Starting school
By law, children must start school from the beginning of the school term after their fifth birthday.  In Leeds, children normally start school at the beginning of the academic year in which they have their fifth birthday (beginning of September term).   Your child must be in full-time education the term following their fifth birthday.  

Quarry Mount Primary School is a foundation school and the admission authority is Leeds City Council, which sets our admission policy every year. You can read our school’s admission polices below by clicking the following link: read our 2024/25 policy.

 

How to apply for a September 2024 place

If you are applying for a Reception place for September 2024, all applications are made in advance. Offers are made by local authorities on National Offer Day.

You must apply to the local authority who empties your bins. If this is Leeds, go to www.leeds.gov.uk/apply. The LA website is a composite prospectus for all Leeds schools and includes information about:
 

• all of the steps you need to go through to make an application 
• the key dates
• a search tool to see if your home address gives any higher priority for admission to any school(s)
• an explanation about how places are offered if there are more applications than spaces (oversubscribed)
• the online application portal - apply online and you’ll be sent your offer by email
• a summary of each school’s individual admission policy criteria
• data about who got a place in the last 3 years - this will help you work out if there is a reasonable chance of your child qualifying for a place.
• Information about applying under a specific admission criteria (such as your child being previously looked after). It is really important to ensure you submit all supporting evidence by the deadline to show you meet any such criteria.

You also need to make an application to the local authority asking for a place at our school. You do this online at the above link. If you don’t send the application to the local authority, you won’t have made a valid application for a place at our school.

You can also watch the Leeds City Council school admissions video(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRU1SrS7iJE) for more information.

The council’s social media pages will also tell you about any Q&A sessions where you can ask questions.

You can also see information about our school, including previous admission data, on our school page on the Leeds City Council’s website.

 

In-year applications.

If you're moving into Leeds or want to change schools in Leeds, you need to make a school transfer – often called an in-year application.

Moving schools can be a difficult experience for a child. You should always speak to your child's current school before trying to move to see what support they can offer you

 

How to apply for an in-year place

We are part of the Leeds coordinated in-year application scheme. This means you can apply for a place online using the Leeds in-year application form at Before you move schools (leeds.gov.uk). You can apply for places at our school and most other Leeds schools at the same time on this form.

If you have moved house, please upload evidence of the house move with the online application. You can find out what you need to provide on the above website.

 

 

If we cannot offer you a place, we will

· write to you to explain the reasons,

• explain how you can appeal and
• add your child to our waiting list in case a place becomes free.
• waiting lists are kept until end of each school year. You will need to make a new application if you want to be on the waiting list for the following school year.

Appeals

If you are not offered a place at the school you requested, you will have the right of appeal. The appeal panel is independent of the school and council and the decision is legally binding.

Before you appeal you:

• should accept any place that you have been offered in case your appeal is not successful
• should think about why you are appealing and check if it's likely to be successful
• could read the advice for appealing school places on GOV.UK
• could get independent advice on making an appeal from a charity

 

Leeds City Council arranges our appeals and you can find the appeal form at School appeals (leeds.gov.uk)

If you are applying for a Reception place for September 2024, you need to submit your appeal form by the above deadline to ensure the appeal will be heard before the summer holidays.

Appeals for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 – these classes are limited to 30 pupils per teacher by law. This means that appeals for these places are less likely to be successful.

 

If our school refuses your child a place because of this limit and you want to appeal, you will need to make an infant class size appeal. You can see if your reasons are likely to be successful by reading the Department for Education's information about infant class size appeals.

 

Other appeals - You can appeal because you want your child to attend a particular school. These are successful if the panel agree that the reasons for your appeal outweigh the school's decision not to admit any more children.

Wanting your child to go to a school because you think it is the best one in the area is not likely to convince the panel that your child should get a place there.