Home › Moving to Sussex › School places 2027

East Sussex Primary School Admissions 2027: Key Dates, Offer Day and Moving House

East Sussex primary school admissions 2027 opened on 12 September 2026 and close on Friday 15 January 2027, with offers emailed on Friday 16 April 2027. If you are moving into the county or within it this winter, the date that matters most is in March: it is the last point at which East Sussex County Council will use a new address for the main allocation. This page sets out the full calendar, how places are decided and what to send if you are mid-move.

East Sussex primary school admissions 2027: the key dates

These dates come from the council's "how to apply for a primary or junior school place" page and its Admissions Prospectus 2027-28. They cover infant, primary and junior schools for September 2027.

One small inconsistency is worth knowing about. The council's web page gives 12 March 2027 for late applications and house-move evidence; the prospectus says 13 March, which is a Saturday. Treat Friday 12 March as the real deadline. The secondary round runs on a separate timetable: it closed on 31 October 2026 and offers come on 1 March 2027.

Which children apply in this round

You need to apply if your child is due to start primary or infant school in September 2027, which means children born between 1 September 2022 and 31 August 2023, or if your child is in Year 2 at an infant school and moving up to Year 3 at a junior school. The council is explicit that you must apply even if your child is already in the school's nursery class, an older sibling goes there, or the infant school is linked to the junior school you want.

Children born between 1 April and 31 August 2023 are summer born. You can hold them back until September 2028, but they would normally join Year 1 and miss Reception. If you want them to start in Reception in 2028 instead, fill in the council's summer born delayed start form and apply for a September 2027 place at the same time, so your child is not left without a place if the request is refused.

If your child has an Education, Health and Care Plan, the process is different and the school is named through the plan. And if you live outside East Sussex, including in Brighton and Hove, which is a separate council, you apply through your own council and name East Sussex schools as preferences.

Moving to East Sussex during the admissions round

The address on your application must be your child's only or main residence on the closing date, 15 January 2027, not an address where they sometimes stay. Where parents share care, the council uses the address where the child spends most weekday nights in term time, which it defines as Sunday to Thursday.

What counts as proof of a move

The prospectus says the council will only use a new address for allocating a place once contracts have been exchanged or a tenancy agreement has been signed. Until then it processes the application on your existing address. For a move after the closing date it asks for:

• a solicitor's letter confirming exchange of contracts, or
• a signed tenancy agreement clearly showing the move took place after the closing date.

It may also ask for a council tax or utility bill at the new address, or evidence that you are not returning to the old one. Without proof, or if the reason is not accepted, the application is treated as late. There is no separate right of appeal against a decision that an application is late.

Why 12 March matters if you are buying

If your exchange happens after 12 March, the council allocates on your old address and you join waiting lists from the new one. At a school that fills from its community area, that can be the difference between a local place and one across the district. If a school place is part of the reason for the move, tell your solicitor early and work back from that date. Our guide to exchange versus completion explains why exchange, not completion, is the moment that counts.

If you are moving in from another county

Apply to your current council by 15 January, naming the East Sussex schools you want; councils pass applications between each other. Once you have exchanged or signed a tenancy, send the proof to the East Sussex Admissions and Transport Team. On an online application, the prospectus suggests noting in the "other reasons" box that evidence is on its way, and marking your child's name and date of birth on the documents.

How places are decided: community areas and distance

Every East Sussex address falls in a "community area" served by a school or set of schools. Living in one gives priority but does not guarantee a place, and your community area school is not always your nearest. For community and voluntary controlled schools, the order of priority is:

1. Looked after and previously looked after children.
2. Children with a brother or sister at the school (or linked junior school) at the time of admission, living at the same address, inside the community area.
3. Children of staff who have worked at the school for two years or more, or who fill a skill-shortage post.
4. Other children living in the community area.
5. Siblings living outside the community area.
6. Other children.

Within each group, the tie-break is straight-line distance from the school's address point to your home's, as supplied by Ordnance Survey, with random allocation if two distances are identical. Note that out-of-area siblings sit below in-area children, so a younger child may not follow an older one to a school outside your area. Academies, church schools with their own admissions and other own admission authority schools set their own criteria, and some require a supplementary information form by their own deadline.

You can name up to three schools. Each is considered on its own criteria and you are offered the highest preference that can take your child. If none can, East Sussex offers the nearest school with a vacancy, which the council warns "could be a long way from your home", and may not qualify for free transport. Free transport for primary pupils normally applies only if the designated school is more than two miles away for under-eights, or three miles for eight and over, by the shortest walking route.

A checklist for families moving in

1. Check the community area for the address you are buying or renting, using the council's primary community area maps.
2. Look at how places were allocated last year at each school you like, from the council's admissions pages.
3. Apply by 15 January 2027 and name three schools, including your community area school.
4. If you move after that, send exchange or tenancy proof by 12 March 2027.
5. Read your offer email on 16 April 2027 and contact the allocated school to accept.
6. If refused a preferred school, you stay on the waiting lists for any school ranked higher than the one offered; appeal by the deadline if you want to.

For the other half of the county, see our West Sussex primary school admissions 2027 page. Moving to a specific town? Our guides to Lewes, Eastbourne, Hastings, Uckfield and Crowborough cover schools in each.

More guides for families moving to the county on the Move Sussex homepage.