APPLICATIONS are now open for next year's primary and secondary school places.

Parents and carers are reminded that they must apply for secondary school places before Tuesday, October 31, 2023, to secure their child's place for September 2024.

For primary school places, applications must be submitted before Monday, January 15, 2024. This applies to all children starting school for the first time in September 2024 (those born between September 1 2019 and August 31 2020), as well as children moving from infant to junior school. 

Applications can be made through North Somerset Council's website, simply click HERE.

If you live in North Somerset but wish to apply for a school outside of the area, you can still make an application through North Somerset Council.

A reminder will be sent out shortly before the deadlines to remind parents and carers who haven't applied yet to do so.

Councillor Catherine Gibbons, North Somerset Council’s deputy leader and executive member for Children’s Services, Families and Lifelong Learning, said: “I urge parents and carers to attend open days of schools they’re interested in their child attending.

"It’s an important decision and these events can really help with decision making and selecting which three schools to include on the application.

"Information about when these take place can be found on school websites and their social media accounts.

“While it’s a choice to submit three preferences, I do advise parents and carers to select three and include their local school.

"In recent years, we’ve received some applications that have only included one preference for a non-local school.

"If demand is high for that single school and an offer can’t be made, it can mean that students are allocated a place at a school that can be some distance from their home, making the experience far more stressful that it needs to be.

“Once you have selected your three preferred schools, it’s essential you’re your applications are submitted before the deadline to avoid not being offered a school place on National Offer Day."

2022's school admissions figures show that 98.81 per cent of the 2,187 children who entered primary school in North Somerset were offered one of their top three choices. 

Meanwhile, 99.01 per cent of the 2,528 children going to secondary school in North Somerset were offered one of their top three choices.