Primary Schools

Each non-fee paying primary school accepts children from a specific area of the Island . This area is known as the school’s catchment area. A large scale map is available in the public libraries, parish halls and in primary schools. Children normally attend the primary school in the catchment area in which they live.

It is the policy of the Department for Education, Sport and Culture to offer a place to all children commencing in September of the school year in which their fifth birthday falls, to enable them to experience three terms in the reception class.

To register either telephone or write to the primary school giving the child’s name, date of birth and address. A notice is published in the Jersey Evening Post to advise parents of registration. Parents are asked to register their child at their catchment primary school by 1st February in the school year before the child is due to start full-time school.

Priority is given to:

• families who already have children in the school;
• families living in the catchment area;
• families who have a special reason for wishing their child to attend a specific primary school.

For a variety of reasons parents may sometimes wish to send their child to a primary school outside their catchment area.  Parents can apply for a second school but they must first register at their catchment school by February 1st in the school year before the child is due to start full time school. They should also inform their catchment school that it is not their first choice and name their preferred school.

This application will be considered after 1st February. Whilst every effort is made to accommodate parents’ wishes, places for children living outside the school’s catchment area are very limited. Each primary school publishes its own handbook for parents which gives further details about primary education.