Admissions

Reception Class Admissions for September 2025

The initial applications for September 2025 admissions open in November 2024 with the application deadline of mid January 2025.

Open Events

This year we will be holding open days for families interested in joining our school in September 2025. This will be an opportunity to visit us, have a look around and ask questions. If you would like to book onto either of the dates below we ask that you email [email protected] to book a place and check availability. Alternatively you may call our school office on 01132886394.

Tuesday 15th October – 9.30am
Tuesday 12th November – 5.30pm

If your son or daughter is of any primary school age and you are considering applying for a place at Harewood, you are welcome to have a look round our school. In addition to open days we are arranging personal tours and a chance to see what we are like on a normal school day. If you would like to come and see our wonderful little school, please contact the office and we will arrange a time for you.

Harewood CE Primary School is a Voluntary Controlled Church of England School. For all admissions we adhere to the Leeds City Council Admissions Policy. Places are offered based on the criteria within the policy which includes whether the child applying has a sibling in the school already and secondly on distance from the school.

For the full admission policy, plus other information such as Fair Access protocols and Appeals procedures, please click on the link below:

Our admissions arrangements are different depending on at what point you are wanting your child to join the school.

Reception Places

We use Leeds City Council as our admissions authority for all our Reception places. If you are applying for a place for your child to start school in our Reception Class, you will need to follow the links below to access the LCC Admissions site.

You will also receive a pack from Leeds City Council which will give you the dates for submission of applications. Please do feel free to ring and ask if you have any question, we are only too happy to help.

Below are links to two documents which will hopefully answer some of your questions about our school but also please have a good look at our website, Twitter feed and blog.

In Year Transfers

If you wish to enquire about the possibility of a transfer of a child who is already at school to Harewood then please contact the school office on 0113 2886394. We will be able to inform you if a place is available or not, explain the application process to you and, if no places are available, put you on our waiting list if you so wish.

Leeds City Council admissions team have put together a short video presentation to guide families through the process of applying for a school place. The video is available from the link below

 
Admissions information for Harewood CE Primary School from Leeds City Council

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. Offers are made by the Local Authority on national offer day.

You must apply to the local authority who empties your bins. If this is Leeds, go to www.leeds.gov.uk/apply. The website is a composite prospectus for all Leeds schools and this includes:   

  • 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 really 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 https://www.leeds.gov.uk/schools-and-education/school-admissions/check-school-details/display-details?schoolid=204

Application timetable – The timetable below applies to applications made to Leeds City Council. If you apply to another local authority, they may have different dates.

1st November 2024 – Applications open

Mid January 2025 – National deadline for applying

February 2025 – Deadline for late applications and changes

14th April 2025 – National offer day

 

How to apply for an in-year place

Leeds City Council has delegated the decision making for in-year applications to our Governing Body.  

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 any other Leeds schools who are part of the centralised Leeds in-year application scheme at the same time.

If you have moved house, please upload evidence of the house move with the 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 and we will contact you with our decision about offering you a place.    We will tell you our decision no later than 15 school days from when you apply.   

If we cannot offer you a place, we will

  • write to you to explain the reasons
  • explain how you can appeal and
  • add your child to our waiting list in case a place becomes free.

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 we cannot offer you a place, you will have the right of appeal. The appeal panel is independent of the school and council and their decision is legally binding. 

Before you appeal you:

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 2022, you need to submit your appeal by the deadline to ensure the appeal will be heard before the summer holidays.

Appeals for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2these 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.