Admission of children outside
their normal age group
Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their
normal age group, for example, if the child is gifted and
talented or has experienced problems such as ill health.
Admission authorities must make decisions on the
basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best
interests of the child concerned. This will include taking
account of the parent’s views; information about the
child’s academic, social and emotional development;
where relevant, their medical history and the views of a
medical professional; whether they have previously been
educated out of their normal age group; and whether
they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if
it were not for being born prematurely. They must also
take into account the views of the head teacher of the
school concerned.
When informing a parent of the decision on the year group
the child should be admitted to, the admission authority
must set out clearly the reasons for their decision.
Where an admission authority agrees to a parent’s
request for their child to be admitted out of their normal
age group and, as a consequence of that decision, the
child will be applying during the main round admissions
process the local authority and admission authority must
process the application as part of the main admissions
round, unless the parental request is made too late for
this to be possible.
Offers are made on the basis of the schools determined
admission arrangements only, using the oversubscription
criteria. The application will not be given lower or higher
priority on the basis that the child is being admitted out
of their normal age group.
If you wish to make an application for admission outside
of your child’s normal age group you must make this
request in writing to the admission authority of the
school concerned.
This should be made at the time of application or in the
case of primary to high school transfer before the closing
date 31 October.
You will need to provide all of the reasons why you feel it
is in your child’s best interests to be placed outside of their
normal age group. You should also provide supporting
evidence with your request i.e. school reports, medical
reports, professional recommendations or any other
documents that you wish to be taken into consideration.
For Elthorne Park High school you should address your
request to ‘The Head of Admissions’ and send this with your
supporting documents to High School Admissions, Ealing
Council, Perceval House, 14-16 Uxbridge Road, W5 2HL.
For all other Ealing high schools you should address
your request to ‘The Chair of the Governing Body’ and
send this with your supporting documents directly to the
school(s) you have applied for. You will need to send your
request to each school on your application form.
If you are applying to schools in other boroughs please
contact the relevant local authority for information on
how to make a request for admission outside of your
child’s normal age for schools in their borough. The
telephone numbers of neighbouring authorities can be
found on page 58.
Parents have a statutory right to appeal against the
refusal of a place at a school for which they have applied.
This right does not apply if they are offered a place at the
school but it is not in their preferred age group.
12 Starting High School 2021