Oldfield Primary and Villiers High plan to cut places, and St Mary's Norwood Green would drop faith places. Comments close on 21 December 2026.

Six Ealing schools have proposed changes to the way they admit children from September 2028, including two cuts in places. Parents have until 21 December 2026 to comment.

Ealing Council opened the consultation on 9 November. It covers the council’s own community schools and also collects comments for academies and church schools that set their own rules. Final arrangements must be published by 15 March 2027.

The changes affect children starting Reception or Year 7 in September 2028.

The proposals at a glance

School Area What would change
Oldfield Primary Greenford Reception places cut from 45 to 30
St Mary’s CofE Primary Norwood Green Faith-based places scrapped
St Raphael’s Catholic Primary Northolt No Certificate of Catholic Practice needed; wider sibling priority
Ealing Fields CofE High South Ealing Up to 48 places for children eligible for Pupil Premium
Islip Manor High Northolt Sixth form rules updated after QPR partnership ended
Villiers High Southall Year 7 places cut from 270 to 240; new staff and feeder school priorities

Primary schools

Oldfield Primary School, Greenford. The council wants to cut Oldfield’s Reception intake from 45 to 30. It gives the reason as “a sustained decline in the number of Reception-age children in the local area”, on its primary schools page. The school is on Oldfield Lane North.

St Mary’s Church of England Primary School, Norwood Green. At present, half of St Mary’s places are reserved as foundation places for families who can show regular Christian worship. The trust says it now gets “very few applications” for those places. It wants to drop them and the Supplementary Information Form that goes with them. The school says it will keep its Christian ethos.

Under the proposed policy, St Mary’s would still admit 30 children to Reception. After children in care and those with an education plan naming the school, places would go in this order:

  • brothers and sisters of current pupils
  • children in the school’s nursery who live within two miles
  • everyone else, by distance from home to school

St Raphael’s Catholic Primary School, Northolt. The council says the school has been undersubscribed with Catholic applicants in recent years. Its academy trust wants to:

  • stop asking Catholic families for a Certificate of Catholic Practice. Catholic children would still get priority.
  • give brothers and sisters of current pupils priority within every admission category
  • update its wording on tie-breaks, deferred entry and children in care

St Raphael’s admits 60 children a year, according to its proposed policy.

The council’s own list of community school admission numbers leaves every other community primary unchanged for 2028. Downe Manor and Viking in Northolt are marked as subject to the separate consultation on merging the two schools.

High schools

Villiers High School, Southall. The governing body wants to cut Year 7 places from 270 to 240. It gives the same reason as Oldfield: fewer children moving up to secondary school locally. It also proposes two new priorities, ranked above distance:

  • children of staff who have worked at the school for two years or more, or who were hired to fill a post with a skills shortage
  • children at six named feeder primaries: Beaconsfield, Blair Peach, Hambrough, Three Bridges, Tudor and North Primary

The full rules are in the Villiers proposed policy.

Ealing Fields CofE High School, Little Ealing Lane. The school wants to reserve up to 48 of its 168 Year 7 places for children eligible for Pupil Premium. The aim is to make the school easier to get into for disadvantaged pupils, the council says. These places would rank above distance.

Children who qualify include those registered for free school meals. Children who get in under a higher criterion and are also eligible would count towards the 48. Families applying for a Pupil Premium place would have until 12 noon on 1 October 2027 to send in their evidence, according to the school’s proposed policy.

Islip Manor High School, Northolt. The changes here are to sixth form admissions only. The school’s partnership with QPR has ended, so its Sporting Excellence programme will now run with Future Stars. It is also adding a new Level 2 vocational course and clearer rules on late and post-results applications.

Why places are being cut

Ealing, like many London boroughs, has seen fewer children reaching school age. We covered the picture for Reception in our 2027 primary school places story. The council said in its Viking and Downe Manor consultation that it has already cut 615 Reception places by lowering admission numbers at 18 schools since 2017/18.

What it means for you

  • If your child starts Reception or Year 7 in September 2028, these are the rules your application will be judged on. A Reception child for 2028 will usually be born between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2024.
  • If you live near Villiers and your child is at a non-feeder primary, the new feeder priority would put children from the six named schools ahead of you on distance.
  • If you want a place at St Mary’s Norwood Green, church attendance would no longer affect your chances.
  • To comment, use the form for each school on the council’s primary and high school pages by 21 December 2026.