Offer day and what happens next

Find out which school place your child has been offered, and what to do after the offer.

  1. When is offer day 2026?
  2. Find out which school place you've been offered
  3. If you've been offered your first choice
  4. If you have not been offered your first choice
  5. How places have been allocated

When is offer day 2026?

Level of education Date
Secondary school, year 7 for September 2026 2 March 2026
Primary school, reception for September 2026 16 April 2026
Nursery, for September 2026 19 May 2026
Junior school, for September 2026 16 April 2026

Find out which school place you've been offered

You can find out which school place you've been offered through our online education portal or by email.

On offer day, we'll send you an email to let you know which school place you've been offered. Emails will be sent out in batches. If you do not receive an email on offer day check your junk folder.

You can also log into our online education portal to find out which school place you've been offered.

Log into our online education portal

If you've been offered your first choice

We'll email you with details of the offer made to your child.

The school that has been offered to your child will send a welcome pack over the summer term. The welcome pack gives you information about what you need to do next.

If you have not been offered your first choice

We'll email you with information about the school place that has been offered. The email will include information about:

  • how to tell us you no longer need the school place that has been offered
  • your child being placed on a waiting list for your preferred choice school

Waiting lists

If your child has not been offered a place at your preferred school, we'll automatically place their name on the waiting list until 31 December 2026, unless an individual school’s admissions arrangements say otherwise.

How waiting list positions work

Waiting list positions are based on the school’s oversubscription criteria, not the date of application. This means:

  • if a child higher on the waiting list is offered and accepts a place, others move up
  • if a child declines a place or moves away, others may move up
  • if a new application is received and the child meets a higher category (for example, having a sibling on roll at the school), they may be ranked above existing applicants
  • if a child already on the waiting list has a change of circumstances meaning they now fall into a higher category, others may move down

These changes can result in a child’s position moving both up and down over time. Due to the large number of applications that we process, waiting list positions can change frequently.

If a place becomes available at a school, the child that's first on the waiting list will be offered the place.

Waiting list positions are available on or after the following dates:

Level of education Date
Secondary schools 16 March 2026
Primary and junior schools 30 April 2026
Nursery 2 June 2026

To find out about your child's place on the waiting list, you can:

If you've applied for a school outside of Stockport

You'll need to contact the local council for that school to find out about their waiting lists. This may mean you have to apply to them for your child’s name to be added to the waiting list for your preferred school.

Making an appeal

Primary and secondary school places

If you're unhappy with your offer, you can make an appeal. In the meantime, you should accept the school place you've been offered. This will not affect your appeal.

Nursery places

If you're unhappy with the nursery place you've been offered, you can make a representation. You can present supporting evidence that you did not include in the application. Your outcome letter will give details on how to make a representation.

If you've made alternative arrangements

If you have made alternative arrangements for your child such as an independent fee-paying school or home education, then you can decline the offer of a school place. However, you must tell us what your arrangements are.

How places have been allocated

Visit our document page to find out how places have been allocated at primary and secondary schools for September 2025.