School Admissions

SECONDARY TRANSFER

Applications should be made through the standard unified secondary school application form or you can apply online here. If you do not live in Islington, you can still apply to Central Foundation using your home local authority’s form (i.e., the council to whom you pay your council tax).

Please note: There is no supplementary application form for Central Foundation Boys’ School.

Admissions Policies:

IN-YEAR ADMISSIONS 

Applications for in-year admissions are made directly through Islington Council. If more applications are received than there are places available then applications will be ranked in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. Following a banding test, applicants are placed on a waiting list which will be maintained by the school. The waiting list is ranked in the order of the oversubscription criteria, and not in the order in which the applications are first received.

To apply for a place at Central Foundation during an academic year:

SIXTH FORM ADMISSIONS 

The Published Admission Number for Year 12 and 13 external candidates is 75 in each Year group.

For further information relating to the Sixth Form admissions please click HERE.

Banding Test for Secondary Transfer 2025-26

All students applying for a place at Central Foundation Boys’ School are required to sit a banding test. Students are placed in one of four ability bands following a standardised assessment to ensure a balanced and mixed ability intake.

Applicants who fail to attend the banding test will be allocated to band 5 in line with the oversubscription criteria. Applicants in band 5 will be considered only after every applicant who did sit the test (regardless of score) has been offered a place.

Distance Boundaries

The table below shows a break-down of furthest distance (in miles) from the School by which secondary transfer applicants were accepted under the distance criterion in recent years. Please note that this distance changes each year and the statistics should be used only as a guide. The statistics are based on data published on National Offer Day in March and the distance from the School by which applicants were accepted expands as the places are allocated from the waiting list.

Please note that in 2018, the School offered an additional 30 places in Year 7 so the distance from the School by which applicants were accepted expanded. The School also offered an additional 30 places in Year 7 in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.

SEPTEMBER ENTRY 2021 2022 2023 2024
Band 1 1.298 1.24 1.26 1.43
Band 2 1.534 1.37 1.96 1.68
Band 3 2.277 1.68 2.44 1.66
Band 4 1.664 2.78 1.42 3.91
Appeals