How School Admissions Criteria and Oversubscription Work

School admissions criteria are the published rules a school uses to decide who gets a place when more children apply than there are seats. In England, every state school must set out these oversubscription criteria in its admission arrangements before the year of entry, and it must apply them in a strict, fixed order. Understanding that order is the single most useful thing a parent can do, because it tells you, before you list your preferences, how likely your child is to be offered a place at each school you want. This guide explains how the criteria work, why some children are admitted ahead of others, and how the tie-breakers and appeals fit in.

If you are still getting to grips with the whole system, start with our complete parents' guide to school admissions in England, then come back here for the detail on how places are actually decided.

What admissions criteria are and who sets them

Admission arrangements are the full set of rules for entry to a school, and the oversubscription criteria are the part that ranks applicants when demand exceeds the number of places. The number of places is the school's published admission number, or PAN. Who sets the criteria depends on the type of school: for community and voluntary-controlled schools, the local authority is the admission authority, while academies, free schools, foundation schools and voluntary-aided faith schools set their own. Whoever sets them must follow the statutory School Admissions Code, and the criteria must be clear, fair and objective. You can read the citizen-facing summary of how this works at gov.uk.

The order criteria are applied in

If a school is undersubscribed, every child who applies is offered a place and the criteria never come into play. They only matter when a school is oversubscribed. At that point the admission authority works down the published list and offers places in order until they run out. Two things always come before the school's own ranked criteria:

Children with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan that names the school must be admitted, outside the oversubscription criteria entirely. They do not take part in the ranking.
Looked-after and previously looked-after children must be placed at the very top of every school's oversubscription criteria. This is a requirement of the Admissions Code, so it applies everywhere.

After those, the school's own criteria decide the rest. The exact list varies, but most follow a recognisable pattern.

Common oversubscription criteria

Below the statutory priorities, a typical set of criteria might include, in order:

Children with a particular medical or social need to attend that specific school, usually requiring supporting evidence from a professional.
Siblings of children already at the school, where a brother or sister will still be on roll when the new child starts.
Distance or catchment area. Many schools give priority to children living within a defined catchment, or simply rank by how close home is to the school, measured in a stated way such as a straight line.
Feeder schools. Some secondaries give priority to children coming from named primary schools.
Faith criteria. Faith schools may give priority based on religious practice, set out in their own arrangements, but only after looked-after children.

The key point is that a school must publish its exact criteria and stick to them. It cannot rank by ability (except for designated grammar or banding schools), interview families, or take account of how you ordered your preferences. Once you understand a school's criteria, you can judge realistically where your child would fall. Our step-by-step guides to applying for a primary place and applying for a secondary place show how to use this when ranking your choices.

How catchment areas and distance work

Catchment and distance cause the most confusion. A catchment area is a geographic zone from which a school prioritises applicants, but living in it is rarely a guarantee of a place: if more in-catchment children apply than there are seats, distance or another tie-breaker still decides. Where a school ranks purely by distance, the measurement method matters, because a straight-line measure and a walking-route measure can produce different cut-off points from year to year. Last year's furthest-admitted distance is a useful guide, but it moves with demand, so treat it as an indication rather than a promise.

Tie-breakers and random allocation

When two or more children are equal on the criteria for the last available place, the arrangements must set out a tie-breaker. Distance is the most common, so the child living nearer is offered the place. A growing number of schools use random allocation, a supervised lottery, either as the tie-breaker or as a main criterion, to avoid house prices distorting access. The arrangements will state which method a school uses, so it is worth checking before you assume proximity will win.

If your child is not offered a place

Being refused a place at a preferred school is common in busy areas and does not mean the process went wrong. You have the right to appeal to an independent panel, and you can ask to go on the school's waiting list, which must be ranked by the same oversubscription criteria, not by how long a child has been waiting. Local authorities also run a fair access protocol to place vulnerable children who are without a school. For more on what to do on the day offers are released, see the rest of our admissions cluster, and browse local schools and guides on the Schools Insight homepage.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are school admissions criteria?

They are the published rules a school uses to decide who is offered a place when more children apply than there are seats. Each state school sets out its oversubscription criteria in its admission arrangements and must apply them in a fixed order, after admitting any child with an EHC plan naming the school.

Who gets priority in school admissions?

Looked-after and previously looked-after children must come first in every school's oversubscription criteria. After them, common priorities are children with a specific medical or social need, siblings already at the school, and children living closest or within a catchment area, with faith criteria used by faith schools.

Does living in the catchment area guarantee a place?

No. A catchment gives priority but not a guarantee. If more children inside the catchment apply than there are places, the school still uses a tie-breaker such as distance or a random allocation to decide who is offered a place, so a catchment address improves your chances rather than securing them.

What is an oversubscription criterion tie-breaker?

It is the rule used when children are equal on the main criteria for the last place. The most common tie-breaker is distance, offering the place to the child living nearer, while some schools use a supervised random allocation, or lottery. The school's arrangements state which applies.

Can a school choose pupils by ability or interview?

Generally no. The School Admissions Code bans selecting by ability, aptitude (beyond limited permitted cases), or interviewing families, with the main exception being designated grammar schools that test for academic selection. Faith schools may prioritise on religious grounds set out in their arrangements, but only after looked-after children.