.

1. Where the member of staff has been employed at the school for 2 or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made and/or
2. the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is demonstrable skill shortage.

(D) Children who live in the designated area of the school and who have a sibling* who will still be attending the school at the time of the child’s admission.

(E) Children who live in the designated area of the school.

(F) Children who do not live in the designated area of the school but who have a sibling* who will still be attending the school at the time of the child’s admission.

(G) All other children.

*Sibling does not include those in the 6th form of the school. 

Tie break

If there are still insufficient places, and no distinction can be made between the applicants within each of the criterion or if they do not fulfil any of the above criteria, applications will be ranked on the radial distance (straight line distance on a map) between the home and the school. Those living nearer to the school will be placed higher than those living further away. Radial distance will be based on the co-ordinates for the property and the school as defined in the Local Land and Property Gazetteer and based on the Ordnance Survey’s national system. For new build properties these co-ordinates may not yet be finalised by the Local Land and Property Gazetteer and therefore the co-ordinates available at the time of application will be used.

Distances are measured using direct distance calculations in a computer system. The measurement of each distance has been calculated using Pythagoras’ Theorem. The way in which this is done is to calculate the distance in metres between the Easting and Northing co-ordinates for each location. The measurement in metres is then multiplied by 0.000621317 to convert this measurement to miles. The same method of calculation is used for each direct distance measured. This can be to 3, 4 or 5 decimal places where necessary.

Distances for split site schools will be measured as above to both sites and the shortest distance will then be used for the application.

In the event that 2 or more children live at the same distance from school and it cannot be separated and there are fewer places available, then random allocation will be used to decide which child will be allocated the remaining place(s). The process will be drawn and scrutinised by people who are independent of the council. Random allocation will not be used for multiple birth siblings (for example, twins and triplets) from the same family tied for the final place.

Where demand exists, schools admit up to their admission number and no places are reserved for pupils moving into their designated area.

Social and medical grounds (category B)

If a child has a social and medical need that would cause significant physical or mental hardship, an applicant can indicate that they wish their application to be considered under social and medical grounds.

It is the applicants responsibility to obtain a supplementary social and medical information form which must be completed and returned to the School Admissions Team along with supporting written evidence from a professional at the same time as the in-year application.

The supporting evidence for social and medical grounds should be from the relevant registered professionals involved with the child. Examples include registered health professionals, such as consultant, GP, psychologist or psychiatrist. All evidence must be on letter headed paper and reflect the child’s current situation.

This evidence must prove why the school in question is the only suitable school and why the child cannot attend another school. This evidence must be specific to the school in question. It is the applicants responsibility to provide all evidence in support of their request and it is not possible for it to be considered under this criterion if no evidence is supplied. All schools have the resources to work with special educational needs and common childhood complaints such as asthma.

Requests will be considered in accordance with the Equalities Act 2010.

You can download a copy of the social and medical form from our in-year school application page.

The process

Applications on social and medical need will be considered firstly by the panel of officers. They will consider information on the social and medical supplementary information form and any evidence from the relevant professionals. They will recommend whether a decision can be made to either:

• allow the application
• refuse the application on the grounds that the circumstances of the case does not meet the social and medical criterion

The recommendation will then be passed to the School Admissions Manager for a final decision. The decision on the application will be recorded and a letter will be sent to the applicant informing them of the outcome.

Academy schools - admissions arrangements

The admissions criteria for academies are set by each school’s trust.

For some of these schools an additional form may need to be completed as part of the application process.

Contact the relevant school or check their website for any supplementary forms that might need to be submitted with your application.

The following Bracknell Forest schools are academies:

• 1

  A 'looked after child' is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority in England, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in England in the exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989) at the time of making an application to a school.

• 2

  This includes children who were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 (section 12 adoption orders) and children who were adopted under the Adoption and Children’s Act 2002 (section 46 adoption orders).

• 3

  Child arrangements orders are defined in section 8 of the Children Act 1989, as amended by section 12 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Child arrangements orders replace residence orders and any residence order in force prior to 22 April 2014 is deemed to be a child arrangements order.

• 4

  See section 14A of the Children Act 1989 which defines a ‘special guardianship order’ as an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian.  

• 5

  A child is regarded as having been in state care outside of England if they were in the care of or were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation, or any other provider of care whose sole or main purpose is to benefit society.

Edgbarrow School

This school is part of Bracknell Forest in-year co-ordinated scheme and the in-year application process detailed within this guide applies. 

Any supplementary information forms required for this school can be found on our in-year school application page.

The admissions arrangements (criteria) for this school have been set by the Corvus Learning Trust and can be found on the Edgbarrow School website.

King’s Academy Binfield

This school is part of Bracknell Forest in-year co-ordinated scheme and the in-year application process detailed within this guide applies.

Any supplementary information forms required for this school can be found on our in-year school application page.

The admissions arrangements (criteria) for this school have been set by King’s Group Academies Trust and can be found on the King's Academy Binfield website.

King’s Academy Easthampstead Park

This school is part of Bracknell Forest in-year co-ordinated scheme and the in-year application process detailed within this guide applies. 

Any supplementary information forms required for this school can be found on our in-year school application page.

The admissions arrangements (criteria) for this school have been set by King’s Group Academies Trust and can be found on the King's Academy Easthampstead Park website.

Ranelagh School

This school is part of Bracknell Forest in-year co-ordinated scheme and the in-year application process detailed within this guide applies.

The admissions arrangements (criteria) for this school have been set by Bonitas Academy Trust and can be found on the Ranelagh School website.

Sandhurst School

This school is part of Bracknell Forest in-year co-ordinated scheme and the in-year application process detailed within this guide applies.

The admissions arrangements (criteria) for this school have been set by the Corvus Learning Trust and can be found on the Sandhurst School website.

The Brakenhale School

This school is not part of the Bracknell Forest in-year co-ordinated scheme.

You must contact the school for information about applying. Contact details can be found on the Brakenhale School website.

Sixth Form

All secondary schools in Bracknell Forest have sixth forms. Pupils in individual schools are entitled to be considered for entry into another school sixth form, provided there are sufficient places and the criteria for individual courses is met.

The local authority has responsibility for determining the admissions policy for community sixth forms in secondary schools. The administration of the policy is delegated by the local authority to the community secondary schools.

In other words, we set the admissions criteria and the schools administer it.

You can get an application form from the individual schools.

University Technical College (UTC)

University Technical Colleges (UTCs) are a type of school that offer industry recognised technical qualifications as well as traditional GCSEs and A Levels.

UTCs are schools for 14 to 19 year olds. They deliver an innovative, high-quality education that combines technical, practical and academic learning. In doing so, they offer students more than the traditional GCSE and A Level curriculum. UTC students work closely with employers on real-life technical projects. These build students’ communication and team working skills, which is essential for the workplace.

The closest UTC to Bracknell Forest is Reading. You can find details about applying on the UTC Reading website.