St. Peter’s C. E. Primary School

Admission Policy. 2010 - 2011*

Download the admissions form 

The number of places available to the Reception year will be a maximum of 30.

This arrangement follows consultation between the governing body, the LEA, the diocese and other admissions authorities in the area.

The governors will not place restrictions on admissions to Reception year unless they are advised that applications are likely to exceed the published admissions number.

In the event of over-subscription the governors will allocate places using the following criteria which are listed in priority order. Each criteria must be read in conjunction with the additional notes.

The governors have a duty to admit children with a statement of special needs where the statement names the school.

1. Looked after Children [Children in Public Care.]
Supporting documentation should be provided.

2. Children of families who worship at St. Peter’s Church, Ashton-under-Lyne
The child must have attended St. Peter’s Church more than twelve times in the year immediately before the application. Verification will be required from the minister or church official [see supplementary form*]

3. Children of families who worship at other Christian Churches.
The child must have attended another church in the membership of ‘Churches Together’ more than twelve times in the year immediately before the application. Verification will be required from the minister or church official [see supplementary form*]

4. Siblings who are living in the same household as brothers and/or sisters who attend the school at the time of admission.
A sibling is defined as a brother or sister, or half brother or sister, or step-brother or step-sister, or adopted sister or brother or foster brother or sister living at the same address as the child for whom application is being made. Sibling priority will not be given where the brother / sister or step-brother / step-sister or foster child lives at a different address to the child for whom application is being made. No sibling priority is given to cousins, regardless of their address.

To ensure compliance with the Infant Class Size Initiative in cases where twins, triplets, other multiple birth siblings, or other siblings whose date of birth falls within 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 schools or all siblings being offered a place at the same school which may not be a preference school named on the common assessment form.

5. Other exceptional medical or family circumstances, for which evidence will be required. 
Evidence must be provided from a doctor or other agency that he/she has exceptional medical needs which means that admission to a particular school is essential, reference will normally be made to the Community Health Physician, Social Services or the Educational Psychologist, as appropriate. Governors will make a decision as to whether to admit a child under this criteria using the evidence provided. If evidence is not provided the Governors will not give higher priority under this criteria. All information provided will be treated in the strictest confidence.

6. For all other children the distance of the home address from school: preference will be given to children who live nearest 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 employs a Geographical Information System based on Ordinance Survey.

The address from which 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 a 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.

If there is oversubscription in any of the criteria, then distance from home address to school [as described in no. 6] will be used to determine the allocation of places.

In the event of distances being the same for 2 or more applicants where the distance would be the last place/s to be allocated, a random lottery will be implemented between the applicants 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.

Closing date.
The school will, statutorily, adopt the same closing date for applications as LA community schools. This date can be found in the ‘Starting Out’ information that is issued annually to parents.

Priority will be given to applications received on time ie. on or before the closing date.

Late Applications
Late applications will be dealt with after applications that are received on time have been processed.

If school is undersubscribed on allocations and late applications exceed the number of places available then the admissions criteria will be applied to the late applications until all the places have been allocated.

Waiting List
If the school is oversubscribed the governors will maintain a waiting list. The waiting list will operate until the end of the autumn term 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 over subscription criteria. Places will be offered, should any become available, to the highest ranked application received by the date the place becomes available. If new or late applications have a higher priority 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 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 who are the subject of a direction by the local authority to admit must be given precedence over any other children on the waiting list.

Change of Preference
Admission authorities will not allow preferences, ranking order or pupil details, to be changed after the closing date of except in exceptional circumstances for example, if the family has recently moved address. Evidence must be provided to support the request. No changes can be considered after 15 January 2010 (tbc), when the allocations process has started.

Infant class sizes and appeals
Parents who are not allocated a place at the school have the right of appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel. The appeal must be sent in writing to the clerk of governors at the school. Parents must give their reasons for appealing in writing and the panel’s decision is binding on the governors.

In normal circumstances an appeals panel cannot allow a place for a child if this means that the Reception class will have more than 30 pupils.

Parents should note that a panel can only uphold an appeal if the decision was not one which a reasonable admissions authority would make in the circumstances of the case or if the child would have been offered a place if the admission arrangements had been properly implemented.
DfES Code of Practice 2008.

Casual Admissions
The above criteria will be applied if applications are made for places at any time other than at the beginning of the Reception class.

Admissions into the Nursery
Parents and Carers should note that the arrangements for admission to the Nursery class are different: please see the Nursery Admission Policy. Having a place in the Nursery does not guarantee a place in the Reception class.

* Supplementary Form
The supplementary form is available from the school and the local authority.

March 2009