If you live in Wrexham, Flintshire, Denbighshire or Shropshire you must apply to your home local authority, even if the school you are applying to is over the border.  These local authorities have a co-ordinated admissions arrangement.  

This means that when a Wrexham resident submits an application to Wrexham's admissions team, if the application lists a preference for a school in one of these three counties (for example, Ysgol Castell Alun in Flintshire, Ysgol Dinas Bran in Denbighshire, St. Martins in Shropshire) we will send your application to the correct admitting authority.  You do not need to make separate applications to these local authorities.  

You should only apply to the authority where you live and add all school preferences to this one application.

If you are applying for a school in a county other than Wrexham, Flintshire, Denbighshire and Shropshire, you should contact the relevant admissions team for advice.

If you are applying for a voluntary aided school (St Joseph’s Catholic and Anglican High School), or foundation school (The Maelor School, Penley), the school also requires a separate application form and may require supplementary evidence.

You will need to fill in and return their separate application form directly to the school as well as completing our online (or paper) application.

These schools will only accept applications where both parts of the application process have been completed.

Please refer to the school websites for more information.
 

Please see our transport policy for more information regarding your eligibility for school transport. It is important to consider how your child will get to school each day when deciding which schools to add to your application. 

If you do not complete an application by the required date, the relevant authority may not be able to offer your child a place at your preferred school. Admissions to secondary school is not automatic, all parents must complete an application.

Please refer to the School Transport Policy. If you express a preference for a school that is not your nearest suitable school, then you will have the responsibility to make arrangements and pay for your child to travel to that school.

Yes, you still need to make an application. 

We would not automatically offer you a school that is not listed on your application. It is very important to add multiple preferences to avoid disappointment. Any schools added to your application after the closing date will be processed as late applications, and it might not be possible to offer you a place at this school.

The information in the Parent’s Guide to Education Services in Wrexham shows the number of places available at each school.
 

Preferences for places at local authority community schools are considered using the authority’s over-subscription criteria which is published in the Parents’ Guide to Education Services in Wrexham.

The information that you provide on your application is important.
All applications received by the closing date will be considered collectively and assessed against the authority's criteria.
 

Late applications will be considered using the same published criteria, however, should a school be over-subscribed then any late applications will be considered after those received by the local authority closing date. 

This means that you may have less opportunity to be allocated your preferred school if you submit your application after the closing date, because priority is given to on-time applications.

If your child has a particular medical need (for example, a disability that may make travel to a school further away more difficult), supporting evidence must be produced before the end of the published allocation period. This should set out the reasons why the school in question is the most suitable school and the difficulties that would be caused if the child had to attend another school, for example, a letter from a registered health professional such as a doctor or social worker. 

The evidence will be assessed by relevant senior managers.

If your preferences cannot be met, you will be invited to add further preferences. You will also have a right to appeal the refusal decision. Information about admission appeals can be found in the Parents’ Guide to Education Services in Wrexham.

After Secondary Offer Day, any appeals should be submitted by March 20, 2026. 

You can still make amendments to your application after the closing date, however, your new first preference will be considered as a late application. This will then be considered against the published oversubscription criteria only after all on-time applications have been allocated.

No. The local authority will check the address provided on your application against records we hold at your child’s current school, and we may request information and evidence from you if they differ.

For allocation purposes, any offer of a school place is based on where your child lives at the end of the allocation period and is conditional on your child living at that address.

If there is equal, shared custody of the child, it is left to the parents to decide which address to use but we may ask to see a Court Order or other evidence to confirm this arrangement exists.

Parents/carers are advised that a child’s school place may be lawfully withdrawn if the information given on their application form is subsequently found to be fraudulent or misleading. The consequence of this could be that there may no longer be a place available for the child at their next nearest school.

The local authority cannot accept two applications for one child. Parents must therefore reach a joint agreement or obtain an appropriate Court Order and submit a single application.

Please notify our admissions team if your child’s address changes during the allocation period.