Rufford Park Primary School

Admissions: policy consultation for children starting at our school in September 2026

Whilst we mirror the Leeds City Council Admission Policy, the Governing Body at Rufford Park Primary School are the admission authority. This means the Governing Body must determine (set and approve) our September 2026 to July 2027 admissions policy by 28 February 2025. We are proposing removing the exceptional need priority as the Local Authority’s Leeds SEND transformation programme will make the priority redundant. Our proposed 2026 policy is below. We seek your views on these changes. The deadline for responses is midnight on 15 December 2024. You can read more about this change and submit your views at Changes to the admission arrangements for Leeds Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools

Admissions: 2024-25 (in-year) and 2025-26 (September reception intake) 

Rufford Park Primary School is a foundation school and the admission authority is our Governing Body.

The school’s admission authority sets the admission policy every year. You can read our school’s admission polices at the bottom of this page:

• In-year applications to start at our school between September 2024 and July 2025 – read our 2024/25 policy
• Applications for reception places in September 2025 - read our 2025/26 policy

How to apply for a September 2025 place

If you are applying for a reception place for September 2025, all applications are made in advance. The national closing date is 15 January 2025. Offers are made by local authorities on national offer day (16 April 2025).  

Our Published Admission Number (PAN) is 45 and this is the number of places the school can admit in reception in 2025.

You must apply to the local authority you reside in (the council that is responsible for your bin collection). If this is Leeds, go to www.leeds.gov.uk/apply. The 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 important to ensure you submit all supporting evidence by the deadline to show you meet any such criteria.

You can also watch the Leeds City Council school admissions video 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 by clicking this link

Application timetable 2024-25: for children born between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021 and are due to start reception in 2025.  The timetable below applies to applications made to Leeds City Council. If you apply to another local authority, they may have different dates:

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.

This includes:

• applications for a place in reception after the start of term in September
• and applications for a place in all other year groups (Year 1-6)

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 central 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, you will need to submit evidence of the house move at the same time you make your online application. You can find out what you need to provide on the above website.   

We have to offer places by applying our admission policy criteria to your child’s application. Leeds City Council will contact you with our decision no later than 15 days from when you apply. If they cannot offer your child a place at our school, they will:

• add your child to our waiting list in case a place becomes available during the school year
• send you a letter to explain the reasons we cannot offer a place (usually that we are full) and tell you how you can appeal

Our 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 2025, 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.

Admission Policies

Catchment Maps