Parents can apply for a place at their preferred Primary School between September and January. To complete your application, log on to the Blackburn with Darwen link under the "Useful Links" in the Parent Tab and follow the instructions.

Primary school admissions timetable 2023/4

• September 2023: Round opens for primary school applications. Parents/carers can apply for a school place
• January 2024: Closing date for primary school applications. Applications must be submitted to the local authority by this date to be considered as ‘on time’ along with all supporting evidence.
• March 2024: Deadline for notification of exceptional change in circumstances. Any information received by this date will be considered for the initial allocation of school places, for example, change of address, change in circumstances, reasons for the local authority to consider a late application/change of preference as on time. Any information received after this date cannot be included in the initial allocation of school places, however it will be considered later in the process following the April 2024.
• April 2024: National offer day for primary school places. Parent/carers who applied online can view their offer on the online parent portal. Letters notifying parent/carers of the school at which a place has been offered will be emailed out to those who applied online or sent by post to parents/carers who applied using the paper application form.
• May 2024: Deadline for parents/carers to accept or decline their offer of a place. Parent/carers who applied online will need to log onto the online parent portal to accept their offer of a school place. Those who applied by post will need to call the School Admissions Team. May 2024: Closing date for Appeals received by this date will take place in May/June 2024.

Each year the Council, in consultation with all the schools, has to establish a co-ordinated scheme for admission arrangements. The main purpose of the scheme is to ensure that every child living in the borough who has applied for admission to a maintained school receives only one offer of a school place.

The body responsible for deciding on the admission arrangements for a school is known as the admission authority. Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council is the admission authority for community and voluntary controlled schools. Governing bodies of voluntary aided, trust, academy and free schools are the admission authorities of those schools.