Please see below our In-Year Application Form for use if you are applying for a place at the school outside of the normal Reception, Year 7 and Year 12 admissions cycle for academic year 2024-25.

Please refer to our Admissions criteria below which will provide you with details of our application process and over-subscription criteria. 

Over-subscription criteria for in-year applications:

1. Children in public care (looked after children) or previously in public care.
2. Children of a member of staff as defined below;

·        Children of a member of staff defined in accordance to the School Admissions Code 1.39

·        Admission authorities may give priority in their oversubscription criteria to children of staff in either or both of the following circumstances:

a) Where the member of staff has been employed directly by The Duston School Education Trust  for two or more years at the time at which the application for the admission to the school is made, and/or

b) The member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage

3. Priority will next be given to children with siblings at the school at the time of application. Siblings include step siblings, foster siblings, adopted siblings and are living as a family unit with one or both parents. Priority will not be given to children with siblings who are former pupils of the school.

For the sibling link to apply, a brother or sister must live at the same address when the application is made. If siblings live between two addresses, applicants must provide proof to show that the main address is the same for both children.

4. Other pupils

In the case of 2 or more applications that cannot be separated by the oversubscription criteria outlined above, the school will use the distance between the school and a child’s home as a tie breaker to decide between applicants. Priority will be given to children who live closest to the school .

Applying for an in-year school place

To apply for a place in the school, parents must complete the In-Year Application Form.  On completion of the form, the application will be considered against the Published Admissions Number for the Year group. 

You will receive notification of the outcome of your application by email within 10 school days.  If your application is unsuccessful, your child will be added to the waiting list, if this is requested on your application, and you will be given details of how to appeal the non-allocation of a place with an independent Appeal Panel should you wish to do so.  Should you decide to make an appeal guidance on this can be found on the Admissions page of our website. 

Once you have received confirmation that your child is on the waiting list, they will remain on the list until 30^th June 2025 without you being required to provide any further information to us.  If a place becomes available and your child is selected from the waiting list, we will contact you immediately by email in the first instance to offer the place. 

Applications for the waiting list for 2025-2026 will be processed from 1^st July 2025.  If you wish your child to remain on the waiting list for the next academic year, you must ensure that a new application is made, as the waiting list starts afresh at this point and details are not rolled over from the previous year.    

Places can become available at any point during the academic year, as this is dependent upon a change of circumstances for a student currently at the school.  As such it is very difficult to predict if or when this will happen.  When a place does become available the oversubscription criteria will be applied as described in the Admissions Policy. 

If you have any queries in relation to the In-Year Application process, please contact Mrs N Adams, Director of Education on admissions@thedustonschool.org

Please click on the link below to complete our In-Year Application Form

Before applying for a school place with us, please take the time to view the video to provide an overview of what The Duston School stands for.  It is important that you use this information to ensure that you are selecting a school that is appropriate for your child.