You might already have an idea of some of the things that are important to you and your child when it comes to choosing a school.
You may have talked to other parents or to children who are already at particular schools. This feedback can be helpful, but do not rely on these alone.
The important decision of selecting your child’s school should always be based on your own judgement.
Admissions arrangements
Make sure you have researched and understood the admissions criteria for the schools you are interested in, including their published admissions number.
You can find the admission arrangements on the following pages of this guide:
Make sure you get any supplementary information forms you may need for the schools you want to apply to.
School brochure or prospectus
Every school produces a prospectus. This prospectus will contain basic information about the school and the way in which it seeks to provide for its pupils. Prospectuses are available on request from individual schools for free. They may also be available on the school’s website.
Schools produce their own prospectus. The local authority is not responsible for the content of these, although always aims to check them. Parents should refer back to this guide or contact School Admissions regarding anything to do with the admissions process.
Performance tables
Schools provide information about their own examination results in their prospectus.
Each November, the Secretary of State for Education publishes a comparative table of examination results in national and local newspapers.
Copies are available from the Department for Education website. They are not available from School Admissions or from individual schools.
Visits to schools
You may have already formed some impression of the schools you are planning to visit from the school brochures and other information that you have obtained.
A school visit gives you the opportunity to see the school for yourself and to check what you have read. Before you go, think of some questions that you can ask during your visit.
Try to take the opportunity to speak with pupils who show you around and staff at the school. Discuss with the headteacher what the school has to offer and how it can meet your child's needs.
School inspection reports
Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education) is headed by His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools and regularly inspects English maintained (state funded) schools. Certain other categories of schools are also inspected.
Copies of the reports are sent to schools at the end of the inspection. A summary of the report is sent to the parents of its pupils by the school. The school must also make a full copy available on request. Copies of published reports are available online on the Ofsted website. The website also provides more information about the process of inspection.
Designated or catchment areas
Wherever you live in Bracknell Forest there is a ‘designated’ primary and secondary school for your home address, sometimes referred to as a catchment school. Most Bracknell Forest schools have a ‘designated area’. The ‘designated’ school will not necessarily be your nearest school - so please check.
You can find details about the designated area of any school in Bracknell Forest on our designated area maps page.
This includes a link to our designated area interactive map.
If you need help with this, contact our Customer Services team on 01344 352000.
Non Bracknell Forest residents
There are a small amount of non Bracknell Forest properties which fall in the designated area for Bracknell Forest schools. To find out which is the designated school for your address you will need to contact your home local authority (who you pay your council tax to) who will be able to advise you.
Preference to children living in a designated area
The admissions arrangements for most schools in Bracknell Forest give preference to children living in a designated area. The designated area of any school is a clearly defined geographical area surrounding the school. The link between the school and the community is very important to us in Bracknell Forest and our admissions arrangements reflect this.
You are strongly advised to check with the local authority which school’s designated area your house is in. Do not rely on estate agents, developers, hearsay or where neighbours’ children attend school. You are also advised to be particularly cautious about information on schools given when considering purchasing a property on a new development site. Designated area boundaries do not always match parish or borough boundaries.
It is important to consider naming your designated area school as one of your 3 preferred schools.
That said, we cannot guarantee a place at any school in Bracknell Forest, even your designated area school.
If your application is successful for a school outside your designated area, it is important to be aware of the consequences this may have for any younger siblings. For most schools, children living in the designated area will be admitted ahead of them.
Exceptions
These schools do not have a designated area:
- St Michael’s Easthampstead CE
- St Margaret Clitherow RC
- St Joseph’s RC
- Ranelagh CE
Home address
This is the address where the child lives at the time of application.
All addresses for Bracknell Forest residents will be checked through our Revenue Services department. Non Bracknell Forest residents will be required to provide proof of address. If any discrepancies are found it remains the applicant’s responsibility to satisfy the Admissions Authority that they live at the address that they state. If fraud is suspected, then further proof may be requested. If fraud is established and a school place has been obtained as a result of a fraudulent application, then any offer of a school place will be withdrawn, and the application considered afresh.
If a parent or carer owns a property within the borough which they do not occupy and/or rent out and then move into another property within, or nearer to the designated area of the preferred school, then it is for the applicant to provide sufficient evidence to satisfy the Local Authority that the new address is that of the property in which they reside in, to allow that address to be used to determine any relevant criteria.
If an applicant already owns and resides in a property within the borough which is in the process of being sold, Bracknell Forest is able to accept the address of the new property on submission of the appropriate evidence in support of the move, for example, a solicitor’s letter showing completion. It is for the applicant to provide sufficient evidence to satisfy the Local Authority that the new address is that of the property where the child resides.
The address used on an application must be a permanent address. Temporary addresses can only be considered where evidence is provided of a genuine reason for the move.
The LA can ask at any time for further proof as they feel necessary and may visit you.
It is the parent or carer responsibility to update School Admissions with any change of address.
For details about what documents we accept as proof of address, read how to apply and how the process works.
Child arrangements order - previously shared residence orders
It is increasingly common that parents are agreeing, and courts are endorsing, child arrangements orders (previously known as shared residence orders) under section 8 of The Children Act 1989. You can get more advice on this matter from School Admissions.
Any details regarding shared residency, or the child’s living arrangements, must be submitted at the time of application. It is the parents’ responsibility to provide this information. As a general rule, shared residence is based (for admissions purposes) on the number of school nights a child spends at the home.
The School Admissions Team may take legal advice on these matters as they relate to a specific case. A main address will need to be used to process the application. If the second parent or carer’s address is different from the first, they will not receive any information or letters.
Looked After Child grounds
In order for this criterion to be given you must provide us with documentation that shows your child fulfils one of the following:
This refers to a child who is (a) in the care of a Local Authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a Local Authority 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. As well as children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order) immediately following having been looked after.
Or
This refers to children who appear to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.
Written proof is required. This can be a letter or email from your social worker or the Local Authority your child was or is looked after by. The proof submitted must confirm that your child fulfils the above criterion. Court orders, adoption orders or child arrangement orders do not always confirm this.
Denominational grounds (faith grounds)
If an application is received, a faith-based school (with a religious character) is required to offer every child of any faith or no faith, a place at the school if there is a place available. However, faith-based schools are popular and often oversubscribed. Such schools are permitted to use faith-based oversubscription criteria and allocate places by reference to faith where the school is oversubscribed.
If you are applying for a school on denominational grounds, you might have to complete a supplementary information form for this criterion to be considered.
Anyone can apply for a place at one of these schools. However, if you cannot get the relevant form completed, where required, the denominational criterion cannot be applied to your application and this will be processed under any remaining criteria it might fulfil.
Check the admissions arrangements for each school for more details.
Social and medical grounds
Many schools use social and medical grounds as part of their criteria. A supplementary information form (SIF) would have to be submitted if you wish to be considered under this criterion.
Check the admissions arrangements for each school for more details and their SIFs.
Sustainable transport to school
The council is committed to promoting sustainable travel to school. Primarily, this means walking and cycling, but for longer distances includes bus and car sharing.
When you are thinking about schools you would like your child to attend, consider the following:
- Children who walk or cycle to school can be fitter, have better developed social skills, be more familiar with their surroundings, have better road safety awareness and arrive at school more relaxed and ready to learn.
- Walking, cycling or using public transport offers children greater independence and flexibility. With pupils staying late at school for extracurricular activities and sport, this flexibility (especially for older children) can be important. It is also important for primary aged children soon transitioning to secondary school.
- Driving your child to school costs money. Over the year, this can add up to a significant amount.
- If you choose a school that you will have to drive to, it can be a long-term commitment. Will you still want, or be able to drive your child to school in 5 years’ time?
- Where will you park? Is it safe?
For more information and help in planning a sustainable journey to a school, read our school travel advice page.
You can also ask a school for a copy of their School Travel Plan.
Availability of places
We are committed to meeting your preference for a school place for your child, wherever possible. There may, however, be circumstances where this is not possible. As you are making an in-year application, your child will be joining an already formed year group. This means that there is a possibility the year group will be full. If you are making applications for more than one child, you may find that some schools may be unable to take all your children. We are unable to hold a place for one child until a place becomes available for the other.
The number of places available at a particular school is indicated by its admission number. We are unable to allocate over a school’s admissions number. Too many children being admitted to a particular school could lead to overcrowding or pressure on facilities and other resources. The limits that are set on numbers are designed to make sure that children receive an ‘efficient and effective’ education. Since 2001, legal limits have been imposed on the size of infant classes (that is, reception, year 1 and year 2). For these children, the maximum class size is 30.
Contact us for up to date information on which Bracknell Forest schools have available places. You can also contact other local authorities should you wish to ask about available places at any of their schools. For contact details, read our useful contacts page.
The availability of places changes frequently according to applications received. Therefore, a school may have availability one day but be full the next.
If your child is year 10 or year 11
If you are looking to move your child in year 10 or year 11, consider carefully if this is in the best interest of your child and if it is avoidable in these crucial years. It is not recommended to move school once your child has started a 2 year GCSE course.
If this is unavoidable, the following should be carefully considered before making an application:
- it is not likely that another school will be able to offer all of the same options that your child has already chosen at their current school
- another school is unlikely to be following all the same exam boards across all subjects
- schools cover different topics at different times within a GCSE course
- some schools start their GCSE option in year 9 - make sure you check this with your preferred school before applying
Ultimately, this may impact on your child’s outcomes at GCSE - the standard exam taken at the end of year 11 in the UK - that are crucial to successful progression to the next stage.
You may find that visiting schools before making your application will help you to choose a school that best meets their current education path. It will give you and your child an opportunity to understand what is on offer before making a final decision.