Guidance from the borough of Richmond's Achieving for Children:

AFC Admissions Website

Key Information:

For on-time applications for primary school places starting in September 2025, National Offer Day is Wednesday, April 16th, 2025, when parents will receive notification of their child's school place offer.  Attached is a more detailed breakdown:

• Application Timeline:

  • Applications open on September 1, 2024. 
  • The national closing date for applications is January 15, 2025. 
  • National Offer Day: April 16, 2025. 

• How to Find Out:

  • If you applied online, you will receive an email on the evening of April 16th, 2025, confirming the school offered to your child. 
  • You can also check the offer on the eAdmissions website. 
  • If you applied by post, an outcome letter will be sent to you by post on April 16, 2025. 

• Responding to the Offer:

  • You need to respond to the school place offer by April 30, 2025. 
  • Failure to respond by this deadline could result in the offer being withdrawn. 
  • Families should always accept the primary school place they have been offered, even if they intend to go on other school's waitlists.

• Late Applications:

  • If your application is late, your child will not be considered for an offer on National Offer Day but will wait until the second round of offers. 

• Further Information:

  • Look to your local authority for more information on National Offer Day. 
  • GOV.UK blogs has information on primary school admissions. 

My child was not offered a place at St James’s, despite it being our first choice:

Please don’t be discouraged. There is often significant movement in places after National Offer Day, so it's advisable to add your child to the St James’s waitlist if you would still like to be considered for a September 2025 spot. 

The school office will be open from Tuesday 22nd April 2025 and we advise you to alert the local authority that you wish to be formally added to our waitlist and also send an email to info@st-james.richmond.sch.uk, with your child's details.

Positions on the waiting list are ranked according to the school’s oversubscription criteria, and this ranking is adjusted whenever a new application is received. As a result, your child’s position on the list may fluctuate, moving both up and down. Additionally, declining your child's original primary school offer and not having a reception school place assigned to you, does not provide your child with extra priority on the waitlist.

Waiting lists for the academic year 2025/26 will be disbanded on the last Friday of June 2026.

You must make an in-year transfer application no sooner than June 2026 for your child’s name to be added to the waiting list for the academic year 2026/27.