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Starting secondary school - age 11

Starting and applying for secondary school - age 11

National Offer Day 2023

Wednesday 1st March 2023 is National Offer Day for secondary schools. To discuss the results of your child's application, please email the team at schooladmissions@wokingham.gov.uk, quoting your child's name and date of birth for reference.

To formally accept or decline the school offered to your child, log in to your Citizen's Portal Account.

If you have not applied using our Portal, please use our school place offer acceptance form.

If you have not achieved a place at a preferred school and wish to learn about the appeal procedure, read our school admissions and exclusions appeals page.

Applying late

To submit a late application, please download and complete one of the forms below and return it to schooladmissions@wokingham.gov.uk. 

Parents' guide

Read the parents' guide to starting secondary school (PDF document). This contains all the information you need to know about applying for a school place.

Secondary schools

There are 10 state secondary schools in Wokingham and one through school. Find out more about individual schools below.

If you live in the Wokingham Borough, apply to us for a secondary school place, even if you want to apply for a school in another local authority area.

  • Check your local council area on the Gov.uk websiteif you're not sure which local authority area you should apply to
  • Read our parents' guide to starting secondary school (PDF document) for information about the different types of schools and how to apply
  • Use our  Schools designated areas map to find out which designated or 'catchment' area you live in (or to find the designated area of a particular school). Search for an address or postcode using the text box or a location on the map using the 'set location' map pin
            

Read the admissions policies, in the tab, below, for schools you're interested in. You can also find these on the individual school's website, in the 'secondary schools' tab, below.

Special Educational Needs (SEN)

Read our Local Offer page for information on support for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

 

Making an application

When you make an application to us you can list up to 4 schools, in order of preference.

  • Every address in the borough has at least 1 designated area school - we recommend you include this as one of your choices
  • You can use our schools designated areas map to find out which designated or 'catchment' area you live in
  • You can view all the state schools in the Borough in our directory
  • You can choose any state school, even if it isn't in our borough
  • If you want to apply to a private school you will need to apply to the school directly
  

Schools in other boroughs

If you've selected a school in another borough, you should check to make sure if there are any extra forms you need to complete. You can find our neighboring boroughs' school admissions websites below:

Secondary school websites

  • Bohunt School, Sheerlands Road, Arborfield, Wokingham, RG2 9GB. (A state school for boys and girls aged from 11 to 16)
  • The Bulmershe School, Woodlands Avenue, Woodley, Reading, Berkshire, RG5 3EU. (A state school for boys and girls aged from 11 to 18)
  • The Emmbrook School, Emmbrook Road, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG41 1JP. (A state school for boys and girls aged from 11 to 18)
  • The Forest School, Robin Hood Lane, Winnersh, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG41 5NE. (A state school for boys aged from 11 to 18 and girls aged 16 to 18)
  • The Holt School, Holt Lane, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG41 1EE. (A state school for girls aged from 11 to 18.)
  • Maiden Erlegh School, Silverdale Road, Earley, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 7HS. (A state school for boys and girls aged from 11 to 18)
  • Oakbank School, Hyde End Lane, Ryeish Green, Reading, Berkshire, RG7 1ER. (A state school for boys and girls aged from 11 to 16)
  • The Piggott School, Twyford Road, Wargrave, Berkshire, RG10 8DS (A state school for boys and girls aged from 4 to 18 - through a school based across 2 sites)
  • St Crispin's School, London Road, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG40 1SS. (A state school for boys and girls aged from 11 to 18)
  • Waingels College, Waingels Road, Woodley, Reading, Berkshire, RG5 4RF. (A state school for boys and girls aged from 11 to 18)

Admission rules

If a school doesn't have enough places for everyone who applies, the admission rules for that school will be used to decide who will get a place.

Read the admissions policies for all Wokingham Borough secondary schools, below.

Schools that use our admissions policy

The following school uses our secondary school admissions arrangements:

  • The Bulmershe School (A state school for boys and girls aged from 11 to 18)

Schools that decide their own admissions arrangements

The following schools use their own admissions policies:

If you applied online on Wokingham's Citizen Portal

Allocation information cannot be given out over the phone.

On 1 March 2023 you'll be able to see which school place you've been offered by logging into the schools application system on the logging into the Citizen Portal website.

Emails will be sent out on 1 March 2023. If you opted not to receive an email, a letter will be posted to you on 1 March 2023.

If you applied using a paper form

If you applied using a paper application you'll be sent your offer letter by first class post on 1 March 2023.

Accepting the place

Go to the accept or decline a school place web page to accept or decline the place you've been offered.

You'll need to accept or decline by 15 March 2023.

If you are not happy with the place offered, we recommend that you accept the place and remain on the waiting list for higher preferred schools - doing so does not change your chance of gaining a place and you still have the right of appeal. Any requests for changes have to be made in writing.

Waiting lists

If your child is not offered your first preferred school, they are automatically added to the waiting list for higher preferred Wokingham Borough schools. If we can offer a place from a waiting list, we will remove the offered place and allocate the higher preferred school - we will not contact you in advance of this. 

Waiting list information is not available until after 15 March 2023.

Appeals

If you haven't been offered the school you wanted, you can appeal the decision. Appeals have to be submitted by 29 March 2023.

Go to the school appeals page to find out more.

How places are allocated

To find out about how school places are allocated, see our parents' guide to starting secondary school (PDF document).

You may also wish to look at our Secondary school allocation summary 2022 (PDF document) for details on how places were allocated during our most recent National Offer Day.

You can find out what support each school provides for children with additional needs by visiting our Local Offer page.

If you need childcare before or after school, you can find out if your school has a before and after school club.

You can also use a childminder. You can use our directory to find out which childminders drop off and pick up from which school.

  • 12th September 2022: Online admissions opens
  • 31 October 2022: Closing date for applications
  • 31 December 2022: Deadline for providing evidence to meet application criteria
  • 1 March 2023: Offers of school places are sent out
  • 15 March 2023: Deadline to accept offer the of a school place 
  • 16 March 2023: Waiting list information is made available
  • 29 March 2023: Closing date for receipt of appeals to be heard together

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