C
hildren start Reception in the September after their fourth birthday. Parents of children in a Cardiff school nursery will receive details of the application process. You can apply for a Reception place at any primary school in Cardiff.
Every area of Cardiff is served by a Welsh-medium community primary school, an English-medium community primary school, a Church in Wales Primary School and a Catholic Primary School. You do not need to speak English or Welsh at home or practice a particular faith to apply for admission any of these schools.
You can
find details of your nearest schools and catchment areas using the Nearest Schools tab (please note distances will be the direct distance not safe walking routes).
School place offer day
From Tuesday 16 April, we will send you an offer letter for primary school places for September 2024 by email and post.
You will receive either:
- a place at your first preference school,
- a place at a lower preference school, or
- no offer.
If you have received an offer for a place at your first preference school, you must respond to the offer by Turesday 30 April 2024.
If you have received an offer for a place at your lower preference school, this means your first preference does not have enough places available. Even if you are not sure about the lower preference offered, we strongly recommend you accept this offer and stay on the waiting list for your higher preference school. You still have the right to appeal, even if you accept a lower offer.
If you have received no offer, this means none of your preferences have enough places available. There are still alternative places available in other Cardiff schools for your child. We will have sent you a list of schools where there are spaces available.
View a copy of
no offer letter (117kb PDF).
Responding to the offer letter
You must respond to the offer by Tuesday 30 April 2024.
You can respond by:
Login to the school applications system
If you do not respond to the offer by 30 April 2024, we will assume you no longer want that place and your offer may be withdrawn.
If you accept the offer, the school will contact you with information about the admissions arrangements.
If you have missed the application date
Applications have closed. If you have missed the deadline to apply for a reception place starting in September 2024, please complete a late application.
Complete a late application form
You can apply for faith schools directly with the school. View a list of faith schools in Cardiff (545kb PDF).
Login to the School Applications system
Welsh-medium education
Welsh-medium education is available to everyone, whatever language you speak at home.
All kinds of families take advantage of Welsh-medium education: families who don’t speak Welsh and those who do, families from all kinds of ethnic and religious backgrounds, families from Wales and those who’ve moved here from elsewhere.
Welsh-medium education enables children to become fully fluent in both English and Welsh.
It can give your child additional opportunities, experiences and skills.
Find more information on Welsh-medium education
The application process
If your child was born between 1 September 2019 and 31 August 2020
Monday 13 November 2023
| Application process for starting Reception in September 2024 begins.
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Monday 8 January 2024
| Closing date for online applications. After this date any new applications will need to be done via the online late form and will be considered as a late application.
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February to April 2024
| All applications are processed and assessed against the Admission Criteria. We will check and verify your address and any supporting information you have given us.
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Tuesday 16 April 2024
| Offer day. We will send you an email or a letter if you have asked for your offer to be sent by post. Decisions can also be given over the phone after 10am on the offer day.
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Tuesday 30 April 2024
| Closing date for you to accept or refuse the place we have offered. We reserve the right to withdraw offers that have not been responded to by this date. This is also the closing date for late applications.
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May 2024
| Second round (late) applications processed and assessed.
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June 2024
| Second round results sent out via post. All following rounds are processed
on a monthly basis from now on.
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September 2024
| Children start primary school.
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