YEAR 7 ADMISSIONS
Consultation on the Proposed Change to the Over-subscription Criteria for the WLFS Secondary
West London Free School has launched a consultation to change the number of music scholars from twelve to eleven (criterion 3) and to introduce an art scholarship for two pupils (criterion 4) in the over-subscription criteria for Year 7 entry in 2027. We are also bringing feeders in line with siblings, so that those who joined the WLFS primary and ECFS primary prior to September 2023 and live beyond two miles from the school will be offered a place (criterion 8).
Please find attached the consultation letter. We would like to commence consultation with all external stakeholders as well as parents of WLFS over these changes with effect from Monday 20th October closing on Friday 5th December at 12 noon.
Admissions policy
West London Free School is a publicly funded, co-educational secondary school, which is part of Knowledge Schools Trust, a multi academy trust.
There are 130 Year 7 places available at the school each year.
In accordance with the School Admissions Code, children with education, health and care plans are admitted under separate statutory processes. Once these places have been offered and accepted, the remaining places will be offered in accordance with our over-subscription criteria. The highest priority is given to looked after children or children who were previously looked after. We also offer up to 12 places for children with musical aptitude.
We want to ensure that the school serves local families and, after we've offered places to LACs or PLACs, music scholars, children with PPG, siblings and feeder pupils from the West London Free School Primary and Earls Court Free School Primary, category 9 on our over-subscription criteria offers places by random allocation within a two-mile radius of the school.
The admission arrangements of West London Free School fully comply with the School Admissions Code. Applications for a Year 7 place in September 2026 will be made from 1st September 2025 until the closing date 31st October 2025.
Please see here for the admissions policy for Year 7 entry in 2026.
Application process
The application deadline for Year 7 places in 2026 is 31st October 2025. Applicants will be notified whether they are successful on National Offer Day on 2nd March 2026. For further information regarding musical places, please see the Music Aptitude page.
Applications received after the closing date of 31st October 2025, but before the 11th December 2025 will also be considered and processed by the Local Authority, if there is proof of extenuating circumstances.
Those applicants who applied on time (and those applicants treated as such) but not offered places on 2nd March 2026 will be placed on our Waiting List. If West London Free School is oversubscribed, its published admissions criteria are used to decide the order in which applicants will be offered places. Any places not taken up by those we initially made offers to on 2nd March will then be offered to applicants in a second wave of offers, a process which continues until all the places are filled.
For more details on the admissions criteria, please see our 2026/27 admissions policy.
Secondary Transfer, September 2026 – Q&A
For further information, please find attached here a selection of the most regular questions and answers relating to secondary transfer.
Appeals
If the West London Free School is oversubscribed, its published admissions criteria are used to decide the order in which applicants will be offered places.
If you wish to appeal, please use this link to complete your appeal online. Please do NOT use ANY other appeal form or send your form to your local authority. It is suggested that you download the explanatory booklet about appeals which you should read before you complete the appeal form. Booklet Link
Timescale for parents to lodge their appeals:
For Secondary Transfer 2025, appeals lodged by 4.00pm on Thursday 2nd April 2026 guaranteed that the appeal was heard in the first tranche of appeals. Appeals lodged later than 2nd April 2026 may not be heard until the second tranche which will be in September 2026. You MUST state the reasons for your appeal and supply any documentary evidence at this stage.
Appellants will be set a deadline to submit additional evidence and for the clerk to send papers to panel and parties. Decision letters will be sent out within five school days of the date of the last appeal to be heard.
Please see here for the full timetable.
The Common Application or eAdmissions Form
When putting your school preferences in order on the Common Application or eAdmissions form, please consider how the pan-London admissions process works when offering places. The Pan-London Admissions Board initially takes all the schools you've named on your Form, regardless of where you've ranked them, and applies the over-subscription criteria of those schools. Once it has worked out which of the schools on your Form you qualify for a place at, then (and only then) does it look at your order of preferences. You'll then be offered a place at the school you've ranked highest amongst the schools you qualify for a place at.
However, it is important to remember that when you are offered a school from your list of preferences, your application to those schools ranked below your offer will be removed from their waiting lists and you will need to reapply if you want to be put back on their list. It is, therefore, essential to place your preferred schools in the order that you want your child to attend, not where you think you are most likely to get a place.
