All practical guides
Moving to Norfolk with school-age children: applying for a place
Norfolk County Council aims to decide a house-move school application within 15 school days, and needs evidence of the new address. Apply as soon as your move date is confirmed.
If you are moving house into Norfolk over the summer, the term-by-term calendar that governs most school transfers in the county does not apply to you. Norfolk County Council deals with a house-move application as near as possible to the date you move and aims to decide it within 15 school days, so what matters is not the date on the calendar but how early you can prove the move. For families arriving from the capital, our London-to-Norfolk guide covers the rest of the move.
Families who already live in Norfolk and want to change school are on a stricter timetable, and the two routes are easy to confuse. Both are set out below, along with the normal admission round for children starting reception, junior school or secondary school in September 2027.
Moving house to Norfolk
The council advises applying before you move, but only once you have confirmation of your move date, and it must see evidence of the new address before a place can be given. It will not save a place for a child who is going to move into a catchment area at some later point, and if the local school is full your child may be placed at another school instead. Its parents’ guide adds one rule that catches people who rent while they buy: it cannot accept a temporary address if you still own a property that was previously your home.
Once an application is in, the council says it will contact you within 15 school days. The new school should then contact you within five school days to arrange a start date, and you have five school days to accept the place before the council assumes you have. School days are term days, so on a plain reading an application sent in late July may not be decided until September is under way. Sending it as soon as the move date is confirmed, even in June, gives you the best chance of a place for the first day of term.
In practice:
- Get the move date confirmed in writing by your solicitor or letting agent.
- Apply online through the council’s admissions site at fiso.norfolk.gov.uk, one application per child. Three children means three applications.
- Send the address evidence to the admissions team with each child’s name and date of birth. The council’s published guidance does not list which documents it accepts, so ask: admissions@norfolk.gov.uk or 0344 800 8020.
- Do not take your child out of their current school until a Norfolk place has been confirmed in writing.
If you already have a Norfolk address
Families who are not moving house are placed according to the date the application arrives, and children are expected to start at the beginning of a term:
- 1 March to 31 May: start in the autumn term in September. Decisions go out before the end of the summer term.
- 1 June to 4 July: treated as late, and considered only after every application received by 31 May.
- 5 July to 31 October: start in the spring term in January.
- 1 November to 28 or 29 February: start in the summer term after Easter.
So an application that arrives on 5 July is not considered for September at all. One that arrives in June is, but only once the on-time applications have been placed, by which point the school you want may be full.
There are exceptions. A parent who believes there are exceptional reasons for an immediate move can put them in writing, with supporting documents, to the council’s Admissions Manager. A child leaving an independent school after notice has been given is considered for the start of the following term, and a child being home educated is not treated as an immediate transfer.
The council will consider only one in-year application per child in each school year, which starts in September. It may consider a second after a significant change of circumstances, and the example it gives is a house move that makes the journey to the current school unreasonable.
Moving to Norfolk this year?
Get the free Norfolk Relocation Pack: all 46 towns we cover on one table, on price, council tax, population, trains and distance to Norwich, plus a week-by-week move checklist. The download appears here as soon as you enter your email.
Unsubscribe any time.
The 26 schools that run their own in-year admissions
Twenty-six Norfolk schools do not take part in the county’s in-year scheme, and for these you apply to the school direct. An application sent to the council for one of them wastes time you may not have. On the council’s list at the time of our check:
- In and around Norwich: Charles Darwin Primary School, Cringleford Prep, Hethersett Academy, Hewett Academy, Jane Austen College, Norwich Primary Academy, St Augustine’s RC VA Primary School, St Francis of Assisi Catholic Primary School and The Free School Norwich.
- In and around Great Yarmouth: Cobholm Primary Academy, Great Yarmouth Charter Academy, Great Yarmouth Primary Academy, Stradbroke Primary Academy, Martham Primary and Nursery School, and Winterton Primary School and Nursery.
- In King’s Lynn: King Edward VII Academy and St Martha’s RC VA Primary School.
- In the Thetford and Swaffham area: Thetford Academy, Queensway Infant Academy and Nursery, Queensway Junior Academy, Wayland Academy, Sacred Heart RC VA Primary School in Swaffham and The Nicholas Hamond Academy.
- Elsewhere: Cromer Academy, Glebeland Primary School at Toft Monks, and Iceni Academy (Hockwold and Methwold).
The list changes, so check it on the council’s Moving schools during the school year page before you apply.
If your child has an EHC plan
Do not fill in the in-year form. A change of school for a child with an Education, Health and Care plan goes through the family’s EHC plan co-ordinator. A child on the special educational needs register without a plan uses the standard application.
Starting school or changing phase in September 2027
A child starting reception, moving up to junior school or starting secondary school in September 2027 goes through the normal admission round, not the in-year route, and the deadlines fall months before most summer moves. The national dates are:
- Secondary school: apply by 31 October 2026. Places are announced on 1 March 2027.
- Primary school: apply by 15 January 2027. Places are announced on 16 April 2027. In the 2025 round Norfolk ran its infant-to-junior transfer to the same two dates.
You apply through the council where you live now, even if every school on the form is in Norfolk. Norfolk uses the address the child lives at, and it cannot take a future address into account until the child is living there. If you move after the closing date, the council warns that a place at the local school for the new address may not be possible. If you do move after applying, tell the council at once. It warns that a family no longer living at the address on the application, who tell it only after places are announced, may have the place withdrawn. Families of service personnel with a confirmed posting, and Crown servants returning from overseas, can apply from the posting address with an official letter giving the relocation date.
Checks before you commit to a house
- Use Norfolk’s Schoolfinder at csapps.norfolk.gov.uk/schoolfinder to see the schools nearest the new address. Our guide to Norfolk schools explains how catchments and academy trusts fit together.
- Read each school’s oversubscription criteria on its own website. They decide who gets a place when a school is full, and schools that are their own admission authority, academies among them, set their own.
- If you are refused a place at the school you asked for, you can appeal to an independent appeals panel. The council’s School admission appeals page explains how.
A January start is the easier timetable if the move itself is flexible. It leaves the autumn to view schools and weigh up catchments before you choose a street. Our shortlist of Norfolk villages that work for families is a reasonable place to start, and the moving to Norfolk checklist covers the rest of the paperwork.
Frequently asked questions
Can I apply now for a place in September if I have not moved yet?
Yes, once your move date is confirmed. Norfolk needs evidence of the new address before it gives a place, and it will not hold a place for a child who might move into a catchment area later.
What counts as address evidence?
The council’s published guidance does not list specific documents, so ask the admissions team what it will accept for your case. It will not accept a temporary address if you still own a property you previously lived in.
What if the local school is full?
Your child may be placed at another school instead. If you are refused a place at the school you asked for, you can appeal to an independent appeals panel.
Which schools handle their own admissions?
Twenty-six Norfolk schools run their own in-year admissions, among them Jane Austen College and Hewett Academy in Norwich, King Edward VII Academy in King’s Lynn and Cromer Academy. Apply to those schools direct.
My child has an EHC plan. Do I still use the in-year form?
No. Talk to your EHC plan co-ordinator about the change of school instead.
What if my child is not currently in school?
For a child missing education, the council’s parents’ guide says the child will be given a place at the nearest school with room to where they live. A child who is being home educated and wants a school place is not treated as an immediate transfer.
Sources
The in-year rules, the list of schools outside the scheme and the EHC plan guidance are from Norfolk County Council’s Moving schools during the school year page as published in June 2025, the most recent version we could retrieve, with its In-Year Admissions Guidance and A Parent’s Guide to Admissions 2025-26. The national closing and offer dates for September 2027 are from GOV.UK. Check the council’s page for its 2027-28 timetable before acting.
Planning a move to Norfolk?
Our guides to hiring the firms a move needs.
We earn no commission on these links. Paid placements are sold separately and always labelled. See our advertising and disclosure page.
