Apply for P1
If your child's date of birth is between 1 March 2020 and 28 February 2021 they are due to start primary school in August 2025. You must register your child for P1.
If you live outside the catchment area of your preferred school you need to make a placing request. You will only receive a place if one is available.
You can apply to defer your child's entry to P1 for a year. We ask that you still register for P1 even if you plan to defer. Read about deferring entry to P1.
If your child was born after 28 February 2021 you can request they start a year early. This is called Early Admission to Primary and is assessed by the Education Resource Group. Learn more about early entry to Primary 1
Section 2 of the Placing in Schools guide tells you more about applying for P1.
Decisions on school places
Decisions on non-catchment placing requests and requests for Roman Catholic schools were made on 7 March 2025.
Register for P1
Registration for P1 has now closed. If you haven't registered yet or wish to make a new placing request, please contact us.
You will be asked to choose your preferred catchment school of three. Your
- non-denominational catchment school
- Roman Catholic (RC) catchment school
- Edinburgh's Gaelic primary school, Bun-sgoil Taobh na Pàirce.
No knowledge of the language is needed for entry to the Gaelic school. If you live outside the City of Edinburgh area, please use the contact form to submit a placing request for Taobh na Pàirce.
Places at RC schools are not guaranteed, and we give priority to children who are baptised in the Roman Catholic faith. Where we cannot offer a place, most children are given a place in their non-denominational catchment school.
Section five of the Placing in Schools guide tells you more about how we allocate places in RC schools.
Download the Placing in Schools guide - PDF
Moving to a new address
If you are moving to a new address before 31 July 2025 you need to tell us.
Complete the Change of Address form as soon as you know your new address. You can fill in the form in advance of your move, provided you will be settled in your new address before 31 July 2025.
- If you currently live in the Edinburgh area, you should register for P1 using your current address AND complete the change of address form
- If you currently live outside the Edinburgh area, do not register - simply complete the change of address form.
Please note that we cannot always guarantee a place at one of your catchment schools. In these cases we we may offer you the nearest school which has a place available.
Section nine of the Placing in Schools guide tells you more about moving address.
Download the Placing in Schools guide - PDF
Request a school outside your catchment area
If your preference is a school in a different catchment area, you can make a placing request for that school at the same time you register for P1.
If you live outside the City of Edinburgh area and you want to make a placing request for a school within the City, you must also use our contact form to do this. Remember to include the name of the school you are requesting, details of any older siblings already attending and/or any exceptional reasons you have.
You can only apply for one school initially, but if your request is turned down you can apply for an alternative school at that time.
Section four of the Placing in Schools guide outlines the procedures for placing requests.
Download the Placing in Schools guide - PDF
Further reading
Read Choosing a School: A Guide for Parents on the Scottish Government website.
Download
- the P1 school places FAQ for parents - PDF
- our admissions policy - PDF
- our admissions procedure - PDF
- the school placements privacy notice - PDF
Contact us
Please use our contact form for any enquiries you have.