Children start secondary school in the September after their eleventh birthday. Parents of pupils in year 6 at a Cardiff Primary School will receive details of the application process.
You can apply for all community secondary schools through our online admissions system.
We run coordinated admissions for The Bishop of Llandaff CiW High School, Mary Immaculate High School, St Teilo’s CiW High School, Corpus Christi R.C High School and Whitchurch High School. For a place at these schools you can apply through our online admissions system.
For a place at St Illtyd’s Catholic High School you will need to apply directly to the school. View a list of faith schools in Cardiff (545kb PDF).
From Friday 1 March, we will send you an offer letter for secondary school places for September 2024 by email and post.
You will receive either:
If you have received an offer for a place at your first preference school, you must respond to the offer by Friday 15 March 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.
You must respond to the offer by Friday 15 March 2024.
You can respond by:
If you do not respond to the offer by 15 March 2024, we will assume you no longer want that place and your offer may be withdrawn.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.
A pplications have closed. If you have missed the deadline to apply for a place starting in September 2024, please complete a late application.
| Date | Step in the application process |
|---|---|
| 23 September 2024 | Application process for starting Year 7 in September 2025 begins. |
| 18 November 2024 | Closing date for applications. After this date, you will need to complete a late application form. |
| December 2024 to February 2025 | 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. |
| 3 March 2025 | 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 12pm on the offer day. |
| 17 March 2025 | 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. |
| March 2025 | Second round (late) applications processed and assessed. |
| May 2025 | Second round results sent out via post. All following rounds are processed on a monthly basis from now on. Waiting List positions available. |
| September 2025 | Children start secondary school. |
We run a coordinated admissions programme with 5 secondary schools. The schools included are: