Offer of a school place
If you apply online you will receive an email on the evening of Wednesday 16 April 2025 to inform you of the outcome of your application. If you apply using a paper application, your offer will be sent by email on Wednesday 16 April 2025.
The offer will be for the highest ranked school on your application that is able to offer your child a place. If your child is not offered a place at any of your preferred schools they will normally be offered a place at the nearest Hackney school to your home that has vacancies remaining.
You are encouraged to accept the place offered, even if it is not your most preferred school or a school that you ranked on your application. If you accept the offer, your child will still remain on the waiting list for your preferred schools and you can explore other options such as adding further preferences and submitting an appeal. Rejecting the offer will not increase your chances of gaining a place from the waiting list.
How do I respond to the offer?
You must respond to the offer by Wednesday 30 April 2025. Your offer email will explain how to respond online. If you applied online, you will need to log into your online application using your email address or username and your password.
Your username was emailed to you when you registered to apply online. Your password was chosen by you when you registered to apply online but it was not sent via email.
If you applied using a Google application form you must follow the instructions in your offer email.
If you don’t respond by Wednesday 30 April 2025 we may withdraw the offer. We also need to know if your circumstances have changed and you no longer want the place.
What happens next?
You have the following options available if you have not been offered your most preferred school(s):
- Remain on the waiting list for your preferred school(s)
- Review information about how places were offered at your preferred school(s)
- Make changes to your application
- Submit an appeal
Waiting lists
Your child will automatically be added to the waiting lists for schools you ranked higher on your application form. For example, if you were offered your 3rd preference school, you will be added to the waiting list for your 1st and 2nd preference schools. If you have been refused a place at all of the schools you listed on your application form, your child will automatically be added to the waiting lists for all of them.
Your child's position on the waiting list(s) will only be available after the second cycle of offers on 8 May 2025. Please be aware that waiting list positions can go up or down depending on whether children join or leave the list and as a result of changes to a child’s address or criteria. Waiting lists are not managed on a first come first served basis. You must contact us if you would like to know your child's position on the waiting list(s).
If you are happy with the school place your child has been offered and you no longer want them to remain on any school waiting lists, you must complete the Further Information Form to let us know. The form will be available here on Wednesday 16 April 2025.
Otherwise your child will automatically remain on waiting lists for Hackney schools until the end of the summer term, Friday 18 July 2025. If you would like your child to remain on the waiting list after the summer term you must make a separate 2025/26 In Year application before Friday 5 September 2025. In Year applications to remain on the waiting list can be submitted from 1 August 2025.
Note: We will not contact you directly to remind you to reapply. It is your responsibility to remember to reapply before 5 September 2025.
Why wasn’t I offered my first preference?
Hackney schools are very popular and have a limited number of places to offer. If you were not offered your first preference it is because all the places were offered to children who had a higher priority than your child according to the schools’ admission criteria.
Information about how places were offered at oversubscribed schools in Hackney, including how many places were offered under each criteria and the cut-off distances, will be available here on Wednesday 16 April 2025.
For schools outside Hackney you can contact the local authority where the school is located for this information.
Make changes to your application
Whether you accept or decline your offer, you can still add new and/or change the school preferences on your application.
You must complete the Further Information Form to add or change your preferences. You will need your child’s application reference number to complete the form which you can find in your offer email. Please be aware that emails or telephone calls asking to make changes to your application will not be accepted.
The deadline for adding further preferences for the 2nd round of offers is Wednesday 23 April. The deadlines for future rounds will be published here on Wednesday 16 April 2025.
Other changes
If your circumstances have changed since your original application was made, for example you have moved home, you need to let us know.
To change the address on your child's application, you must provide proof.
This can include proof of exchange of contracts or a signed tenancy agreement in addition to an original utility bill, such as a gas or water bill. Your address will not be changed until proof has been received.
Further offers
After 16 April, Hackney Education will continue processing applications and making offers on behalf of all Hackney primary schools. Schools do not offer places directly.
Some families decline their offer resulting in a small number of places available for children on the waiting list. If we can offer a place to your child, you will be contacted by email.
IMPORTANT: Only successful applicants will be contacted and expected to respond to the new offer within one week via the online response form. If you do not respond by the deadline, we will assume that you are accepting the new offer and will remove any school place offered previously.
The second round of offers will be made on Thursday 8 May 2025. These offers will include all late applicants, additional preferences and changes to applications (e.g. change of address). The deadline for changes to be included in this round is Wednesday 23 April 2025.