London School Admissions: What Has Changed for September 2027 Entry

London offers families an extraordinary range of schools, and an admissions timetable with a few dates that genuinely cannot move. Here is what has changed for September 2027 entry, so you can plan your family’s search with confidence.

Families arriving in London are usually well prepared. What tends to surprise them is that two quite separate things are happening at once: the ordinary admissions round for next September, and the in-year system that governs a child who needs a school place this term.

A few things are genuinely different this cycle, and they are worth understanding early. If you would like a fuller view of the city, our page on school options across London is a good place to begin.

The Dates That Are Fixed by Law

For September 2027 entry, the secondary application closes on 31 October 2026 and offers are made on 1 March 2027. The primary and reception application closes on 15 January 2027, with offers on 16 April 2027. These are statutory dates rather than local preferences, and they apply across England.

A family arriving now with a child due to start secondary school in 2027 has roughly nine weeks. That is comfortable if the search starts this month, and uncomfortable if it starts in October.

Six Preferences, and How the Ranking Really Works

London boroughs let you name up to six state schools, where the statutory minimum across England is three. Naming six is strictly better than naming three.

The reason lies in how the ranking is used. London operates an equal preference system: every school you name considers your child against its own oversubscription criteria, without seeing where you ranked it. Your ranking is used only at the end, to decide which single offer you receive if more than one school would take your child. Putting a realistic school lower down does not damage your chances at an ambitious one.

One related point. Most oversubscribed London schools admit on straight-line distance, and the cut-off distance moves every year, depending on how many families decline offers. Last year’s figure is history rather than a guide, so treat published distances as context, not as a threshold to clear.

Selective State Schools Run on a Much Earlier Clock

The selective state schools in outer London test, and their registration windows close months before the common application deadline. For September 2027 entry, several closed in the spring and summer of 2026, with testing in early September.

For a family arriving in August, those particular doors have already shut for next year. It is worth knowing plainly rather than discovering it in November, because it changes where the effort is best spent.

VAT Has Reshaped the Independent Sector

Since 1 January 2025, independent school fees have carried VAT at the standard rate of 20%. Where a child’s place at an independent school is required by an education, health and care plan, the local authority can reclaim the VAT from HMRC. Charitable rate relief was also removed from independent schools in England from April 2025.

The effect is visible in the numbers. As at the January 2026 census, the Independent Schools Council recorded 526,611 pupils across its schools, a fall of 3.5% on the previous year, with an average termly day fee of £6,226 excluding VAT. It is worth reading those figures alongside a wider fall in pupil numbers across the whole system, which is largely demographic. The independent decline is steeper, but it is not the only thing happening.

Our longer piece on what VAT on fees means for relocating families goes into the detail.

Ofsted Reports Look Different Now

From 10 November 2025, Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade for state-funded schools. Inspections now produce a report card scored across several areas on a five-point scale, from urgent improvement through to exceptional, with safeguarding judged separately and a new evaluation area covering inclusion.

The practical consequence for anyone comparing schools this autumn is that you will find a mixture. Schools are re-inspected on a cycle, so some still carry an old single-word grade and others carry the new report card. The two are not comparable, and a school has not been downgraded simply because its report reads differently from its neighbour’s.

Arriving Now, and Arriving From Abroad

A child who needs a place this term is in the in-year system. You may apply at any time of year, and the local authority must give you a written answer within 15 school days. You are applying against whatever is available, which is why starting early matters more here than anywhere else in the process.

Two things are worth knowing before you arrive. You can apply from overseas, and a local authority should not refuse an application simply because you do not yet live in the area, nor because you cannot yet give a permanent address. But a child in the UK on a student or visitor visa cannot lawfully attend a state school under the conditions of that visa, which is the point that catches families out most often and most expensively.

There is also a distinction that surprises corporate clients. Service personnel and crown servants are entitled to have a place allocated in advance of arrival, on the strength of an official letter and an intended address. An ordinary corporate relocation carries no such entitlement, however senior the assignment.

Planning a Move to London?

Our consultants know the London boroughs, the independent timetable and the in-year system from the inside, and most of them have taught or led in English schools. We can help you work out which schools are realistic from the address you are considering, and what to do first if you are arriving mid-term.

Have questions? Start a conversation with our team →

Bennett International Education Consultancy works directly with hundreds of families each year across the globe. We support families by helping them make informed decisions about the best-fit schools for their children; with our guidance, they secure placement in preschools, private day schools, public/state schools, boarding schools, colleges and universities, including schools with particular programs, such as special needs support.