Wantage school admissions and term dates

This page is for parents in Wantage, Grove and the villages who need a school place: a reception place for September, a move up to secondary, or a transfer part way through the year. Wantage school admissions are handled by Oxfordshire County Council rather than by the schools themselves, and the main closing dates fall in the autumn and in January. Below are the timetable, the local schools with their latest recorded Ofsted grade, how places are allocated, what to do if you miss out, and where the new estates fit in.

The short version

One application covers every state school you want to name, including academies and church schools.
Secondary transfer closes on 31 October; reception applications close on 15 January for the following September.
Offers arrive on national offer day: 1 March for secondary, 16 April for reception.
Each school publishes its own oversubscription criteria, so catchment, siblings and distance decide most places.
Term dates are not uniform: the county sets dates for community schools, while academies can set their own.

How Wantage school admissions work

You apply to Oxfordshire County Council, the admissions authority for the area, not to the school office. One form covers all the state-funded schools you want to name, in the order you prefer them. The council treats your preferences equally: every named school considers your child against its own published rules, and you then receive one offer, for the highest preference that can take your child.

The online form and the published arrangements sit on Oxfordshire County Council’s apply for a school place pages, which also cover applications from families with an OX12 address who want a school across the county boundary.

Children with an Education, Health and Care plan follow a separate route, with the school named in the plan through the county’s SEND team. Fitzwaryn School is the local special school, for ages 3 to 19.

The timetable for a September start

The two closing dates are set nationally, so they are the same here as anywhere in England. Work backwards from them and you have time to visit schools before you rank your preferences.

Wantage School Admissions: Key Dates

Autumn: applications open; schools hold open days
31 Oct: secondary transfer closes (Year 6 to Year 7)
15 Jan: reception applications close
1 Mar: national offer day for secondary places
16 Apr: national offer day for reception places
Spring–summer: accept offer, join waiting lists, appeal if needed

Secondary closes 31 October, reception closes 15 January, with offers following on fixed national dates in March and April.

Early autumn: applications open for the following September, and schools hold open mornings and open evenings.
31 October: closing date for secondary transfer, for children in Year 6 moving into Year 7.
15 January: closing date for reception places for children starting school that September.
1 March: national offer day for secondary places. If it falls at a weekend, offers follow on the next working day.
16 April: national offer day for reception places, with the same weekend rule.
Spring into early summer: accept or decline, ask to join waiting lists, and send any appeal by the date on your letter.

Good to know: applications that arrive after the closing date are considered only once the on-time ones have been allocated, which often matters at a popular school.

Schools in Wantage and Grove

Wantage has primary schools at either end of town, one secondary academy and one special school. Grove has two primaries and an all-through academy up to 16. The grades below are the latest we have recorded, each with the month it was given, so you can see how old the judgement is.

School	Where	Ages	Ofsted at the last check
Wantage Church of England Primary School	Wantage	3 to 11	Good, Feb 2025
Wantage Primary Academy	Kingsgrove, north-east Wantage	2 to 11	Outstanding, May 2023
Stockham Primary School	West Wantage	4 to 11	No single overall grade, see the school page, Jun 2026
Charlton Primary School	Charlton, east of the town centre	2 to 11	Good, Oct 2024
King Alfred’s Academy	Wantage	11 to 18	No single overall grade, see the school page, Apr 2026
Millbrook Primary School	Grove	2 to 11	Outstanding, Nov 2023
Grove Church of England School	Grove	4 to 11	Requires improvement, Sep 2024
St Johns CofE Academy	Grove	2 to 16	No single overall grade, see the school page

Where a school has no single overall grade, the inspection report gives separate judgements instead. Grades change, so check the schools and nurseries pages for the position on the day you apply.

Families on the edge of town and in the villages often look to a village primary as well. Straight-line distances from Wantage Market Place give you a rough idea, though the drive or the walk follows the lanes:

St Nicholas CofE Primary School in East Challow, about 1.8 km (1.1 miles) west.
The Ridgeway Church of England Primary School in Childrey, about 3.7 km (2.3 miles) west.
St James Church of England Primary School, Hanney in East Hanney, about 5.5 km (3.4 miles) north.
The Hendreds Church of England School in East Hendred, about 6.3 km (3.9 miles) east.

Catchment areas, siblings and distance

There is no single catchment that settles Wantage school admissions for the whole town. Each school is either run by the county council or is its own admission authority, and each publishes the order in which it hands out places when there are more applications than seats.

For community and voluntary controlled schools the council sets that order. A catchment area usually sits high on the list, after children in care and children with a proven social or medical need. Siblings normally come next, then distance from home to school. A catchment address is never a guarantee: in a year with a lot of four year olds on one estate, the distance cut-off can tighten.

Academies and church schools write their own criteria, and some church schools ask about worship for part of their intake. Read the arrangements for the year your child starts, not the previous year’s, because the rules can be changed after consultation.

Term dates and INSET days

Oxfordshire County Council publishes term dates for community and voluntary controlled schools, and many other schools in the area line up with them. Academies can set their own calendar, so the school’s own website or newsletter is the only safe source for the year ahead.

INSET days vary even when the terms match. If you have one child at a school in Grove and another in town, compare both calendars before you book a holiday or a childcare week.

Moving here during the school year

If you move to Wantage or Grove part way through the year, you make an in-year application instead of waiting for the main round. The council co-ordinates most in-year applications; a small number of schools ask you to apply to them directly, and their policy will say so.

A school can refuse only if the year group is full or on its published criteria. In infant classes, reception to Year 2, the legal limit of 30 children to one teacher is a common reason. If the school you want is full, ask to join the waiting list and ask the council which nearby schools have space in that year group.

Think about the journey as well as the gate. A village school 6 km away can be a quick drive and a slow walk, and the route matters more in January than it does in June.

Waiting lists and appeals

If the offer is not the school you wanted, accept it first. Accepting does not weaken a waiting list position or an appeal.

Accept the place you have been offered, so your child has a school for September.
Ask to go on the waiting list for each school you preferred. Lists are ranked by the school’s criteria, not by the date you joined, so your position can move either way.
Appeal in writing by the deadline on your offer letter. An independent panel hears the case, not the school.
If the appeal is refused, stay on the waiting list and consider another in-year application later, as families move in and out.

Infant class size appeals are narrower than other appeals, and the panel can allow them only on limited grounds. The GOV.UK pages on school admissions and appeals set out those national rules in plain terms.

New estates and the schools planned with them

The large housing sites here come with school land and school places written into their planning permission, which is why the picture for Wantage school admissions keeps shifting at the edges of town.

Kingsgrove (Crab Hill), north-east of town, is for about 1,534 homes by St Modwen and includes the primary school that opened there, Wantage Primary Academy, plus a neighbourhood centre and a care home. It was being built at the last check, September 2026.

Grove Airfield (Wellington Gate) is the biggest site, about 2,500 homes by Persimmon Homes, with a secondary school, primary schools, a local centre and a community park in the plans. Also being built at the last check, September 2026.

North of Grove, Monks Farm brings about 885 homes by David Wilson Homes, with land and a sports pitch set aside for Grove Church of England School to expand; it was being built at the last check, June 2026. North West of Grove, about 624 homes, was in planning in September 2026, with contributions towards schools, GP capacity and buses.

Before you apply: a checklist

Proof of your address, such as a council tax bill or tenancy agreement, dated as the council asks.
Your child’s birth certificate and, for some church schools, a supplementary form.
The admissions policy for each school you plan to name, for the correct intake year.
Open evening and open morning dates, booked where the school asks you to book.
Sibling details, including the school and year group of any older child.
The real journey: time the walk or drive at the hour you would actually do it.
The term dates and INSET days published by that school, not just the county list.
The appeal deadline printed on your offer letter, noted in your calendar.

Where to look next

Check the detail before you commit: inspection grades, age ranges and admission rules all change, and the school’s own site is the place for term dates and open events. Our school pages are checked against each school’s own website and public sources, and every page invites a correction if something has moved on.

If you are house-hunting on the Wantage side rather than in Grove, these are the housing sites in town and their status at the last check.

For the wider picture, the developments pages track the roads, the proposed station and the local plan alongside the housing, and the local guides cover moving here, eating out and days out with children.

Frequently asked questions

Do I apply to the school or to the council?

You apply to Oxfordshire County Council, even for academies and church schools. One form lets you name and rank several schools, and the council sends you a single offer. A few schools also ask for a supplementary form of their own, usually church schools, and that goes to the school as well as the main application. Children with an Education, Health and Care plan are placed through the SEND team instead.

Does living on the Kingsgrove estate guarantee a place at the school there?

No. Living close to a school helps, because distance is usually one of the criteria, but no address guarantees a place. If more families apply than there are seats, the school works through its published order: children in care, social or medical need, catchment, siblings, then distance. In a busy year the cut-off can fall inside an estate, so always name more than one school.

What happens if we move to Grove in the middle of a term?

You make an in-year application rather than waiting for the main round. The county council co-ordinates most of these, and a few schools take applications directly. If the year group is full you can ask for the waiting list and ask which nearby schools have space. Infant classes are capped at 30 children to one teacher, which is a common reason for a full year group.

Can my children all attend the same school?

Sibling priority is part of most admission policies here, so a younger child with a brother or sister already at the school usually ranks above children with no sibling link. It is still not a promise, particularly if the school is full in that year group. Check the exact wording in the policy, because some schools define a sibling more narrowly than others.

Where do I find term dates for the secondary school in Wantage?

The county council publishes term dates for community and voluntary controlled schools, and many local schools follow them. Academies can set their own dates and their own INSET days, so check the school’s website or its newsletter for the year ahead. If you have children at two schools, compare both calendars, because a single staff training day can fall in different weeks.

How can I check a school's latest Ofsted grade?

Each school page on this site lists the grade we have recorded and the month it was given, so you can see how recent it is. Where a school was inspected without a single overall grade, the report gives separate judgements and the page says so. The full report is on the Ofsted website, and the school will usually link to it from its own pages too.

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Wantage school admissions: applying, catchments and term dates