It’s secondary school National Offer Day – what happens now?

3 mins read

Monday 3 March 2025

Tags: secondary school offer, secondary school, education

This news story is for parents in England only. See our education advice if you live in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales.

If your child has an Education, Health and Care plan, there is a different admissions process that applies to your child.

Parents whose child is leaving primary school will have completed their preferences for secondary school last October.

Today, on National Offer Day, parents will receive a single offer of a school place for the child for September.

What happens on National Offer Day?

The schools you listed in your application will have each decided whether they can offer your child a place.

The local authority will have considered these offers against your preferences, along with everyone else’s.

And on National Offer Day, you’ll get a single offer of a school.

Your offer will be the highest preference school on your list that can give your child a place. If none of your preferences can offer your child a place – because too many other children are higher up on the oversubscription criteria – you’ll be offered another school.

This is likely to be the nearest school with places still available. Usually there will be a form to complete with a deadline to confirm that you accept the school offered.

What if I’m not happy with the school offered?

If you are not happy with the school you have been offered, don’t panic. There are a number of things you can do:

  • Appeal for a school place if you applied and did not get an offer of a place for your child.
  • Keep your child on the waiting list for any schools you originally applied for. Sometimes there is quite a bit of movement before September.
  • Consider other options – you could apply for schools not on your original list.

We advise that you accept the school place offered if you can, even if was not your first child and you are not happy with the offer. This will ensure that your child at least has a guaranteed school place if your appeal or waiting list options fail.

Where can I find out more about this?

Visit our page on applying for a school place, where we go into more detail about your options if you’re not happy with the offer.