Parents of children due to start primary school next September can now apply for their child’s place.

Anyone with children born between September 1, 2011, and August 31, 2012, must fill in the application form before January 15, 2016.

If a child lives in Nottingham city and is due to start at infant or primary school in September 2016, you will be able to apply for a school place from today.

Parents are being reminded that it is important to use all their preferences, including their catchment school to help improve the likelihood of getting their preferred school.

The rise in birth rate has meant that there is now high demand on the city’s school places. Nottingham City Council has worked hard to make sure there are enough places for every child in Nottingham.

Figures show the number of Nottingham children getting a place at their preferred school increased last year.

Statistics from the Department for Education for parents who applied for a place for a child starting in September 2015 show:

  • Primary: 84.8% of children got their first choice, up from 80.8% in 2014
  • Secondary: 84.4% of children got their first choice, up from 81% in 2014

Nottingham has also improved its ranking nationally for pupils receiving their first choice of school:

  • Primary: up from 131st out of 152 local authorities in 2014 to 116th in 2015
  • Secondary: up from 100th out of 152 local authorities in 2014 to 79th in 2015

Last year there was an increase of 138 applications, that’s the equivalent of four extra classes of children. There were 3,877 applications for primary places and every child in Nottingham was offered a primary place on school offer day in April.

Of the 235 primary children who did not receive any of their preferred places in 2015, half (116) of parents only put one school preference on their application form out of a possible six choices

Since 2009, an extra 1,600 primary places have been created and a further 485 places have been made available for the 2015/16 academic year. The council has invested more than £33 million to make schools bigger and better. Current expansion plans are for another 1,150 new places at four primary schools ready for Autumn 2016.

Councillor Sam Webster, Portfolio Holder for Schools, said: “Choosing a school for your child is one of the most important decisions a parent can make, we have made the application process as simple as possible but it is so important that parents read the requirements carefully, use all of the preferences available and apply on time.

“The City Council has made sure that there are enough primary school places to meet with the current and future demand. We are continuing to plan for future years, but parents can help us in the primary admissions process.

“Last year we saw a rise in the number of Nottingham children getting a place at their first choice of school. We know this is important to parents, and we do our very best to accommodate them as much as possible.”

The quickest and easiest way to apply is online but parents can also apply using a paper form which is also available.

The application form and more information about the application process can be found online at https://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/article/23179/Apply-for-an-Infant-Junior-or-Primary-School-Place-2016-to-2017

Parents will hear by email or letter what their offer is on April 18 next year. For help with applications, call the school admissions team by email schooladmissions@nottinghamcity.gov.uk, or by telephone 0115 841 5568 or online www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/schooladmissions

For children due to start at infant or primary school, if parents have already registered their child’s details, an application pack with more details will be sent to them on 20 November 2015.

If parents have not yet registered their child’s details with the council they can still do so by clicking here.