St. Christopher’s RC Primary & Nursery School
Ashton-u-Lyne

Admission Policy 2010/11

St Christopher’s Ashton-u-Lyne is a Roman Catholic Primary School provided by the Diocese of Salford and is maintained by Tameside Education Authority as a Voluntary Aided School. The school’s Governing Body is the Admissions Authority and is responsible for taking decisions on applications for admission. For the school year commencing September 2010, the Governing Body’s planned admission number is 30.

Admission to the school will be made by the Governing Body subject to the following criteria which will be used to form a priority order if there are more applications for admission than the school has places available. The Admissions Committee appointed by the Governing Body will consider applications for admission to the Reception Class prior to the start of the school year. Parents should note that admission arrangements for Nursery are different and that having attended a place in Nursery does not guarantee a place in Reception.

1. Baptised Roman Catholic children who are in public care.
2. Baptised Roman Catholic children with exceptional medical or social needs.
3. Baptised Roman Catholic children who will have a brother or sister attending the school at the time of admission and resident in the parish of St Christopher’s.
4. Baptised Roman Catholic children resident in the parish of St Christopher’s.
5. Other baptised Roman Catholic children who will have a brother or sister attending the school at the time of admission and are resident in another parish.
6. Other baptised Roman Catholic children who are resident in another parish.
7. Other children who are in public care.
8. Other children with exceptional medical and social needs.
9. Other children with brother or sister attending the school at the time of admission.
10. Other children.

Notes

• The Governing Body is the admissions authority. The admissions committee is comprised of the following governors: Chair of Governors, Headteacher and Foundation Governor.
• In the autumn term all parents who have expressed an interest in a school place will be sent a copy of the local authority ‘Primary Admission Booklet’ which gives details of the LA co-ordinated admissions arrangements. These are available from local authority offices, public libraries and primary schools.
• Parents must complete a common application form and should express three preferences for primary school admission. All applications will be considered by the Governors at the same time in a fair way according to the published criteria.
• The supplementary form must only request information relating to the fact of baptism. Any further information usually collected by the school should be requested on admission.
• Parents will be informed of the Governors’ decision by Tameside Local Authority. An offer of a place does not guarantee a place for brothers and sisters in subsequent years.
• Each Roman Catholic applicant will be required to produce a baptismal certificate.
• Parents should check carefully whether they are resident within the parish boundaries of St Christopher’s. Maps illustrating parish boundaries are attached.
• All applicants resident in the parish of St Christopher’s will be required to provide proof of address, by supplying an original, up-to-date, utility bill or family credit book.
• It is the duty of Governors to comply with class size limits at Key Stage One. This means that the school cannot operate classes in Key Stage One of more than 30 children.
• Exceptional Needs. Children for whom the governors accept that there are exceptionally strong medical, social or welfare reasons associated with the child and/or family, which are directly relevant to the school concerned. Supporting professional evidence will be required. This may be from whatever sources/s the applicant feels are most appropriate. Examples of such evidence are doctors, health visitors and social services. A panel of governors will make a decision as to whether to admit the child under this criterion, using the evidence provided. All information will be treated in the strictest confidence.
• Special Needs. If a child has a statement of special needs naming a specific school there is a duty for the school to admit the child.
• If in any category there are more applications than places available, priority will be given on the basis of proximity to the school. Distance will be measured as a straight line from the child’s home address, using the address point assigned by the National Land and Property Gazetteer, to the main gate to the school property. Measurements will be made using the Local Authority’s school admissions data mapping software, which uses a Geographical Information System based on Ordnance Survey. In the event of distances being the same for 2 or more applications where this distance would be the last place/s to be allocated, a random lottery will be implemented between the applications where the distance is the same. The random lottery will be carried out in a public place, and supervised by someone independent of the school. All the names will be entered into a hat and the required number of names will be drawn out.
• The address from which the distance will be measured will be the permanent residential address, at the time of application, of the parent with whom the child is normally resident. Where a child lives with parents with shared responsibility, each for part of the week, the ‘home’ address is the address from which the child travels to school for the majority of school days per week. If the number of days is exactly equal the home address will be that of the parent who receives the Child Benefit.
• The term ‘brothers and sisters’ will be taken to include natural brother or sister, half brother or sister, step brothers and sisters, foster children and children of partners living in the same household. In cases where twins, triplets or other multiple birth siblings, or other siblings whose date of birth falls in the same academic year, are split when allocations take place, parents will be offered a choice of breaking the sibling link and being offered places at two or more school’s, or all siblings being offered a place at the same school, which may not be a preference school named on the CAF. However, the governing body must comply with maximum class size of 30 children.
• If the school is oversubscribed the governors will maintain a waiting list. The waiting list will operate until 31st December 2010 for those parents who have submitted an appeal or who have opted to go on the list. All pupils on the waiting list will be ranked according to the oversubscription criteria. Places will be offered, should any become available, to the highest ranked applications under the oversubscription criteria, they will be ranked higher than those who have been on the list for some time. A significant change of circumstances, such as a change of address, will be taken into account: evidence must be provided. Children who have been referred under the local authority’s Fair Access protocol, or are the subject of a direction by the local authority to admit must be given priority over any other children on the waiting list.
• Late applications will be considered in accordance with the published admissions criteria. Applications received after the closing date will be dealt with as late and will be considered after all applications received on time have been processed.
• Parents are asked to read and confirm receipt of the Governors’ published admission policy. Any changes to the policy will be circulated to all applicants on file for subsequent years.
• If an application for admission has been turned down by the Governing Body parents can appeal to an independent appeals panel. This appeal must be sent in writing to the clerk to the Governors at the school within 14 days of notification of refusal. The date of notification will be 2 working days after posting by first class post. The parents must give their reasons for appealing in writing and decision of the appeals panel is binding on the Governors. The outcome of the appeal is binding on the parents and on the governing body.

Reviewed March 2009