School Admissions - Frequently Asked Questions

What is the council’s schools admissions policy?

You can find details of the Torfaen Admissions Policy 2025/2026 here.

We cannot guarantee your child will get a place at a particular school, even if it is their catchment school. It is recommended you choose at least three schools to increase your chances of securing a school place you are happy with.

Places will be allocated according to the published over subscription criteria and decisions will be issued as outlined in the school admissions policy. 

What address do I include? 

We considers your child’s home address to be the place where they permanently live for the majority of the school week, at the relevant closing date.

If your child lives at a different address during the week or the child spends equal time with both parents at separate addresses, or the home address is in dispute, the place of residence of the person who receives Child Benefit will be considered the child’s home.  

If you move house during the application process It is your responsibility to advise us of any changes in circumstances - including a change of address - following submission of your application.

This will make sure that any correspondence is sent to the correct address only and will not affect the outcome of your application if this is after the closing date.

A new address can only be taken into consideration when determining the outcome of your application if you live there on the closing date and provide evidence of this.

If you are moving into or within Torfaen you should not assume that your child will be allocated a place at the local school.

Can my child start a year later, or in the year below? 

We expect children to be taught in their year group, unless there are special circumstances, such as children with additional learning needs or those who have experienced problems or missed part of a year, often due to ill health.

Where there are exceptional circumstances, consideration will be given to a parent’s request for admission outside the normal age group.

However, there is no right of appeal if a place is offered but not in the desired year group.

Your child will not be admitted to any year group outside of their chronological age simply because their correct year group is full. 

Can I home educate my child?

Parents have a right to educate their child(ren) at home providing that they fulfil the requirements of section 7 of the Education Act 1996.

This places a duty on the parents of every child of compulsory age to ensure the child receives efficient full-time education suitable to their age, ability and aptitude, and to any special educational needs that they may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.

If your child currently attends school and you decide to electively home educate them, you should write to the school requesting that your child be removed from the school roll and state that you understand it is your legal duty to ensure a suitable home education is provided.

Note that parents will not receive resources or guidance on teaching and curriculum from the council once the decision to withdraw from school has been made.  

You can find out more information about elective home education in Torfaen here.