After offer day in Portsmouth
The dates we hold for replies, appeals and waiting lists in Portsmouth, for Reception and Year 7, and what happened at each school last year.
Rules checked 19 October 2026 against the current codes on gov.uk
The dates
From the council: Portsmouth's school admissions page.
Reception, September 2026 entry
| Date | What | What to do | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 December 2026 | Reception: waiting lists kept until | Waiting lists for this intake are kept until at least this date. Keep in touch with the council if you are on one. | School Admissions Code 2.15 |
Reception, September 2027 entry
| Date | What | What to do | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 April 2027 | Primary offer day | Offers arrive by email from your home council. Check which school you were offered. | National rule (School Admissions Code) |
| 30 April 2027 | Reception: reply to your offer (about) | Accept or decline the place you were offered, and ask to stay on the waiting list for schools you ranked higher. | Usual practice: about two weeks; your offer letter gives the date |
| 17 May 2027 | Reception: appeal deadline (earliest) | If you want to appeal for a school you were refused, lodge the appeal with the school's admission authority by this date. | School Admission Appeals Code: at least 20 school days after offers |
| 31 December 2027 | Reception: waiting lists kept until | Waiting lists for this intake are kept until at least this date. Keep in touch with the council if you are on one. | School Admissions Code 2.15 |
Year 7, September 2026 entry
| Date | What | What to do | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 December 2026 | Year 7: waiting lists kept until | Waiting lists for this intake are kept until at least this date. Keep in touch with the council if you are on one. | School Admissions Code 2.15 |
Year 7, September 2027 entry
| Date | What | What to do | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 March 2027 | Secondary offer day | Offers arrive by email from your home council. Check which school you were offered. | Portsmouth council |
| 15 March 2027 | Year 7: reply to your offer (about) | Accept or decline the place you were offered, and ask to stay on the waiting list for schools you ranked higher. | Usual practice: about two weeks; your offer letter gives the date |
| 31 March 2027 | Year 7: appeal deadline (earliest) | If you want to appeal for a school you were refused, lodge the appeal with the school's admission authority by this date. | School Admission Appeals Code: at least 20 school days after offers |
| 31 December 2027 | Year 7: waiting lists kept until | Waiting lists for this intake are kept until at least this date. Keep in touch with the council if you are on one. | School Admissions Code 2.15 |
How each step works, and the national rules: After offer day.
What happened at each school last year
The published figures from last year's offers. They describe what happened then, school by school. They are not a forecast, and they say nothing about any one family's case. Waiting lists are kept in the order of each school's admission criteria (School Admissions Code 2021, 2.15).
Reception, September 2026 entry
- DfE's figures cover 37 schools for September 2026 entry. At 21 of them, every family who put the school first was offered a place there. At 16, some families who put the school first were not offered it.
Every school (37)
Year 7, September 2026 entry
- DfE's figures cover 10 schools for September 2026 entry. At 4 of them, every family who put the school first was offered a place there. At 6, some families who put the school first were not offered it.
Every school (10)
| School | Places offered | Put it first | Put it first, not offered it | Applicants refused |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Admiral Lord Nelson School | 248 | 288 | 55 | not held |
| Ark Charter Academy | 180 | 133 | 2 | not held |
| Castle View Academy | 129 | 119 | 0 | not held |
| Mayfield School | 110 | 114 | 18 | not held |
| Miltoncross Academy | 200 | 124 | 0 | not held |
| Priory School | 264 | 320 | 74 | not held |
| Springfield School | 225 | 207 | 0 | not held |
| St Edmund's Catholic School | 238 | 416 | 182 | not held |
| The Portsmouth Academy | 212 | 117 | 0 | not held |
| Trafalgar School | 224 | 192 | 3 | not held |
Places offered and first preferences: DfE, Primary and secondary school applications and offers (school level, Open Government Licence). "Put it first, not offered it" is DfE's number of first preferences less its number of first-preference offers. Applicants refused: Portsmouth's own offer-day tables, where we hold them; "not held" means we do not have the figure, not that it was nought.
Moving to Portsmouth mid-year
Apply to the council for most schools; some schools take applications directly. The council handles age-appropriate Portsmouth maintained mainstream schools listed in its admissions booklet (pages 69 to 73), up to six preferences. Six schools take direct applications, including St Edmund's RC Secondary, Madani School and Mayville School. A school stamp form from the current Portsmouth school is needed. Term time only.
- Decision: No fixed number of days: applications are batched in windows, each with a published close date and offer day (offers by 4pm on offer day).
- Proof of address: The council "will ask for proof of your new address" closer to the move date.
From Portsmouth's own in-year admissions page (2026/27): read it there before you apply, as arrangements change each year.
How in-year applications work everywhere: Moving mid-year.
Also: All Portsmouth admission dates · Moving mid-year
Sources
The rules on this page are from these, checked on gov.uk on 19 October 2026. Where a paragraph number is given, it is the paragraph of that code.
- School Admissions Code 2021: in force since 1 September 2021; the current version.
- School Admission Appeals Code 2022: for appeals lodged from 1 October 2022; the current version.
- gov.uk: School admissions: the government's guide for parents, updated 8 January 2025.
- Fair Access Protocols: guidance (DfE, August 2021): published with the School Admissions Code; the current version.
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Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Sources are named beside each figure. How we know · All sources.