Admissions – Whinmoor St Pauls C of E Primary School

Whinmoor St Paul’s Primary School is a Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School and is run in accordance with the school’s trust deed. The governing body is the admissions authority.

We are an inclusive school that aims to provide education of the highest quality within a Christian context. British and Christian values will guide our decision making and permeate every area of school life. St Paul’s is an integral part of the Whinmoor community and we hope to welcome you and your family in the future.

For full information about applying for a place at our school, please download the Admissions Policy or contact the school office.

The school’s admissions authority sets the admission policy every year. You can read our school’s admission policy below:

In year applications to start at our school between September 2025 and July 2026 – read our 2025/2026 policy and SIF
Applications for Reception places in September 2026 – read our 2026/ 2027 policy and SIF
Applications for Reception places in September 2027 – read our 2027/2028 policy and SIF

How to apply for a September 2026 place

If you are applying for a reception place for September 2026, all applications are made in advance. The National closing date is the 15th January 2026. Offers are made by the Local Authority on national offer day which is the 16th April 2026.

Our Published Admission Number (PAN) is 30. This is the number of places the school can admit in Reception in 2026.

You must apply to the local authority who empties your bins. If this is Leeds, go to www.leeds.gov.uk/apply. The local authority 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 really important to ensure you submit all supporting evidence by the deadline to show you meet any such criteria.

If you are applying for admission under our faith criteria, you will need to send directly to our school (not the local authority) a completed Supplementary Information Form (SIF) which you will find at the bottom of the Admission Policy. We need to receive this by 15^th January 2026 which is the same deadline as the application form.

You also need to make an application to the local authority asking for a place at our school. You do this online at the above link. If you do not send the application to the local authority, you will not have made a valid application for a place at our school.

You can also watch the Leeds City Council school admissions video

You can also see information about our school including previous admission data, on our school page and on the Leeds City Council’s website: https://www.leeds.gov.uk/schools-and-education/schools/whinmoor-st-pauls-church-of-england-primary-school

Application Timetable

The below timetable applies to applications made to Leeds City Council. If you apply to another local authority, they may have different dates. Children born between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022 are due to start reception in September 2026.


1 November 2025	Applications open. You can apply online at www.leeds.gov.uk/apply
15 January 2026	National deadline for applying for Reception 2026 places
16 April 2026	National offer day
30 April 2026	Deadline for · accepting your offer for a place at our school. · making any changes to your application before Leeds City Council carries out the first reallocation of places
15 May 2026	All reception appeals received by this date will be heard before the summer holiday start Leeds City Council arranges our appeals
May to end of August 2026	Any available places automatically allocated from waiting lists by the local authority Lower preference school offers are also withdrawn automatically (even if accepted)
June to July 2026	Appeals heard by independent appeal panels
September 2026	Start primary school

In-year application

If you are 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
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 in-year place

Whinmoor St Paul’s is part of the Leeds coordinated 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, 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. Leeds City Council will contact you with our decision no later than 15 school days from when you applied. 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 the 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

Where you have not been offered a place at the school you preferenced, you have the Right to Appeal against the refusal to offer a place. The appeal panel is independent of the school and council and their 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 is 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 https://www.leeds.gov.uk/schools-and-education/school-admissions/school-appeals

If you are appealing for a Reception place in September 2026, you need to submit you appeal form by any deadline set out on the above page 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.

For a step by step guide regarding the admissions process please click on the video link. The video has been created by Leeds City Council. Leeds City Council Video

In addition, Leeds City Council website has some useful information here

Secondary School Admissions 2025

Secondary Frequently Asked Questions

Secondary School Admissions Poster

The council’s social media pages will also tell you about any Q&A sessions where you can ask questions.