Admission arrangements: what to publish on your school website
If your school is its own admission authority, your website needs your admission arrangements for this year and next: your admission number, how you allocate places when oversubscribed and how to apply.
Check this on my websiteWho it applies to
- Published on
- The school's own website
- School type
- Academies and maintained schools
- School stage
- All stages, from early years to sixth form
- Only applies to
- Schools that are their own admission authority: academies, foundation and voluntary-aided schools
- Does not apply to
- Nursery schools, sixth-form only providers and alternative provision
When it's due
By 15 March each year
For entry in September of the following year.
What's needed
Publish your determined admission arrangements for this year and next on the admissions page on your website by 15 March in the year before entry, with your published admission number, how you allocate places when oversubscribed and how to apply.
What it must contain
4 parts- Gives the published admission number for each age groupMust: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.
- Sets out its oversubscription criteriaMust: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.
- Explains how to apply for a place at the schoolMust: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.
- Explains how applications are considered for each age groupMust: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.
What the official sources say
Set out in 3 official sources:
What maintained schools must publish online
The admission arrangements must explain: – how the school considers applications for places in each relevant age group (that is, the age group in which children are normally admitted) – how many children the school intends to admit in each relevant age group (known as the published admission number, or PAN)
Must: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.§ Admission arrangements > September admissions – normal point of entry
– how the school allocates places, if there are more applicants than places available
Must: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.§ Admission arrangements > September admissions – normal point of entry
Show 3 more from this source
By 15 March each year, the school must publish on its website the admission arrangements for children who will be starting school at the normal point of entry in September of the following year. It must retain them there for the whole of the academic year in which offers for places are made.
Must: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.§ Admission arrangements > What foundation and voluntary-aided schools must publish > September admissions – normal point of entry
Foundation and voluntary-aided schools must publish their admission arrangements to comply with the: – school admissions code – school admission appeals code
Must: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.§ Admission arrangements > What foundation and voluntary-aided schools must publish
– what a parent or carer needs to do if they want to apply for their child to attend the school
Must: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.§ Admission arrangements > September admissions – normal point of entry
What academies must publish online
– how many children the trust intends to admit in each relevant age group (known as the published admission number, or PAN)
Must: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.§ Admission arrangements > September admissions – normal point of entry
– how the trust allocates places if there are more applicants than places available
Must: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.§ Admission arrangements > September admissions – normal point of entry
School Admissions Code
All schools must have oversubscription criteria for each ‘relevant age group’
Must: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.§ para 1.7, under heading 'Oversubscription criteria', page 10
1.50 Once adm ission authorities have determined their admission arrangements, they must notify the appropriate bodies44 and must publish a copy of the determined arrangements on the school’s website or their own website (in the case of a local authority) by 15 March in the determination year45 and continue displaying them for the whole offer year (the school year in which offers for places are made).
Must: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.§ para 1.50, page 19
Show 2 more from this source
15 March 2022 Deadline for admission authorities to send a copy of their full determined admission arrangements to their local authority and publish those arrangements on the schools website or on their website (in the case of a local authority).
Must: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.§ Example timetable, Determination Year (2021/22), page 42
1.2 As part of determining their admission arrangements10, all admission authorities must set an admission number for each ‘relevant age group’11.
Must: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.§ para 1.2, page 9
Questions schools ask
Do schools have to publish their admission arrangements?
Academies and maintained schools must. It only applies to schools that are their own admission authority: academies, foundation and voluntary-aided schools.
What do our admission arrangements need to include?
Published admission number for each age group; Sets out its oversubscription criteria; Explains how to apply for a place at the school; Explains how applications are considered for each age group.
When do we need to publish our admission arrangements?
By 15 March each year. For entry in September of the following year.
Where does the requirement for the admission arrangements come from?
It is set out in What maintained schools must publish online, What academies must publish online and School Admissions Code.
Recent changes to the official guidance
Updates to the official sources that affect this requirement, newest first.
12 November 2020 · What maintained schools must publish online
The DfE updated the admission arrangements section.
1 November 2016 · What maintained schools must publish online
Clarified what information voluntary-aided schools must publish about their admission arrangements.
We last checked these sources on 21 September 2026.
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Official sources last checked 21 September 2026 · register version 1.0.4