If your child is in Year 6, the secondary school application round is now open across England, and the deadline is Saturday 31 October 2026 for a place starting in September 2027. That leaves about a month to visit schools, compare them, and decide the order. It's very doable in that time, as long as the open evenings, the notes and the deadline all live in one place rather than across leaflets, emails and memory.

The quick answer

• Deadline (England): apply through your own council by 31 October 2026
• Offers: councils send secondary offers on 1 March, which is Monday 1 March 2027
• How: you apply through the council where you live, even for schools in another area
• The plan: list the schools, visit and take notes, check any extra forms, then submit a few days early

This guide covers England. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own admissions arrangements, so check the relevant local guidance before applying.

How secondary applications work in England

You fill in one application with your council, listing several schools in the order you'd prefer them. How many you can list varies by council, so check yours. Councils in England use an equal-preference system: each school looks at your application against its own admission criteria without knowing where you ranked it, and if more than one school can offer a place, you're offered the one highest on your list. So put your genuine favourite first, and include at least one school your child has a realistic chance of getting into.

Some schools, such as faith schools, may ask for an extra form (often called a supplementary information form), sent to the school with its own deadline. Check each school's admissions page for this early.

A four-week plan to 31 October

• Week 1: list the schools you're considering, note each open evening or open morning, and read each school's admission criteria, including any catchment, distance, sibling or faith criteria that apply
• Weeks 2 and 3: visit, take notes straight after each visit while it's fresh, and send any supplementary forms
• Week 4: talk it through as a family, agree the order, and submit a few days before the deadline
• After submitting: save the confirmation, and put offer day on the calendar

Week 1: every school and every open evening in one place

Weeks 2 and 3: notes you can actually compare

After three or four visits, schools start to blur. Write a few notes straight after each one, under the same headings every time, so they're easy to compare later:

• Getting there: how your child would travel, and how long it takes
• Feel: how your child felt walking round, and what they liked
• Questions: anything you asked, and the answers
• Admissions: criteria, catchment or distance, and any extra form

In Petal Home, that can be a shared list with a section for each school, where each item can carry a note. Both adults, and an older child with their own login (unless you've limited their access), can add to it, and a shared list shows who added each item. Lists and sections are free.

Week 4: agree the order, then submit early

Sit down together with the notes and agree the order. Ask your child what they think: they're the one going. Then submit a few days early rather than on the deadline itself, and keep the confirmation. In Petal Home, a household reminder a week before the deadline can be assigned to one person, with a due date and time, so the nudge goes to their phone. If you'd like everything in one place, a countdown to 31 October can hold the list, the key dates and the reminders together (Premium).

After you apply

Put Monday 1 March 2027 on the family calendar. Your council will tell you how you'll hear and the date you need to accept your offer by, so add that too. If you miss the deadline, apply anyway. Late applications can be treated differently from on-time applications, so send yours as soon as possible and check your council's rules.