In the second half of Year 6 the question arrives: which middle school will my child go to? There is no national answer, because assignment is operated separately by each provincial and district education office.

1. First, group or district

• Middle school district — only one school is reachable. There is effectively no assignment process.
• School group — several schools are reachable, so a method is required.

You can look this up by address on the government school-zone information service. Use that rather than a school website or property listing.

2. The methods used within a school group

• Apply then lottery — you rank schools within the group and a draw decides. Preference is recorded but not guaranteed.
• Proximity first — students living nearest are assigned first.
• Mixed — part of the intake by preference lottery, the rest weighted by residence and commuting conditions.

The recent direction is away from pure lottery towards including proximity. In Ulsan, for example, a plan was pursued to assign 60% of places by preference lottery and the remaining 40% using a geographic information system that reflects residence and commuting. The exact ratio is debated region by region.

3. "School district" is not only a high-school matter

The term is usually associated with high schools, and it is true that school groups apply to general high schools in equalisation areas. But middle schools have the same kind of zoning, and the principle is identical: the reachable area is the assignment area. Checking only the high-school district can produce surprises at middle-school assignment.

4. Private middle schools sit outside this

Where private middle schools exist, they are often applied to separately and earlier. If an application is unsuccessful the student returns to the general assignment, and whether that carries any disadvantage in preference ranking varies by region. Check the application window and the treatment of unsuccessful applicants in that year's guidance.

5. Results and requests for review

Results are normally communicated through the primary school. Changes are uncommon, but reassignment may be requested in some regions where the address has since moved and commuting has become genuinely difficult, or where documented health grounds exist. The window is short, so check as soon as the notification arrives.

6. After the school is decided

What matters more than which school is how the first two months are used — see what actually changes in Year 7. If a move means changing school mid-year, the procedure differs again; see transferring school by stage.

Based on education office guidance and related reporting published as of August 2026. Methods and ratios vary by province and school year; check your district education office's admission guidance for the relevant year.