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Apply online - late applications and late changes of preferences | Apply for reception class or primary school | Birmingham City Council
Apply for reception class or primary school

Apply online - late applications and late changes of preferences

Applications for primary school entry in September 2026 opened at 9:00am on 1 October 2025. The statutory closing date is at 11:59pm on 15 January 2026.

Applications for primary school entry received after 15 January 2026 will only be considered after applications received on time have been processed. Late applications will be processed after 16 April 2026.

Late applicants are less likely to get a place at one of their preferred schools for their child as most schools in Birmingham fill to their published admissions numbers with on time applicants that met their admissions criteria.

List three different primary schools in order of preference.

Ensure you include details of any siblings attending your preferred school(s) in the field (box) provided for sibling details. Sibling details included in the wrong field (box), such as reasons for preference will not be counted and may prevent you from gaining a place at your preferred school. If you fill in the online application incorrectly, you are liable for not completing the form correctly, not School Admissions and Fair Access Service.

Make sure you have read the admission arrangements fully for the schools you are interested in and know how likely it is that your child will be offered a place there. It is important that you include at least one realistic preference for a school that your child would have met the criteria for in previous years.

If you have included preferences for any schools that require you to complete a supplementary information form or includes social and medical needs in the criteria and require you to send evidence, you must send the supplementary information form and/or any required supporting medical evidence directly to the school. Failure to do this may mean that your child’s application is assessed by the school under a lower criterion, and they may not be offered a place.

Do not use this application form if your child has an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP). For children with an EHCP, visit the SENAR Local Offer website.

Before you submit your application

Read the guidance below before submitting your online application.

Download Parent’s guidance to submit online application, change of preferences and password resets

Apply online

Apply online from 1 October 2025

You will receive email confirmation that you have submitted your application form. You must check this to make sure everything is correct.

Change your preferences

You can change your order of preferences right up to 11:59pm on 15 January 2026.

If you amend your preferences, you must re-submit your application form before the closing date. If you do not re-submit the form, your application will not be processed.

We will take your final submission as the application to process.

Late applications

  • Late applications open on 16 January 2026.
  • Applications for primary school received after the statutory closing date (15 January 2026) will only be considered after applications received on time, and will be processed after the 16 April 2026.
  • Birmingham City Council is unable to consider any late applications with exceptional circumstances as on time after the 22 January 2026 for primary school, as the council will be exchanging data with other admission authorities, including neighbouring councils, as part of the coordinated admissions scheme.
  • Birmingham City Council will only consider applications received after the closing date as on time if there were exceptional reasons which prevented the parent/carer from applying by the closing date.
  • If you feel you have exceptional circumstances that prevented you from applying on-time, you must submit your late application together with evidence/documentation supporting your exceptional circumstances to Birmingham City Council between the 16 January 2026 and 22 January 2026. Ensure that you read the below important information and follow the full process.

Important information

  • You must email your evidence to admissions@birmingham.gov.uk and the subject field in your email must be marked Exceptional Circumstances along with your online application reference number, for example, 330-2026-09-E-111875. You must explain your exceptional reasons and attach any relevant evidence/documentation, if applicable.
  • We can only consider applications submitted as late, but with exceptional circumstances, if the above process is fully adhered to.
  • Evidence/documentation will not be requested by Birmingham City Council to support late applications (further to the above).
  • Evidence/documentation must be sent in with the email by the parent/carer, as stated above.
  • The exceptional circumstances process only applies to applicants that were unable to apply by 15 January 2026. Those parent/carers that were able to apply by that date, but then subsequently submit a late change of preferences between the 16 January 2026 and 22 January 2026, will have their late change of preferences treated as a late application and it will be processed after 16 April 2026.

Other useful information

Page last updated: 15 January 2026

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