Admissions
Are you choosing a primary school for September 2025?
We offer Nursery places, Reception places and in-year admission to existing classes in the school. St Paul’s CE Primary School has served the community of Brentford since 1873. You don’t have to be a Christian to come to our nursery or school our school welcomes children of all faiths and none. Our admission criteria are the same as many other local schools:
1) Looked after Children
2) Siblings
3) Children of staff
4) Distance
Our Christian foundation underpins our work and is inclusive of all families of faith and those with no faith. We are a Brentford school for all the families of Brentford.
Come and see us to find out what makes us the right school for you child.
We hold parent tours regularly in the autumn and spring terms. The dates for this year's tours are listed below. Please contact the school office to book a place. Tours typically last about 1 hour.
Friday 4th October 2024, 9:30am
Friday 11th October 2024, 9:30am
Friday 18th October 2024, 2:30pm
Friday 8th November 2024, 9:30am
Friday 22nd November 2024, 2:30pm
Friday 29th November 2024, 9:30am
Friday 13th December 2024, 9:30am
Friday 10th January 2025, 9:30am
Why choose us?
When your child joins the St Paul’s family they will:
· Experience the love of learning through our unique curriculum, delivered by an enthusiastic and talented team who want you child to achieve the best they can, academically and socially.
· Grow as an individual; their talents will be identified and nurtured through a broad curriculum, which embraces our local community and will develop their understanding of the world around them.
We achieve good academic outcomes for children at all stages in the school as a result of a carefully planned and exciting curriculum, taught by an enthusiastic, caring and talented team of staff.
Don’t just take our word for it, read what our children, parents and staff have said about us recently:
Our children say:
The lessons are enjoyable, you get to do discussions, which boosts your confidence.
I can play with my friends and learn something every day.
I feel safe and do lots of learning.
I like English because it allows me to be creative with writing.
I feel safe in school because teachers deal with problems well and help you when you are upset.
We get to make friends across the classes and year groups.
Our parents say:
My daughter likes going to the school. It seems to make learning fun and I’m surprised how much they’re learning at such a young age.
The school is very much part of Brentford community and this is evident in its culture and the values it instils in the children.
A close, small church school, that tries their best. Maintains Christian values for structure in the child’s life.
It is a very well-run school. Everyone seems to be really engaged and genuinely caring about the school and pupils. Lovely school.
My son loves this school, I really recommend it for all pupils. I can’t say anything is wrong about the school – he just loves it.
The school environment is perfect for the sound development of all the child. The child is always encouraged to have confidence. The staff and teachers are very caring and helpful and loving to the children.
This is a school in which every child will have a chance to improve and develop.
Lovely community, friendly school where teachers [and] head remember and are personable with the children. It’s nice to see the child’s name is always greeted by different teachers, child doesn’t get lost in the school/community system.
Our staff say:
We really know our children!
I stay at St Paul’s because I love working here.
Everyone is welcome.
Every day is different.
Nursery Admissions - September 2025
(DOB 01/09/21 - 31/08/22)
The school runs a 15 hour nursery, Monday to Friday, 9am - noon. The nursery is open to children whose fourth birthday falls within the academic year. In other words, they will celebrate their fourth birthday in the academic year in which they attend nursery.
Applications for our nursery should be made on the application form on Hounslow borough nursery admission form - irrespective of the borough in which you reside. The application form as well as the information guide is included in the links at the bottom of this page - Starting Nursery 2024. Also, the application form for printing and returning to the school office. The editable version can be emailed to the school office, please note that if you do email application to the school, the original supporting documents will need to brought to us.
In Year Admissions
We welcome in year admissions from families moving into the area or where a school move out of the normal admission round is necessary. Applications for places from Reception to Year 6 should be made through the Hounslow borough admissions team. If you need help or advice, please call our friendly office team on 020 8560 3297. In Year admissions for the nursery can be arranged through the school.
How to be successful in application:
First of all, come and see us and other schools. You should get a sense of which school you and your child will feel most comfortable in. We very much hope that St Paul’s feels right for you.
Compile your list of schools in your application form in the order that you most want. For the best chance of getting a place in our school put us 1st on your list.
Number of places available and admissions criteria
The governors of the school set the school’s admissions criteria which operate in the event of over-subscription.
FAQs/myth busting
Do I need to submit a supplementary information form?
No. For admission our places are all ‘open’ places. This means they are like most other schools: 1. Looked After Children, 2. Distance. Just like any other school there is a preference for those with siblings already in the school. Other church schools may have admissions criteria which reserve or allocate a preference for church attendance, but we DO NOT. True to our foundation, we are here to serve the families of Brentford and others in our locality.
Why should I put St Paul’s first on my admissions list?
We only ask you to do this if you really like our school and would really like to come to us. It is important to choose us first as the local authority are obliged to offer you a place at the school highest up your preference list.
The governors of St Paul’s are responsible for the admissions to the school. We work with our local authority to process admissions. Once applications close, we receive a long list from the local authority with the names of all pupils that have applied for a place at our school. What we are not told is which preference each family has given to our school.
At the point of processing admissions, we are over-subscribed and must apply our admissions criteria. We then allocate places and return our list to the local authority. Some of the pupils to whom we have offered a place may not have put us at the top of their preference and may be offered a school higher up their preference list. This reopens a place at our school, however if other families on the list for our school have put us as a lower preference, possibly because they are not churchgoers, they will never know that they have been offered a place at our school, as they will only be informed of the school highest in their list of preferences which has offered them a place. This is why we encourage those families that like our school to put us first or second in their preference list.
Appeals
Parents have the right to appeal for a place at St Paul’s School when we (the admissions authority) have been unable to offer you a place. Your appeal will be heard by an appeals panel who are totally independent of the admissions authority and have had no involvement with any decision made to date about your child. Information about appeals, the appeals timetable and the appeals form are attached below.
Admissions Criteria
We have simplified our admission criteria to make things easier for local families. Our criteria from 2023 onwards are the same as most local schools. Looked after Children have the highest priority, with all other places allocated in essence by distance. Our Church of England primary school retains its strong Christian ethos. You have never needed to be a churchgoer to attend our school, our admissions criteria reflect this.
