Respond to your offer
You must respond to your offer by the date indicated in your offer letter.
If your child did not get a place at your preferred school, we strongly advise you to accept the offered place.
Follow the guidance in your offer letter to accept your offer because:
- if you refuse it, the place will be offered to another child
- if you are later unsuccessful with a waiting list offer or appeal, you may be left with a school much further away
- accepting the place will not affect the outcome of any waiting list or appeal
This application process adheres to the requirements of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, in relation to the local authority’s obligations to meet parental preferences where possible, without compromising the provision of efficient education and the use of resources.
Unsuccessful for a Portsmouth school
Waiting list
If your child did not get a place at your preferred school, they will be added to the waiting list for each refused school.
If you have any change of circumstance, such as a change of address, or a change of school through the in-year application process for your child or a sibling, please contact the admissions team immediately as this could impact on the position your child holds on a school’s waiting list.
Appeals
You have the right to make an appeal to an independent panel against the decision not to allocate a place to your child at your preferred school(s).
If you wish to appeal, visit waiting list and appeals for a school place.
You need to submit your appeal by Friday 15 May 2026 or as soon as possible after this date. Appeals received after Friday 15 May cannot be guaranteed to be heard during the summer term.
Appeals for Junior Transfer will be held during July 2026.
Unsuccessful for a school outside Portsmouth
We do not operate waiting lists for schools in Hampshire or other schools outside of Portsmouth, contact the relevant local authority directly for details on waiting lists and how to appeal.
If you need further guidance for this process, contact the admissions team at admissions@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or on 023 9268 8008 (via the city helpdesk).
Oversubscribed schools
These schools received more applications than they had places available. The table shows the admission criteria of last place offered for on-time applicants.
| Junior/primary school | Criteria of last place allocated |
| Court Lane Junior Academy | The final criterion under which places have been offered is distance. All on-time applicants were successful. |
| Craneswater Junior School | The final criterion under which places have been offered is feeder. As the number of applicants under this criterion exceeded the number of places available, distance from home to school was used to prioritise applications. The last applicant to be successful under this criterion lived 1.032 miles away from the school. |
| Solent Junior School | The final criterion under which places have been offered is distance. As the number of applicants under this criterion exceeded the number of places available, distance from home to school was used to prioritise applications. The last applicant to be successful under this criterion lived 1.024 miles away from the school. |
| Wimborne Primary School | The final criterion under which places have been offered is distance. As the number of applicants under this criterion exceeded the number of places available, distance from home to school was used to prioritise applications. The last applicant to be successful under this criterion lived 0.664 miles away from the school. |
| Hampshire and other non-Portsmouth Authority Schools | Please contact Hampshire County Council (tel: 0300 555 1377) or the relevant local authority direct for details of how the last school place was offered. |
Contact us
For more information, contact the admissions team at admissions@portsmouthcc.gov.uk, or on 023 9268 8008 (via the city helpdesk).