The deadline for applying for primary school places for September 2026 entry in West Berkshire is this Thursday (January 15).
The deadline to apply for primary school places in West Berkshire for September 2026 is this Thursday (January 15).
Apply on time for the best chance of getting your preferred school. Late applications are considered after all on-time ones and usually have a lower success rate. Offers are typically announced around April 16.
Children born between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022 are eligible to start reception in September 2026. Children born from 1 April to 31 August — known as summer born children — do not need to start school until the September after their fifth birthday, a year after they could first have started school. This is when summer born children reach compulsory school age.
Primary places in West Berkshire are generally less competitive than secondary. Most families in every local authority in West Berkshire got their first choice this year (2025-26).
Last year Calcot Junior School had the most reception pupils with 68, followed by John Rankin Junior School with 64. At the other end of the scale, just two pupils joined Beenham Primary School and there were no new joiners at Chaddleworth St Andrew's.
Some schools were oversubscribed: St Finians Catholic School had 12 pupils who didn’t get their preferred place, Birch Copse saw 22 turned away and Speenhamland turned away 14.
Councils manage the application process across their area, but individual schools set their own admissions policies and neighbouring authorities co-ordinate on cross-border applications. Individual academies may place their rules in a different order, with more or fewer criteria in particular schools.
If a school has more applications than places, children are chosen according to the school’s published oversubscription criteria. A typical list might look like this:
- Children with an EHCP (education, health and care plan)
- Looked after/previously looked after children (those who are in the care of the local authority social services)
- Children with siblings already in the school
- Exceptional medical or social need
- Distance from the school
The Department for Education (DfE) said it had announced £195m to provide both primary and secondary places for 2025, and £520m for places in 2026, to make sure there were enough.
If you want to appeal, the DfE says parents or carers should first contact the school’s admission authority – often the governing body – which organises the appeal panel. The panel is independent and will consider the case presented by the admission authority and the parent.
Most schools use catchment areas as one of their oversubscription criteria. While the majority of catchment children are likely to receive an offer, there is no guarantee. If you don’t apply for your catchment school and don’t get an offer from your listed preferences, a place will not be offered at your catchment school if it is full from applicants who named it as a preference.
An interactive map and school catchment checker are available at www.westberks.gov.uk/school-catchment-areas. If a catchment boundary runs through a property, unique property identification points within the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) will be used to determine which catchment area the property falls in. The catchment checker will confirm your catchment when you enter your address details.
Niki Hinman, Local Democracy Reporter
