School Admissions
Bedford Borough Council and Central Bedfordshire Council
currently provide a shared service for School Admissions and will
do so up until 31 July 2011.
Bedford Borough Council operates a three tier system of
education. Children normally begin their primary education at a
lower school which
serves the area where they live i.e. the school serving the local
catchment area. Children are normally admitted to lower
school at the start of or during the Reception
year, that is the school year in which they become 5. Many schools
also have nursery units or nursery classes for younger
children.
Children normally transfer at 9+ (the end of Year 4) to the
middle school serving
the local catchment area and then
at 13+ (end of Year 8) to the catchment area upper
school. All upper
schools have a 6th form and pupils may remain
at the school up to the age of 18 or 19 years.
Parents have a right to express a preference for a school which is
not within the catchment area, but
places can only be offered if there is space available. If the
number of requests for places at a school exceeds the number of
places available, places will be allocated in accordance with the
Admissions Criteria for that school.
School Ofsted
(opens in new window) Inspection reports can be seen via this
link.
Related contacts
School admissions contacts