Apply for a secondary or upper school place

You can apply from 1 September 2025.

Apply by the closing date of 31 October 2025

We will let you know your outcome:

• on 2 March 2026 if you apply on time (before 31 October 2025)
• on 25 March 2026 if you apply late (between 1 November 2025 and 23 January 2026)
• from April onwards if you apply after 23 January 2026

You must apply to the local authority where you live, even if the schools you are applying for are in another area.

If you are a resident outside of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole then you should contact your local council for details of how to apply:

• Dorset residents
• Hampshire residents

Applying on faith grounds

There are faith schools within Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole that require proof of religious commitment to be considered under their faith criteria.

The following schools also have SIFs. These need to be returned to the school by the closing date of 31 October 2025:

• St Edward’s RC CE VA School
• St Peter’s Catholic School

If you are thinking of applying to a faith school in another local authority, please check their website and policy to find out if they require completion of their own SIF.

If you do not return a completed SIF by the published closing date your application will still be processed but the SIF will not be taken into account.

Applying on pupil premium or service premium grounds

The following schools consider pupil premium and/or service premium and require proof to be considered under their premium criteria:

• Bournemouth School
• Bournemouth School for Girls
• Parkstone Grammar School
• Poole Grammar School

If you wish to apply for a place on pupil premium or service premium grounds, please check their website and policy to find out more.

Late applications

Applications received after the published closing dates will be processed after all the on time applications. This may mean that regularly oversubscribed schools are full before late applications are considered.

Further information

You can find information about all aspects of starting or moving up to a school in our parents guides. Once you have read these, if you have any further questions please contact our Children's Information Service by:

• telephone on 01202 123222
• email at cis@bcpcouncil.gov.uk

We recommended that you read the full admissions policy for the school(s) you wish to apply for.

Allocations from previous years

You can see how secondary school places have been allocated for previous years in the summaries below.