Heene Church of England Primary School
Admissions 27-28
About choosing and applying for your preference schools
It is your responsibility as a parent or carer to apply for a school place. You do not need to have a letter or official invitation to apply.
You must read the:
- Information for parents: Starting school booklet 2027 (PDF, 2.4MB)
- relevant appendices
- guidance in these pages
WSCC can only accept one application per child. If you have shared parental responsibility for your child, you should agree preferences with the other parent before making an application.
Make sure you are aware of the key dates for applying. If you apply after the deadline, WSCC will consider your preferences after all of those that we received on time. This may mean you are less likely to get a place at your preferred schools.
You can apply for up to 3 different schools. Find school details using our search for a school page.
Rank the schools in order of preference - you should list the one you would most like your child to go to first.
We advise you to:
- attend open events or arrange school visits if you can before you complete your application
- use all 3 preferences (3 different schools)
- enter your catchment school as one of your preferences - find your catchment area school
Admission numbers and oversubscription
All reception, Year 1 and Year 2 classes have a legal limit of 30 pupils per teacher. If the 30th child given a place is a twin (or child from a multiple birth) we may also give their other siblings a place in the same class as 'permitted exceptions'.
Each school has a published admissions number (PAN). This is the number of places they have available. You can find the PAN for each West Sussex school in the starting school booklet.
A school is 'oversubscribed' when it gets more applications than it has places available. There are 'oversubscription criteria' for when this happens. These are rules we use to decide who gets a place.
You can find the oversubscription criteria for each school in the main booklet above and the appendices below:
Things to think about when choosing schools
Be realistic
When applying for schools that are oversubscribed, the further away you live the less likely you will receive an offer of a place there.
Check last year's allocation statistics before you apply. They can help you understand how likely your child is to get a place at a particular school. You can find the statistics in the information for parents booklet above.
Personal circumstances, such as child care arrangements, are not part of any oversubscription criteria. We will not consider these when we allocate a place.
Think about how you'll get your child to school
If you select a preference school that is not your nearest or catchment school, you may not receive help with transport. For more information, see our school transport pages.
Check if any of your preferred schools require a supplementary information form
Find out whether any of your preferred schools requires a supplementary information form (SIF). The documents below show which schools require one. They also include copies of the forms. Use the document for your area of the county.
SIFs include additional information that is relevant to a particular school's oversubscription criteria, such as church attendance.
Complete the form if you are applying under any of the school's criteria. Return it directly to the school before the application deadline. If you do not, the school cannot consider this information.
Application checklist
Follow our checklist to make sure you have done everything before you apply:
When you can apply
We will publish information about how to make an application and a link to the online admissions system at 9am on 5 October 2026.
Offer dates
National offer day is 16 April 2027.
Your application is 'on time' if WSCC receive it before 11.59pm on 15 January 2027.
Your application is 'out of time' if WSCC receive it after 11.59pm on 15 January 2027 and up to 12 February 2027.
We consider out of time application preferences after reviewing all applications we received on time.
How we will inform you of the outcome
Online applications
For both on time and out of time online applications, on national offer day you can log into your account on the parent portal after 7am to view your offer. You will need your username and password.
View your offer(external link)
WSCC will also send you an email with a link to your offer letter, note that:
- you will need the name and details of the child as given in your application to access the letter
- WSCC send emails throughout the day and cannot give you an exact time that your email will arrive
- WSCC will send it to the email address you gave in your application
Paper applications
If you applied by paper form WSCC will email the result on national offer day, if you gave us an email address either on the form or when an admissions officer contacted you to request one. You will need the name and details of the child as given in your application to access the letter.
If you do not have an email address WSCC will send you a letter by second class post on national offer day.
WSCC cannot give you any information over the phone.
Late applications
If WSCC received your application on or after 13 February 2027 it is late and outside the normal admissions round. We process these applications after 17 May 2027. We will contact you after this date.
If you live outside West Sussex
If you live outside West Sussex, contact your local council for advice about how they will tell you the outcome of your application.