Admission
16 Feb 2024
Downsell Primary School follows the admissions policy of the London Borough of Waltham Forest to allocate school places.
This section is to be read in conjunction with ‘Starting Primary School 2024 - Admissions brochure'.
Please click here to view this brochure: Starting Primary School 2024.pdf
To apply for a nursery place at our school, please complete the following application form and return it to the school office:
Nursery Application Form-.docx
Determined admission arrangements
We are required to set the school admission arrangements for community and voluntary controlled schools each year. These arrangements must be published on our or school's website.
School admissions arrangements for academies and voluntary aided (church) schools in the borough are made by the school’s governing body. These schools are their own admission authority.
We and all own admission authority schools must carry out formal consultations of not less than six weeks before they make changes to their admissions arrangements. Admission Arrangements must be determined by 28 February 2023 for the academic year starting September 2024.
Determined admission arrangements for 2021/22 (PDF)
Determined admission arrangements for 2022/23 (PDF)
Determined admission arrangements for 2023/24 (PDF)
Determined admission arrangements for 2024/25 (PDF)
How will admissions be decided?
The Local Authority is required by law to co-ordinate admissions to all infant, junior and primary schools (except private or special schools) in the borough. Parents/carers residing in the London Borough of Waltham Forest must complete the Local Authority’s Common Application Form, which will be available and able to be submitted on-line, and ensure it is returned to School Support and Pupil Services by their set deadline, which is in January, regardless of where the preferred schools are located. Parents/carers may list up to 6 maintained schools, within and/or outside the borough, for which they wish their child to be considered on the Common Application Form. Should parents/carers wish their children to be considered for any voluntary aided denominational or foundation schools, such schools must also be included on the form. Voluntary aided denominational schools will also require parents/ carers to complete their Supplementary Information Forms which must be returned directly to the schools concerned by their respective deadlines.
Admissions criteria – Community Schools
When the demand exceeds the number of places available in a school, places are allocated to community and voluntary controlled schools by applying the following criteria (please see policy) in descending order of priority to applicants who have expressed any preference for the school.
School preference order
Parents/ carers should put their preferences in their true priority order. If the parents/carers of a child differ as to the preferences they wish to express for their child, they should resolve that difference before making an application, as the Local Authority will only process one application for each child. The rank order of parents’/ carers’ preferences is confidential to the Local Authority. In accordance with the Department of Education Admissions Code schools must not use admissions criteria that require parents/ carers to put them as first preference to gain a higher priority. It is important that parents/ carers, when selecting their preferences for school admission, take into account how their child will travel to school.
Apply online: www.eadmissions.org.uk
Email: primary.admission@walthamforest.gov.uk