After offer day in Swindon
The dates we hold for replies, appeals and waiting lists in Swindon, for Reception and Year 7, and what happened at each school last year.
Refused a place? Find the school
What happened there last year, your council's dates, and what to do next.
Don't miss a date
A free account emails you before your reply, appeal and waiting-list dates, or puts them in your calendar. Set your council and your children once, in your plan.
Rules checked 19 October 2026 against the current codes on gov.uk
The dates
From the council: Swindon'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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 January 2027 | Reception: late applications cut-off | The last day the council takes a late application before offer day, usually only with a good reason. | Swindon council |
| 16 April 2027 | Primary offer day | Offers arrive by email from your home council. Check which school you were offered. | Swindon council |
| 30 April 2027 | Reception: reply to your offer | Accept or decline the place you were offered, and ask to stay on the waiting list for schools you ranked higher. | Swindon council |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 October 2026 | Year 7: late applications cut-off | The last day the council takes a late application before offer day, usually only with a good reason. | Swindon council |
| 1 March 2027 | Secondary offer day | Offers arrive by email from your home council. Check which school you were offered. | Swindon council |
| 15 March 2027 | Year 7: reply to your offer | Accept or decline the place you were offered, and ask to stay on the waiting list for schools you ranked higher. | Swindon council |
| 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 58 schools for September 2026 entry. At 44 of them, every family who put the school first was offered a place there. At 14, some families who put the school first were not offered it.
Every school (58)
Year 7, September 2026 entry
- DfE's figures cover 13 schools for September 2026 entry. At 4 of them, every family who put the school first was offered a place there. At 9, some families who put the school first were not offered it.
Every school (13)
| School | Places offered | Put it first | Put it first, not offered it | Applicants refused |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abbey Park School | 240 | 303 | 64 | not held |
| Great Western Academy | 180 | 162 | 7 | not held |
| Highworth Warneford School | 140 | 130 | 0 | not held |
| Kingsdown School | 232 | 237 | 21 | not held |
| Lawn Manor Academy | 200 | 199 | 6 | not held |
| Lydiard Park Academy | 232 | 221 | 1 | not held |
| Nova Hreod Academy | 228 | 153 | 0 | not held |
| St Joseph's Catholic College | 256 | 237 | 0 | not held |
| Swindon Academy | 200 | 224 | 37 | not held |
| The Commonweal School | 232 | 235 | 17 | not held |
| The Deanery CofE Academy | 104 | 46 | 0 | not held |
| The Dorcan Academy | 170 | 187 | 20 | not held |
| The Ridgeway School & Sixth Form College | 270 | 300 | 38 | 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: Swindon'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 Swindon mid-year
Apply to the council, for any school. Apply online to the council only (up to three schools); the council coordinates in-year applications for all year groups and works with each admission authority, allocating every 15 school days in set process periods. A search summary of other versions of the page and of the 2026-27 scheme says several Catholic schools (e.g. St Joseph's Catholic College) and Abbey Farm Educate Together are outside coordination and applied to directly; not found on the page read.
- Decision: "In-Year transfers are allocated every 15 school days." Published process periods, e.g. closing 1 October 2026, offers emailed 12 October 2026.
- Proof of address: Proof of a confirmed Swindon address such as a signed tenancy agreement or solicitor's letter confirming exchange (per search summary of the page).
From Swindon's own in-year admissions page (2026/27 ("Process period for the 2026/27 school year")): read it there before you apply, as arrangements change each year.
How in-year applications work everywhere: Moving mid-year.
Also: All Swindon 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.