Apply for a school place
Register for P1
Your child can start school in August 2025 if they turn 5 between 01 March 2025 and 28 February 2026.
- If you have registered by 15 March you will be notified by 30 April.
- If you registered after 15 March you will be notified within 2 months.
Deferring a place
Most children attend school as soon as they are eligible to start. However you may apply to start a year later.
Catchment areas
Every house in Midlothian is in a catchment area with a choice of 2 primary schools - a non-denominational school and a Roman Catholic school.
You can register at either school in your catchment area, even if it is not where your child currently attends nursery.
Most schools have open events that will be advertised on their website. If you can not make one of these contact the school and they may be able to arrange a time for you to visit.
If a child has more than one address
If parents of a child do not live together and live in different areas we will work out the catchment school for the child as follows:
- If the parents can provide proof that they share the care 50/50, such as a legal agreement, they can choose which catchment area to register their child.
- If the parents do not share care 50/50, the address of the parent in receipt of Child Benefit will be used.
- If the parents do not share care 50/50 and neither parent is receiving child benefit the primary contact on education records will be used.
Applying for a school outwith your catchment area
You can apply for a place at a school outwith your catchment area, this is called a placing request. We will try to accommodate your wishes but it may not be possible.
You must register at one of your catchment schools and then complete a placing request.
Moving house
If you are moving house before your child starts P1 please provide proof of your new address. We can accept this up to 4 weeks before you move.
We will need proof of your new address by the 15 March 2025. If you provide proof after this we will try to accommodate your request but all places in your catchment school may have been allocated. If your catchment school does not have places available a place will be allocated at the nearest school within the associated school group with places available.
We can accept the following documents as proof of residency:
- Council Tax letter – Current tax year
- Government benefit letter
- Gas, electric or telephone landline bill –the last 3 months
- Full valid UK driving licence
- Tenancy agreement
- For military families we accept MOD assignment order and march in date letter
We cannot accept solicitor’s letters as proof of residency.
If you are moving into temporary accommodation, contact the Pupil Placement Team.