Junior school places

1 Overview

This information only applies if you want to apply for your child to start Year 3 at junior school in September 2024 as they are in:

Year 2 at a infant school
Year 2 at a primary school.

If your child needs a school place in a different year group or at another point in the year, you need to apply to move schools.

Applying for a primary school place for September 2024

If your child currently attends Year 2 in an infant school and you would like them to attend Year 3 in a primary school in September 2024, you need to apply to move schools from June 2024. If there is a space available they will be offered the place for September.

2 Find your catchment area school and other local schools

Before applying for your child's junior school place:

3 Before you apply

You must read the Information for parents booklet and the additional guidance pages before applying.

It is the responsibility of parents or carers to apply for a school place. You do not need to have a letter from the County Council.

Follow our checklist to ensure you have completed all the necessary steps before applying.

Application for a school place checklist (PDF, 90KB)

Moving from an infant to the linked junior school

West Sussex County Council does not operate feeder schools and there is no guarantee of a place at a school you apply for. However, priority is given to children who attend one of the named infant schools below to the linked junior school. You must tick the appropriate box on the online application.

Bognor Regis: Rose Green Infant and Rose Green Junior
Burgess Hill: The Gattons Infant School and Southway Junior School
Copthorne: Fairway Infant School and Copthorne CE Junior School
Crawley: Brook Infant School and Maidenbower Junior School
Crawley: Maidenbower Infant School Crawley and Maidenbower Junior School
Crawley: Pound Hill Infant Academy Crawley and Pound Hill Junior School
East Preston Infant and East Preston Junior
Graffham Infant and Duncton Junior
Hassocks: Hassocks Infant School and The Windmills Junior School
Horsham: Littlehaven Infant School and Northolmes Junior School
Horsham: Trafalgar Infant School and Greenway Junior Academy
Southbourne Infant and Southbourne Junior
Worthing: Durrington Infant and Durrington Junior
Worthing: Field Place Infant and Orchards Junior
Worthing: Lyndhurst Infant and Chesswood Junior
Worthing: Springfield Infant and Chesswood Junior
Worthing: Thomas A Becket Infant and Thomas A Becket Junior

4 Preferences

You can apply for up to three different schools. Rank the schools in order of preference - the first school listed should be the one you would most like your child to go to.
We advise that you use all three preferences and enter your catchment school as one of your preferences.
Please be realistic with your preferences. If you chose an oversubscribed school, the further away you live the less likely you are to be offered a place.
If you select a school as a preference that is not your nearest/catchment school it may impact your eligibility for transport. Please see the school transport pages for further information.
Do not include a school that you do not want as a preference as you may be offered this school.
If you apply after the closing date you are far less likely to get a place at one of your preferred schools.
After the application deadline you cannot change your preferences unless there is a genuine unforeseeable reason for doing so, for example, if a sibling changes school.

5 Apply for a place

Applications closed on 15 January 2024. To apply after this date you will need to complete a late application.

If you have already applied and wish to amend your preferences or your address, or other details, a ‘Change of application details form’ is available on the ‘Applying after the closing date’ tab.

6 Offer dates

You will be notified of the outcome of your application by email or letter, depending on how you applied. No information will be provided over the phone.

Applications received before 11.59pm on 15 January 2024

If you applied online we will email you the outcome of your application on Tuesday 16 April 2024. Emails will be sent throughout the day so we can't give you an exact time.
If you applied by paper form you will be emailed the result later this day if an email address was provided with the application. The admissions office will contact you to request an email address if one is not specified on the form.
If you do not have an email address you will receive a letter by second class post.

Applications received after 11.59pm on 15 January 2024

If we received your application out of time (between 16 January 2024 and 9 February 2024) we will consider your preferences after reviewing all the applications we received on time.
If you applied online we will email you the outcome of your application on Tuesday 16 April 2024. Emails will be sent throughout the day so we can't give you an exact time.
If you applied by paper form you will be emailed the result later this day if an email address was provided with the application. The admissions office will contact you to request an email address if one is not specified on the form.
If you do not have an email address, you will receive a letter by second class post.
Applications received on or after Saturday 10 February 2024 are late and outside the normal admissions round. They will not be processed until after 15 May 2024. You will be contacted after this date.

7 Applying after the closing date

Applications closed on 15 January 2024. To apply now you will need to complete the late application form below.

Late application for a school place (external link)

If you have already applied and wish to amend your preferences or your address, or other details, use the form below. You will need your application reference number from The Portal.

Change of application details form (external link)

Do not use either of these forms if you want to move your child in a different year group or at another point in the year. In these instances you need to apply to move schools.

Applying using a paper form

If you are unable to use the online late application form contact the Pupil Admissions Team to request a paper application form. A form will be emailed to you, which should be returned by email.

You can request that a paper form is sent to you, but you are not encouraged to return it to the Pupil Admissions Team unless you use recorded delivery post. Claims regarding missing forms will not be investigated unless you can provide evidence that it was received by the Pupil Admissions Team. We are not responsible for forms lost or delayed in the post and recommend that you keep a copy of the form and evidence of posting.

Applying after the closing date means that your preferences will be considered after all the preferences received on time have been allocated.