08/09/2026
The move from a primary school at the end of Year 6 to secondary school is a big change for any child and for their parents. Sometimes it means a longer journey to school, new surroundings, meeting new friends, a change in routine, plus a wave of additional costs such as travel and a new uniform. For separated parents, it can also bring a set of new agreements that have to be made jointly, often at a point when communication is already strained.
One of the most significant decisions is where your child will go to school. Secondary school applications for entry in September 2027 close on 31 October 2026, a deadline that does not move and does not wait for parents to reach an agreement. Every year, our family law team speaks to parents in Bolton, Bury, Atherton, and the surrounding areas who are struggling to resolve school choice disputes and find themselves running out of time to meet the deadline.
At Russell & Russell, as members of the Law Society’s Accredited Children Law Scheme, the Law Society’s Accredited Advanced Family Law Panel, and Resolution’s Family Law Panel, our family law team is committed to promoting non-confrontational approaches to family law matters. Most school disputes and wider child arrangement decisions can be settled without involving the family courts, provided they are dealt with early.
In this blog, we look at who decides where a child goes to secondary school, what to do when you disagree, and how existing contact arrangements may need to change once your child starts at their new school.
Who Decides Where a Child Goes to School?
Anyone with parental responsibility (the legal right to make decisions about a child’s upbringing) has a say in a child’s education, which will usually apply to both parents.
The complications that arise are usually practical rather than legal. Local authorities across Greater Manchester accept one application per child, normally submitted by the parent at the address the child is registered at, with prove of address and council tax needed to work out the applicable catchment.
Some of the most common issues we see include these two scenarios:
- One parent submits an application without telling the other, and the other parent doesn’t hear about it until National Offer Day in March.
- Both parents submit separate applications, and the local authority has to decide which one to process, causing delays that can affect the outcome.
Neither situation is in the child’s best interests. If you share parental responsibility, and you can do so, agree on a preference list together and send one application.
Bolton.GOV.UK Admissions guidance provides this information for parents who share contact with their child:
“If parents share custody of a child, we may ask to see the court order, child tax credit letter, child benefit letter or other evidence to verify where a child is ordinarily resident for the majority of the time. If the custody arrangement is shared 50:50 we advise that a joint decision is made as to which schools will be applied for. Only one address can be used to process an application. Failure to reach an agreement on which schools should be included in your application may lead to your application being withdrawn from the admissions process until such time as an agreement can be reached. The local authority will proceed to process the application from the parent in receipt of Child Benefit, or in the absence of this, from the parent whose address the child is registered with the GP, so that the child does not miss out on a school place whilst the parents seek further advice and try to reach a consensus.”
What If We Cannot Agree on a School?
Disagreements about the choice of secondary school are rarely only about the school. They tend to carry the history of the separation with them. Working through these basic steps usually gets further than involving solicitors or going to court.
- Keep the decision separate from everything else: The secondary school choice is the priority decision. Try to keep it away from money, contact time, and any previous disputes. If the conversation drifts, bring it back to the shortlist.
- Visit the schools together, or separately if that is easier: Most secondary schools in Bolton, Bury and Atherton run open days and evenings in September and early October. Most schools will also have an online presence, such as a website to view. You have may even gone to the school yourselves. Both parents attending, even on different sessions, means you are working from the same information rather than second-hand impressions.
- Ask your child what they think: Your child’s opinion on which school they prefer is an important factor to consider, and it matters more to a court as they get older. An eleven-year-old with strong feelings about a school, or where their friends are going, is not being unreasonable.
- Put the agreement in writing: A short email confirming the order of preferences is enough. It protects both of you if one of you has second thoughts after the deadline has passed.
- Try family mediation: If you can’t reach an agreement or find it hard to communicate without conflict, mediation can help. A trained family mediator stays neutral and helps you work through a school choice disagreement in a focused way. Legal aid is available in some circumstances, plus a government voucher scheme that can contribute towards mediation costs for child issues. Some Greater Manchester and Cheshire providers already take part: Manchester & Cheshire Mediation. Mediation is not about forcing you to agree. It is about getting you both to a place where a workable plan is actually possible.
Read our previous child arrangement guides, ‘Summer Holiday Contact and Taking Children Abroad: A Guide for Separated Parents’ and ‘When Christmas Contact Is in Dispute: A Guide for Separated Parents’, for related information.
When the Court May Need to Be Involved
If you have tried the steps above and still cannot resolve a disagreement, the court can step in. The right application depends on what the dispute is actually about.
- Specific Issue Order: If a previous agreement around other arrangements generally works but you cannot agree on one specific point, such as which school your child should attend, a Specific Issue Order asks the court to decide that single question. This is often the quickest route for education-related disputes, and the court decides on what is best for the child rather than which parent applied first.
- Prohibited Steps Order: If you are worried that the other parent intends to move your child to a different school without your consent, or relocate to another catchment area, a Prohibited Steps Order can stop them from doing so. These can be made on an urgent basis in a genuine emergency, for example if the other parent is trying to relocate your child to another part of the country or abroad.
The court will always expect you to try to resolve matters without litigation first, usually through mediation, and timing considerations here are often essential.
Acting early gives you the best chance of a workable outcome before the school place applications need to be finalised by the end of October.
Rethinking Contact Once Term Starts
Secondary school routines often interrupt previous arrangements in ways that catch parents out. The journey to school can take longer; homework responsibility increases; and new sports fixtures, after-school clubs, and social plans start to take up the evenings and weekends. A contact arrangement that worked comfortably during primary school years can stop working by the first October half term.
Consider revisiting your current agreement before the new term rather than after the problems start:
- Handover points may need to move: Collecting from a secondary school gate is not always practical, and older children often start to travel to and from school independently, including via new transport routes. How will this work into the existing routine, and does it need to change?
- Midweek contact arrangements may need to change: An evening that once worked can become difficult if it now clashes with after-school club commitments, homework requirements, or a later finish.
- Both parents should be on the school’s contact list: If you have parental responsibility, you are entitled to school reports and to attend parents’ evenings. Tell the new school at the start of Year 7 rather than assuming the information has carried over from the primary school.
If you already have a Child Arrangements Order in place, you can vary it by agreement between you, and it is sensible to confirm any changes in writing. If you cannot agree, you can apply to vary that order, though the court will expect you to have tried mediation first.
Local Support for Separated Parents
Alongside legal advice, some parents and children benefit from practical co-parenting support. A few resources worth knowing about:
- Bolton Council - Relationships Matter: courses and support aimed at reducing parental conflict in families.
- Cafcass - independent guidance on how child arrangements work when parents cannot agree. Cafcass.
- Resolution - finding a family lawyer who follows the Resolution Code of Practice. resolution.org.uk
Speak to Our Family Law Team
School decisions have a fixed deadline attached to them, which makes early advice more valuable than usual. At Russell & Russell, our family lawyers follow the Resolution Code of Practice, which means our focus stays on reducing conflict and finding solutions that work for the children rather than settling old arguments between the adults.
We support families across Bolton, Horwich, Farnworth, Bury, Atherton, Chester, and the wider Greater Manchester area. Whether you need help agreeing a preference list, arranging mediation, varying an existing order, or making an urgent court application, we can talk you through your options at every stage.
To speak to our family law team, please get in touch with us on 0800 103 2600 or make an online enquiry, and someone will get back in touch. If you have an urgent situation, you can contact us out of office hours on our 24-hour emergency helpline.
Please note that this article is meant as general guidance and not intended as legal or professional advice. Updates to the law may have changed since this article was published.