The National Offer Day for Secondary Schools is 1 March (or the next working day).
National Offer Day this year was Monday 3 March 2025 as Saturday 1 March 2025 was a weekend and non-working day.
- How to find your allocated school
- Your allocated school
- How to appeal
- Home to school transport
- Free school meals
How to find your allocated school
In order to find your child’s allocated school, parents/carers who applied online must log into their Parent Portal account using their email address as their username and their password. Your allocated school will be shown by 10.00am on your account. The allocated school will be shown on the Parent Portal account on National Offer Day. Parents/carers who did not apply online will receive a letter.
If you need to reset your password, you can do this through Parent Portal which will send you an email (referred to as a token). Please only request 1 token and allow time to receive the password reset email (referred to as a token) and also check your junk folder. If you request too many tokens the password will not be reset and the account will be locked.
Remember your username is the email address you applied from.
Your allocated school
If you are happy with your allocated school, the school will contact you in due course to complete an application pack. Please note that if the place your child has been allocated is at a school for which you are not in the catchment area for, or if you move out of the catchment area, then you may have less chance of being successful when applying for any younger siblings.
If you have not been allocated your first preference or if you have been allocated a lower preference, the reason is that there were more requests for your preference schools than places available, therefore, the school is oversubscribed. Where a school is oversubscribed, places are allocated in accordance with the oversubscription criteria which is set out in a school’s admissions policy.
Refusal of school preference
For any preferences that have been refused, and where that school is in York, your child will be placed on the waiting list. These lists are ranked in accordance with the set oversubscription criteria for the school. Should a place become available and your child is the most entitled pupil, we will contact you.
If you have been allocated a school that was not a listed preference school, the reason is that there were more requests for your preference schools than places available, therefore, the school is oversubscribed. Where a school is oversubscribed, places are allocated in accordance with the oversubscription criteria which is set out in a school’s admissions policy. Therefore you have been allocated the closest school to you with places available.
If you're unhappy with your allocated school, you have the right to appeal.
How to appeal
If you are unhappy with your allocation, you have the right to appeal to an Independent Appeals Panel (set up in accordance with the Schools Standards and Framework Act 1998 Section 94). If you wish to appeal, you can request the appeal papers by completing the online form.
| Secondary Schools Appeal Timeline | Date |
|---|---|
| National Offer Day | 1 March or next working day |
| Deadline for return of forms, if appealing | 31 March 2025 |
| Appeals planned to start | 29 April 2025* |
| Appeals planned to finish | 18 June 2025* |
*Subject to panel members availability.
The appeal papers need to be completed and returned to appealsclerksadmin@york.gov.uk. The Appeal Clerks will then coordinate an independent appeal hearing and keep you updated on the process.
Home to school transport
If you have been allocated the following catchment school, and you live in the following areas, we'll contact you by email and provide you with information on how to apply for a bus pass.
| School | Catchment area |
|---|---|
| Fulford School | Acaster Malbis |
| Bishopthorpe | |
| Crockey Hill | |
| Deighton | |
| Dunnington | |
| Elvington | |
| Escrick | |
| Naburn | |
| Wheldrake | |
| Huntington School | Earswick |
| Strensall | |
| Stockton-on-the-Forest |
If you have been allocated the following catchment schools, and you live in the following areas we'll contact you by email requesting that you go to our website to apply for a bus pass.
If you haven’t received the email, please complete the transport to school or college form to be issued with a bus pass to be used on a public service bus.
| School | Catchment area |
|---|---|
| Millthorpe School | Copmanthorpe |
| York High School | Rufforth |
| Poppleton | |
| Askham Bryan | |
| Askham Richard |
For information about eligibility for home to school transport read our transport policy. If you have any questions about this process please contact the transport team by email: cyp.transport@york.gov.uk or telephone: 01904 551554 (option 1).
Free school meals
If you're on a low income you can apply for free school meals online.