School admissions criteria

The determined school admissions arrangements 2025/2026

Following the earlier public consultation and the council cabinet meeting on 21 February 2024, the local authority has determined its arrangements for school admissions for the 2025/26 school year as follows:

Tower Hamlets consulted on its school admission arrangements in autumn 2023 as changes were proposed for arrangements for 2025/26. These arrangements were determined by Cabinet on 21 February 2024 and included:
- Local Authority Relevant Area (geographical area) for admissions purposes
- Admissions arrangements for Tower Hamlets community schools: Nursery Schools/Classes, Primary Schools and Secondary Schools
- Schemes for the co-ordination of admissions for: Reception Year of Primary School; Year 7 of Secondary School; In Year Admissions (Admissions outside of the normal points of entry)
- Published Admission Numbers for schools in Tower Hamlets.

One significant change was determined for the admission arrangements for community secondary schools in 2025/26: Use of digital CATS testing for Banding purposes.

The school admissions arrangements 2024/2025

Own admission authority schools – admissions policies 2024/25

Academy and faith schools that are their own admission authority are responsible for determining admission arrangements annually and providing a copy of their formally agreed arrangements to the LA by no later than the 15th March each year.

This information is collated by the LA’s school admissions team. Their admission arrangements are required to be displayed on the individual school websites.

The following schools in Tower Hamlets determine their own admission policies and can be viewed by clicking on the links:

Primary schools

Secondary schools

Oversubscription criteria

Each school has a published admissions number, the maximum number of places that can be offered. Details on the number of places available can be found in the Starting School in Tower Hamlets brochure for primary schools and the Moving to a Secondary School in Tower Hamlets brochure for secondary schools.

Some schools receive more applications than there are places available. If one of your preferences is for a school that has more applications than places, the admissions criteria for the school will be applied and it is possible that your child may not be offered a place.

It is, therefore, important that you consider the admissions criteria and the likelihood of your child being offered a place before you name a school on your application form.

Please note that Tower Hamlets is not able to exceed the school's admission number because, to do so, would result in overcrowding and would have an adverse effect on the school's ability to provide quality education. Additional children would place too much strain on the school's resources.

Equality impact assessment 2015

The authority has completed an equality impact assessment.

For more information on the specific arrangements for admission to Tower Hamlets community primary schools, visit the equal chance page.