Parents of children due to start primary school in September 2016 are being reminded that the deadline for applications is Friday, 15 January 2016.

Children born between 1 September 2011 and 31 August 2012 should start primary school in September 2016.

People who return their applications after the deadline greatly decrease their chances of being offered a place at their preferred school. All children who applied on time last year were offered a place at an Ealing primary school and more than 94% were offered a place at one of their top three primary schools.

The easiest way to apply is online at www.eadmissions.org.uk. Paper application forms are also available from Ealing primary schools or by contacting Ealing Council’s admissions service.

As a member of the pan-London Admissions Scheme, Ealing Council will then co-ordinate its offers with other London boroughs, ensuring that no one is offered more than one place.There will be a single, national offer day on Monday, 18 April when parents across the country will find out where their child has been offered a school place.

Changes to Ealing Council’s rules on how places are allocated for community primary schools will come into effect for the first time for parents and carers of children due to start school this September. The changes were introduced following a public consultation in 2014. Faith schools, foundation schools, free schools and academies have their own admission criteria and parents should read them carefully.

The rule changes include giving priority to siblings of children already at the school. This change was introduced because under the old system, growing demand meant that some families were unable to secure a place for a younger child at their older sibling’s school. Schools no longer have priority areas, more commonly known as catchments. Instead applications will be assessed on straight-line distances from schools. This removes the anomaly where families sometimes could not secure a place at a school they live close to, because of where the catchment boundary fell.

In addition, the criterion of exceptional medical and social circumstances has been removed but this will not affect applications from children with a special educational needs statement or education, health and care plan. Appeal panels will still consider exceptional medical and social needs within the confines of the school admissions appeals code.

Councillor Binda Rai, cabinet member for children and young people, said: "Applications received after 15 January will only be dealt with once those which were received on time have been processed. Therefore I would urge parents not to miss the deadline because they are reducing the chances of their child being offered a place at their preferred school."

"I would also urge parents to list six choices of schools on the application form. It’s not a good idea to only list your first choice of school because many schools do not have places for everyone who applies to them. We therefore need to know where else you might like your child to attend."