Year 7 - secondary school applications

Applied online by 31 October 2025

You can log in to see your offer and then accept or reject it online. 

You'll receive an email with the details of your child's offer. We may send a letter if we have not offered your first preference or your child is eligible for free home-to-school transport.

You need to respond to the offer by 16 March 2026.

Applied by paper form by 31 October 2025

We can email you a school offer if you provide an email address with your application.

If required, we will send you a letter. You'll be sent an offer letter by second-class post on 2 March. We cannot give you this information over the phone.

Respond to offer:

Please email schoolofferresponse@oxfordshire.gov.uk. to accept or decline the offer. If you are declining the offer, you must advise us what your plans are for your child’s education, such as naming an independent school, home educating or leaving the county.

You need to respond to the offer by 16 March 2026.

How places are allocated

See our school pages for information about how places were allocated at individual schools. 

Independent school

If your child is going to attend an independent school, you must provide us with the name of the school in writing as soon as possible. Send the details to us using this contact form.

Home educating

If you are going to educate your child at home, please let us know in writing as soon as possible by contacting the Admissions Team. Contact the Elective Home Education Team for further information about home schooling.

Leaving Oxfordshire

If you are leaving the area and no longer require a school place in Oxfordshire, contact the Admissions Team as soon as possible to let us know.

Waiting lists 

If your child is refused admission to your preferred school or schools, you can add their name to the waiting list.
The deadline to add your child's name to the list is 16 March 2026.

Lists for most schools will be maintained until 30 June 2027.

We will contact you if a place becomes available and we can offer that place to your child. We recommend that you accept the offered school to ensure a place for your child in September.

Find out how to add your child to a waiting list.

Free home to school travel

If your child is eligible, you'll receive a paper transport form by post. Scan or photograph the completed form and attach it to an email. Send it to schooltransportresponse@oxfordshire.gov.uk.

Or you can return it in the post to:

School Admissions Team
County Hall
New Road
Oxford
OX1 1ND

Free travel will not be arranged if you do not return the completed form and there may be a delay if you send it back late.

If your child is not eligible, you can find out more on our school travel assistance page.

Appeal a decision

If your child has been refused admission to a school you listed as a preference, you can make an appeal.

Please note that appeals are very costly for schools, and additional children joining schools through successful appeals will harm the delivery of education and the efficient use of school resources. 

Please consider very carefully if you wish to proceed with an appeal.