All DESC Isle of Man primary and secondary schools have an associated catchment area, and children are expected to attend the school in whose catchment they live.

Requests for out of catchment places are usually only granted where there are sound educational reasons.

Please note the following reasons are not considered sufficient to grant an out of catchment placement:

• The placement of a child at a pre-school nursery near a primary school or within a primary school building. Such placement does not confer any rights for the child to attend the school when they reach normal school age.
• Pre or post school childcare.
• A claimed breakdown in relationship with the current school, unless there is evidence that the appropriate procedures have been followed in trying to resolve the issues and the “breakdown in relationship” is agreed to have taken place by the Headteacher of the school and the applicant.

This form is to be used to request consideration for an Out of Catchment Area placement for a child. Please note you must complete a separate application for any additional children.

Consent of all parties with Parental Responsibility is required to proceed with an Out of Catchment request.

Please make sure you have read and understood the guidance notes for out of catchment area requests before completing this form.

At this time, applications are open for school placements in the academic year 2024/2025 and 2025/2026.

Please note that it can take 6 weeks for you to receive notification of the outcome of your application.

Applications submitted for the academic year 2025/2026 will not be processed until at least March 2025 when the numbers for that school year are made available to the Department and the Schools.