Apply for a secondary school place

What you need to do

When choosing the schools you want to apply for, you:

• can apply for up to 6 secondary schools, listing them in order of preference
• can list schools in Royal Greenwich or in other areas
• can list any community, foundation, free or voluntary-aided faith school
• cannot list independent, fee-paying schools. Contact this type of school directly to apply
• do not need to list 6 schools. But the more you list, the better your chance of being offered a place

Advice on selecting your preferred schools

Choosing your preferred schools is entirely up to you. But there’s no guarantee you'll be offered a place at one of your preferred schools. Much depends on:

• how many people apply for places at each school
• whether applicants have brothers or sisters already attending the school
• other factors set out in our determined admission arrangements

Ranking a school higher than other applicants does not mean you have a better chance of being offered a place. We consider each of your preferred schools against the admission criteria for that particular school.

We will not pass on to any school the detail of:

• other schools you’ve applied for
• how you ranked the schools you’ve applied for

To improve your chances of receiving an offer from one of your preferred schools, we recommend that you:

• be realistic
• include schools nearest to your home
• attend a secondary school open event
• list 6 schools if possible
• avoid schools that your child is unlikely to be offered a place
• do not include schools that you do not want your child to attend
• do not list the same school more than once as duplicates will be deleted

Places offered in previous years

We publish information about the number of applications schools received in previous years, and how far away schools have made offers.

This can give you some idea of how likely it is you will get a place. But this is only a guide, not a prediction. It can help you make more realistic choices, but you are entitled to express a preference for any school.

View our secondary school offers map to see where schools made offer last year

View secondary schools admissions data for previous years:

More information

Secondary schools in Royal Greenwich 2025 to 2026

Secondary school performance