Applying for a place in a West Lothian Council Primary School

When can I apply?

You can apply for an P1 school place from November/December for the following August intake. 

Notification that the process has started is -

• issued to parents/carers of children attending a West Lothian Council nursery class or partner nursery/childminder and who reside in the authority via e-mail or a letter prompting them to apply,
• issued via the Council's Facebook page and the West Lothian Courier. 

Deadline

We encourage applications to be submitted by 31 December. 

Final deadline 15 March - applications received after this date will be considered, however places may be more limited.

What will I need to apply?

• If you've moved home recently, please provide some proof of your new address, such as a recent Council Tax bill, a recent utility bill or a copy of a Child Benefit award letter sent recently to you at your new address.

• If your child has not previously attended a West Lothian Council or partner Early Learning and Childcare establishment, please provide a copy of your child's birth certificate.

• If you're applying for a place in a denominational (Roman Catholic) school, and your child has been baptised into the Roman Catholic faith, please provide a copy of your child's baptism certificate.

Admission Policy and Procedure

Before starting to complete an application form please read the Primary School Admission - Policy and Procedure carefully. 

What are my catchment schools?

All the denominational schools in West Lothian are Roman Catholic.  Each home address has both a denominational and non-denominational school assigned.  Use our school catchment areas lookup app to find the catchment schools for your address. 

How do I apply?

Please note that we will not change or discuss any application with anyone other than the named person(s) on the application form. Information regarding all our primary schools can be found at Find a School or Nursery page.

We have a new application system called Admit and on this we have opened the process to apply for P1 places in school year 2026/2027.  We thank you for your patience as we transition over to this new system.

Admit allows parents/carer to submit/see progress of applications, so we are striving to help parents to submit applications (for P1 places to start in August 2026) through Admit.

If you have any issues with the new system please seek our help by contacting us via e-mail to pupilplacement@westlothian.gov.uk or if you have managed to create an account on Admit, then you can use the messaging section of the new system to advise us of your issue.

We ask parents to submit applications as soon as possible once the process opens to allow for planning, however as the closing date is the 15 March 2026, we have time to help resolve any issues you may be having.

Before starting to complete an application form please read the Primary School Admission - Policy and Procedure and the Privacy notice - primary school application (PDF, 493 KB)(opens new window) carefully. 

Please use the Admit Application Portal (opens new window) to apply.

What happens to my application?

As parents can access their application on Admit to see how it is progressing, all applications received through Admit will not be acknowledged.  Parents should check their application after submission to ensure all details are correct.  We will contact you if we have any queries regarding your application.

Applications received outwith the Admit system will be acknowledged within 4 weeks of receipt. 

The school Placement Panel will meet as soon as possible after the 15 March, to determine which schools are over subscribed.

All parents who have applied by the 15 March will be notified as soon as possible after the Panel meets to advise whether your application has been successful, or whether further consideration of your application is required as the school is over subscribed.  Those advised the school is oversubscribed will be given the opportunity to give us any information that you think should be taken into account.

It takes time to consider and issue notifications, therefore please only contact us if you have not received notification by the end of April.

Decisions for oversubscribed schools are made by the School Placement Panel.  Decisions for all applications received by the 15 March will be issued by the end of April.  If your application is refused, we would usually allocate a place at another school and inform you of your right to appeal against the refusal.

Admission Policy and Procedure

Before starting to complete an application form please read the Primary School Admission - Policy and Procedure carefully. 

What are my catchment schools?

All the denominational schools in West Lothian are Roman Catholic. Each home address has both a denominational and non-denominational school assigned.  Use our school catchment areas lookup app to find the catchment schools for your address.

How do I apply?

Please note that we will not change or discuss any application with anyone other than the named person on the application form. Information regarding all our primary schools can be found at All Primary Schools

1. We have a new application system called Admit and are piloting a new application form.  Please use the Admit Application Portal (opens new window) to apply and we will send a copy of the application to the Head Teacher for consideration.  We are keen to hear your views, so if you have any problems or feedback with the application portal please e-mail pupilplacement@westlothian.gov.uk . 

Privacy notice - primary school application (PDF, 493 KB)(opens new window)

What happens to my application?

Head Teachers have responsibility for deciding these applications. 

If applying for the current school year -applications will be passed to the school Head Teacher, who has 2 months to inform you of the decision, however most applications will be decided much more quickly. 

If applying for the next school year - you can apply from mid-May in the current school year and a decision will be issued from 2 weeks prior to the end of the current school year.

If applying for the next school year, in the summer holidays - Pupil Placement will acknowledge receipt of your application. The Head Teacher will consider your application on their return from the summer holidays and issue a decision as soon as possible at the start of the new school year.

If you have any issues or queries please contact the Head Teacher of your preferred school or Pupil Placement during school holidays.

For any child with additional support needs who already reside within the authority and parents are concerned about how their child will cope with primary school, or are not sure that mainstream education is suitable for their child.  Please speak to the Headteacher of your mainstream catchment primary school (or if your child already attends a west Lothian Primary School) the Headteacher of the primary school your child attends, who will be able to advise about or start this process. 

For any child with additional support needs moving into the authority parents are advised to enrol their child within the catchment mainstream school in order to facilitate planning.

Presumption to provide education in a mainstream setting: guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The school will convene a Child's Planning Meeting to complete an Assessment of Wellbeing and Child's Plan.   Parent(s) and relevant professionals from the previous school setting along with the catchment school's Education Psychologist will be invited to attend the planning meeting and to contribute to the plan.

In line with the council's Continuum of Support the majority of children will then begin to attend and their needs will be met within the routine planning frameworks.

If the level of need identifies that there requires to be consideration given by the council's Education Placement Group (EPG) for specialist provision the Assessment of Wellbeing and Child's Plan will be submitted by the school to the Education Placement Group.

1.   Policy on early admission to primary school

The Council does not have to educate children who are not of school age, but parents may apply for early admission to a primary school. Before a place is granted, all other ways of providing suitable education will be considered. A place will only be granted if there is evidence that refusal of the application could harm a child's education in the long-term.

2.   Early learning & childcare provision

Early learning & childcare provision is delivered in terms of the Curriculum for Excellence, a single curriculum for ages 3-18.  The early level of Curriculum for Excellence includes both early learning & childcare and Primary 1 improving the transition from early learning & childcare to primary.  The aim of the Curriculum for Excellence is that all children in early learning & childcare and primary school experience stimulating, effective learning in ways that are appropriate to their needs to enable them to develop as successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors.

3.   Possible effects of early admission

Refusal to grant a place early is not likely to harm a child's education in the long term. Early learning & childcare provision will be tailored to the needs of the individual child, whether they are more, or less advanced than others of their age. In fact, early admission may itself harm a child's educational development. The child may be too young to cope socially and become frustrated or lose confidence.

4.   Applying for early admission

When applying for early admission, reasons and supporting evidence that refusal of the application could harm a child's education in the long-term must be given. It is not enough simply to show that a child might cope with early admission, is 'ready' for primary school, or just misses the entry date. Parents may provide expert written evidence to support their case. The Council does not provide assessments of children for this purpose.

5.   Who takes the decision to grant or refuse an application for admission?

The School Placement Panel considers all requests for early admission. It takes into account all information supplied to support the application.  The School Placement Panel will consider:-

• Whether an Early learning & childcare establishment would meet the needs of the child.
   
• Whether the child has exceptional qualities, for example the child is significantly more advanced than other children of the same age in social interaction and/or intellectual ability, which makes him or her different from other children of the same age.
   
• Whether not being placed in primary school would harm the child's educational development in the long term.

6.   Reasons for refusing applications for admission

If the council refuses an application to a primary school, it must give a reason why, that complies with education law. This is the legal 'ground of refusal'. The reason normally given is that the education is not suited to the age, ability or aptitude of the child. There is no right of appeal against refusal of early admission.

Independent Schools

If you are considering sending your child to an independent school you can get information from the Scottish Council for Independent Schools (SCIS) at - scis.org.uk (opens new window)|  0131 5562316

Home Education

For more information on home education, please see the  page.

Education Scotland
Address:  Denholm house, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston, EH54 6GA 
Website:  education.gov.scot/parentzone (opens new window) |  Email:  enquiries@educationscotland.gov.scot (opens new window)|  Tel: 0131 2444330

The Scottish Government
Address:  St Andrew's House, Regent Road, Edinburgh, EH1 3DG
Website:  gov.scot (opens new window) |  Email: ceu@gov.scot (opens new window)|  Tel: 0300 2444000

Education Customer Support Team (Pupil Placement)

Email:  pupilplacement@westlothian.gov.uk (opens new window)  Please include child's name and date of birth.

Tel: 01506 280000