Welcome to St John’s
Applying for a place for your child to start school is an exciting time – but it can also be a daunting one. You will be looking ahead to the next seven years of your child’s life, considering which school you think would suit them best, and perhaps feeling uncertain about the application process.
At St John’s, we are keen to do everything we can to help. We have put together some resources on this page to give you more information about the school and to explain the application process. If you have any questions, no matter how small, we are always happy to answer them. Please contact Admissions by email at admissions@st-johns.kent.sch.uk.
Reception intake
Each year, we admit 90 children into our three Reception classes. As a Voluntary Controlled Church School, our admissions arrangements are determined by Kent County Council (KCC). All applications to the school are ranked in order of our admissions criteria, which can be summarised as follows:
1. Children in Local Authority Care (or previously in Care).
2. Current Family Association (having a brother or sister at the school at the time of entry). * (see note)
3. Health and Special Access Reasons (where a child has a demonstrable and significant need to attend a particular school).
4. Nearness of the child's home to the school, measured as a straight line distance.
* If the sibling is in Year 6 at the time of application, the sibling link will be broken because the sibling in Year 6 will be attending Secondary school in September by the time the younger child joins.
* The Kent County Council (KCC) "sibling move 2-mile rule" for admissions states that the sibling link is maintained if the family has moved to within 2 miles of the school or to a property that is nearer to the school than their previous address, as measured by the KCC's defined method. If the family moves to a location more than 2 miles from the school, this breaks the sibling link for admissions purposes.
St John's does not have a fixed 'catchment area'. The distance of the last place offered varies from year to year, depending on the number of siblings and on the number of other applicants and their distance from the school. The school is generally oversubscribed, and in recent years the distance of the last place offered has been approximately 0.3 to 0.6 of a mile. We do not know in advance what the distance for the next year's intake will be.
Full details of our admissions criteria can be found in our Admissions Policy below.
When can I visit the school?
Each year, we really look forward to welcoming new parents to St John’s. We hold a series of Open Day visits for prospective Reception parents between September and December. Please note that spaces are strictly limited and MUST be pre-booked.
The visits start at 9:30 with a presentation from either the Headteacher or Deputy Headteacher, followed by a tour of the school with our Year 6 pupils. The whole visit lasts about an hour. Please note that visits are for parents only - we kindly request that you do not bring children with you (although we understand that young babies may need to accompany their parents). There are opportunities for the Reception children to visit the school later in the process.
If you would like to book a place on one of our Open Days, please email admissions@st-johns.kent.sch.uk letting us know your name(s), a contact telephone number, and whether you would like to book one or two parent places.
The dates for the 2026-2027 reception intake open days are as follows:
Wednesday 1st October 2025 9.30am - This session is now full
Wednesday 5th November 2025 9.30am - This session is now full
Tuesday 18th November 2025 5pm
Wednesday 3rd December 2025 9.30am
We look forward to meeting you soon. In the meantime, we hope you find our online resources helpful in giving you a flavour of the school. If you would like to find out more about St John's or have questions about the application process, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our Admissions Manager by phone or email.
All about St John's
On our website you can find lots of information about all aspects of the school, so please do take some time to explore. In particular, we have put together the following resource to help give prospective parents a really good insight of what St John's is all about.
How to apply for a place
If your child was born between 1st September 2021 and 31st August 2022, they are due to start school in September 2026. All applications for Reception places need to be made through Kent County Council using this link. Applications for September 2026 will open on Friday 7th November 2025 and will close on Thursday 15th January 2026. Reception offers will be sent to parents on Thursday 16th April 2026.
We have put together a list of Reception Application FAQs to help guide you through the application process. This includes information about distances and admissions criteria, plus some tips on how to complete your application form:
For full details of the application process, please find below the most recent KCC Guide to Primary Admissions along with their guide:
How can I find out more?
Now you’ve had a chance to learn a bit more about St John’s, we do hope that you will consider applying for a place for your child to join us. If you have any queries about the school or the application process, please get in touch with our school Admissions advisor or you can contact the Kent County Council Admissions Team for further advice.
St John's CE Primary School
01892 678980
admissions@st-johns.kent.sch.uk
KCC Primary Admissions Team
03000 412121