High school and upper school allocation information
Please see the information below regarding the high school and upper school allocation for September 2024.
The school your child has been allocated will be in contact with you in due course regarding admission arrangements.
Please notify the Admissions Team in writing if you no longer require the place allocated for your child. If you are happy with the school that has been allocated to your child and do not wish to remain on the waiting list for any higher preference school(s), you must notify the Admissions team immediately by emailing [email protected].
If your child is offered a place at one of your higher preference schools via the waiting list, the original place offered will be immediately withdrawn and reallocated to another child.
If your child has been allocated a place at a school outside of Luton, you must notify the relevant council by email if you no longer require the place.
Please note, school places are offered on the understanding that you will be responsible for any transport arrangements that may be necessary and that brothers and sisters do not gain automatic admission to the school in future years.
Upper school transfer
If your child has not been allocated a place at your preferred school(s), you must contact the relevant local authority’s Admissions Team for advice on the appeals and waiting list process.
High school allocation – what happens next?
If you are unhappy with the high school that has been allocated to your child, please read the information below for information on what to do next.
Oversubscribed schools
The schools listed below have been unable to accommodate all pupils who stated the school as a preference. Places were allocated in accordance with the council's or schools' admissions criteria. Please go to the relevant school link to see how places were allocated.
The school was able to accommodate applications that met the following criteria:
Children with an Education Health Care plan.
- Looked after and previously looked after children, including those children who have been in state care outside of England and cease to be in state care as a result of being adopted.
- Catholic children with a Certificate of Catholic Practice who attend a feeder Catholic primary school.
- Other Catholic children with a certificate of Catholic practice.
- Catholic children who attend a feeder Catholic primary school.
- Other Catholic children.
- Catechumens and members of an Eastern Christian Church.
- Children of other Christian denominations whose membership is evidenced by a minister of religion or other religious leader.
- Children of other faiths whose application is supported by their minister of religion. The school was not able to accommodate all pupils who met this category; therefore, pupils were selected randomly by an independent body.
- Any other children.
Within each of the categories the following provisions were applied in the following order:
- where evidence is provided at the time of application of an exceptional social or, medical need of the child which can most appropriately be met at this school, the application will be placed at the top of the category in which the application is made
- the attendance of a brother or sister at the school at the time of enrolment will increase the priority of an application within each category so that the application will be placed at the top of the category in which the application is made after children in (a) above
- other students within the category who do not fit into provision (a) and (b) outlined above, only those applications submitted on time were considered in the initial allocation of places
The school was able to accommodate applications that met the following criteria:
Children with an Education Health Care plan.
- Looked after children and previously looked after children including those that appear to the school to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.
- Children of staff currently employed at the school.
- Children in the catchment area with siblings at the school who will still be attending the school at the proposed date of admission.
- Children living in the catchment area of the school.
- Children who live outside of the catchment area with siblings at the school who will still be attending the school at the proposed date of admission.
- Children living closest to the school measured on straight line distance. The school was not able to accommodate all pupils who met this criterion, therefore, the pupils living closest to the school were allocated a place.
Only those applications submitted on time were considered in the initial allocation of places.
The school was able to accommodate applications that met the following criteria:
Children with an Education Health Care plan.
- Looked after children and previously looked after children including those that appear to the school to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. There were no applications that met this criterion.
- Children of staff currently employed at the school. There were no applications that met this criterion.
- Children in the catchment area with siblings at the school who will still be attending the school at the proposed date of admission.
- Children living in the catchment area of the school.
- Children who live outside of the catchment area with siblings at the school who will still be attending the school at the proposed date of admission.
- Children living closest to the school measured on straight line distance. The school was not able to accommodate all pupils who met this criterion, therefore, the pupils living closest to the school were allocated a place.
Only those applications submitted on time were considered in the initial allocation of places.
The school was able to accommodate applications that met the following criteria:
Children with an Education Health Care plan.
- Looked after children and previously looked after children including those that appear to the school to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.
- Children of staff currently employed at the school.
- Children with siblings at the school who will still be attending the school at the proposed date of admission.
- Children living closest to the school measured on straight line distance. The school was not able to accommodate all pupils who met this criterion, therefore, the pupils living closest to the school were allocated a place.
Only those applications submitted on time were considered in the initial allocation of places.
The school was able to accommodate applications that met the following criteria:
Children with an Education Health Care plan.
- Looked after children and previously looked after children including those that appear to the school to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.
- Children of staff currently employed at the school.
- Children in the catchment area with siblings at the school who will still be attending the school at the proposed date of admission.
- Children living in the catchment area of the school. The school was not able to accommodate all pupils who met this criterion, therefore, the pupils living closest to the school were allocated a place.
- Children who live outside of the catchment area with siblings at the school who will still be attending the school at the proposed date of admission.
- Children living closest to the school measured on straight line distance.
Only those applications submitted on time were considered in the initial allocation of places.
The school was able to accommodate applications that met the following criteria:
Children with an Education Health Care plan.
- A ‘looked after child’ or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order including those who appear to the council to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in care as a result of being adopted.
- Children of staff who work at the school.
- Students having their current home address within the present local authority designated catchment area.
- Siblings of students attending the school at the time of proposed admission. The school was able to accommodate all pupils who met this criterion.
- Medical grounds, supported by an appropriate medical certificate, which confirms that Icknield High School is the only school that can meet the child’s needs.
- Any other applicant.
Only those applications submitted on time were considered in the initial allocation of places.
The school was able to accommodate applications that met the following criteria:
Children with an Education Health Care plan.
- A ‘looked after child’ or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order including those who appear to the council to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in care as a result of being adopted.
- Pupils living in the catchment area of the school.
- On medical grounds supported by medical evidence. There were no applications that met this criterion.
- Brothers and sisters (siblings) of pupils attending the school when the pupil starts at the school.
- Children of staff who work at the school.
- Children living closest to the school measured on straight line distance. The school was not able to accommodate all pupils who met this criterion, therefore, the pupils living closest to the school were allocated a place.
Only those applications submitted on time were considered in the initial allocation of places.
The school was able to accommodate applications that met the following criteria:
Children with an Education Health Care plan.
- Looked after children and previously looked after children including those that appear to the school to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.
- Children of staff currently employed at the school.
- Children in the catchment area with siblings at the school who will still be attending the school at the proposed date of admission.
- Children living in the catchment area of the school.
- Children who live outside of the catchment area with siblings at the school who will still be attending the school at the proposed date of admission.
- Children living closest to the school measured on straight line distance. The school was not able to accommodate all pupils who met this criterion, therefore, the pupils living closest to the school were allocated a place.
Only those applications submitted on time were considered in the initial allocation of places.
The school was able to accommodate applications that met the following criteria:
Children with an Education Health Care plan.
- ‘Looked after children’ or children who were previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order including those who appear to the Trust to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in care as a result of being adopted.
- Children of staff.
- Children who have siblings currently at The Chalk Hills Academy and stating the school as a preference.
- Children who live in the catchment area.
- Children who attend the trust’s feeder primary schools.
- Shortest distance. The school was not able to accommodate all pupils who met this criterion, therefore, the pupils living closest to the school were allocated a place.
Only those applications submitted on time were considered in the initial allocation of places.
Waiting lists
If your child has not been allocated a place at one of the schools listed below, his or her name will be placed on the waiting list for the schools you have specified as a higher preference.
The following shows how long your child’s name will be held on the waiting lists:
There is no waiting list expiry date for the following school:
- Cardinal Newman Catholic School (Academy)
Waiting list expiry date is 31 December 2024 for the following school:
- Queen Elizabeth School (Foundation)
Waiting list expiry date is 31 July 2025 for the following schools:
- Challney High School for Boys (Academy)
- Challney High School for Girls (Academy)
- Chiltern Academy (Academy)
- Denbigh High School (Academy)
- Icknield High School (Academy)
- Lealands High School (Foundation)
- Lea Manor High School (Foundation)
- Putteridge High School (Academy)
- Stopsley High School (Academy)
- The Chalk Hills Academy (Academy)
- The Stockwood Park Academy (Academy)
Parents/carers can apply for their child’s details to be held on the waiting list following the expiry date, with the exception of Cardinal Newman Catholic School.
Parents/carers must apply to The Shared Learning Trust Central Admissions for The Chalk Hills Academy and The Stockwood Park Academy.
For all of the other schools, parents/carers must apply to the Luton Council’s Admissions team.
Waiting list process
Parents/carers must be aware.
- There is no guarantee that it will be possible to offer places to pupils on waiting lists in the future. Places at oversubscribed schools have been allocated up to their admission limit. Opportunities for those on the waiting lists will only occur if pupils already allocated a place decide not to take up the place offered.
- Waiting lists are organised in the order of priority of the relevant school’s admission criteria. Waiting lists are not based on the date the applications were added to the lists. The position of your child’s name on a waiting list may change as pupils are added to or deleted from the lists.
- You must write to the Admissions team to remove your child’s name from the waiting list(s) for any higher ranked school if you are content with the school offered to your child. This is because waiting lists are often activated between March and August.
- If your child is offered a place via the waiting list process, the original place offered will be immediately reallocated to another pupil. Your child’s name will then be removed from the waiting list of any schools you have specified as a lower preference. If your child has a brother or sister who is on the waiting list for the school offered, you must contact the Admissions team to ensure the brother or sister’s details are re-ranked on the waiting list.
Changes of preference and late applications
Where parents submit a late application changing their preference(s), and are successful in gaining a place at one of their preferred schools, the original place offered to their child will be immediately reallocated to another pupil.
Below are the closing dates and offer dates for the late rounds, where changes of preferences and late applications will be processed.
For late applications received up to 21 March 2024, decisions will be sent to parents on 15 May 2024.
For late applications received up to 2 May 2024, decisions will be sent to parents on 26 June 2024.
Applications received after 2 May 2024 will be processed in due course and the Admissions team will aim to advise parents in writing of the outcome before September 2024.
Appeal process
In accordance with the School Standards and Framework Act (1998), you have the right of appeal against the decision not to offer your child a place at your preferred schools.
For information relating to the school admissions appeals process, together with the appeal form can be located online.
You are strongly encouraged to complete and submit an online appeal. The online appeal process is both quick and easy.
Alternatively, you can also print an appeal form from our website, complete fully and then return via the post to:
Luton Council
School Appeals Team
Town Hall
George Street
Luton
LU1 2BQ
Should you have any queries, please e-mail [email protected] or telephone 01582 54 80 19.
The local authority plan to hear all appeals, for the Year R, 3 and 7 intakes that are received ‘on time’ within forty school days. Appeals are considered on time if they have been submitted within 20 school days of being notified that a place has been refused for your child. A copy of the timetable for phase appeals (Year R, 3 of 7 in September) is located on our website.
If your appeal is received after the deadline detailed in the online timetable, your appeal may not be heard in the summer term.
You will normally be given written notice of at least 10 school days before the date of the appeal hearing.
Help and support
The Access to Education team will be offering information group sessions to all parent/carer(s) where they have been unsuccessful in securing a place at any of their preferred schools. Invitations will be sent individually to parents/carers informing of the dates and times of these sessions. Please note, the invitation will be sent by the Access to Education team to the email address provided on your child’s high school application. We advise you to check the spam/junk mailbox. If you did not provide an email address you will receive a letter invitation.
Independent advice on admissions and appeals can be obtained from the Advisory Centre for Education website.
In addition, further guidance on admissions legislation can be found on the Department for Education website:
Appeals and waiting list information for schools outside of Luton
You must contact the relevant local authority to find out information on their appeals and waiting list process.
To obtain the contact details for the local authorities, please go to the contact details for other local authorities download.
Admissions team contact details
If you have a query about the admissions process, please contact:
Admissions team helpline
T: 01582 54 80 16
Monday to Friday
9am and 4pm.
Admissions team
Luton Council
Town Hall
George Street
Luton
LU1 2BQ
Appeals team contact details
For more help and advice about the appeal process, please contact:
Appeals team
Luton Council
Town Hall
George Street
Luton
LU1 2BQ
T: 01582 54 80 19
Further information
Assistance is available in other languages, please contact:
Admissions team
T: 01582 54 80 16
Monday to Friday
9am to 4pm
If you have any queries, please contact the:
Admissions helpline
T: 01582 54 80 16
9am to 4pm
Monday to Friday.