C
hildren start Reception in the September after their fourth birthday. Parents of children in a Cardiff school nursery will receive details of the application process. You can apply for a Reception place at any primary school in Cardiff.
Every area of Cardiff is served by a Welsh-medium community primary school, an English-medium community primary school, a Church in Wales Primary School and a Catholic Primary School. You do not need to speak English or Welsh at home or practice a particular faith to apply for admission any of these schools.
Applications for admission to community schools are made directly to the Council through our online admissions system.
The Council also runs
coordinated admissions for 20 of the 23 primary faith schools in Cardiff.
For a place at a school that is part of coordinated admissions scheme, you must apply through the Council’s online admissions system. You may also need to submit further details directly to your preferred school (or schools).
For a place at Llandaff C.W. Primary School, St John Lloyd R.C Primary School or St Patrick's R.C Primary School you need to apply directly to the school.
View a list of faith schools in Cardiff (545kb PDF).Link opens in a new window
Login to the School Applications system
For more information on admissions please read the school admissions booklet:
The information in these documents has been designed for print. This format may not be fully accessible online.
Welsh-medium education
Welsh-medium education is available to everyone, whatever language you speak at home.
All kinds of families take advantage of Welsh-medium education: families who don’t speak Welsh and those who do, families from all kinds of ethnic and religious backgrounds, families from Wales and those who’ve moved here from elsewhere.
Welsh-medium education enables children to become fully fluent in both English and Welsh.
It can give your child additional opportunities, experiences and skills.
Find more information on Welsh-medium educationLink opens in a new window.
The application process
If your child was born between 1 September 2018 and 31 August 2019
Monday 14 November 2022
| Application process for starting Reception in September 2023 begins.
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Monday 9 January 2023
| Closing date for online applications. After this date any new applications will need to be done on paper and will be considered as a late application.
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February to April 2023
| 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.
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Monday 17 April 2023
| 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.
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April 2023
| Waiting lists are established.
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Tuesday 2 May 2023
| 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.
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June 2023
| Second round (late) applications processed and assessed.
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July 2023
| Second round results sent out via post. All following rounds are processed
on a monthly basis from now on.
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September 2023
| Children start primary school.
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Coordinated Admissions
The faith schools which are part of the coordinated admissions scheme are:
- All Saints C.W Primary School
- Bishop Childs C.W Primary School
- Christ The King R.C Primary School
- Holy Family R.C Primary School
- St Alban’s R.C. Primary School
- St Bernadette’s R.C Primary School
- St Cadoc’s Catholic Primary School
- St Cuthbert’s R.C Primary School
- St David’s C.W Primary School
- St Fagan’s C.W Primary School
- St Francis RC Primary School
- St Joseph’s R.C Primary School
- St Mary The Virgin C.W Primary School
- St Mary’s Catholic Primary School
- St Mellons C.W Primary School
- St Monica’s C.W Primary School
- St Paul’s C.W Primary School
- St Peter’s R.C Primary School
- St Philip Evans R.C Primary School
- Tredegarville C.W Primary School
For St Mellons C.W Primary School, 15 school places are allocated using the Council’s School Admission policy 2023/24 and a further 15 places are allocated by the school in line with their admissions policy.
Contact us
If you have a question or would like more information, please contact us online:
Or call C2C on 029 2087 2087.