Tameside Roman Catholic High Schools

Admissions Policy 2012

Roman Catholic High Schools supplementary form 15.74 KB

The school admission policy is rigorously applied and pupils are admitted up to the agreed Published Admission Number, which for the 2012/13 academic year will be:

• St Damian’s: 150
• St Thomas More: 150
• All Saints: 170

If there are more applications than places, admission to St Damian’s RC Science College, St Thomas More RC College and All Saints Catholic College will be subject to the oversubscription criteria in the order of priority set out below.

Statemented Pupils

If the school is named in a Statement of special educational needs, the Governing Body has a duty to admit the child to the school.

The duty to apply these arrangements rests with the Governors of the College. All preferences listed on the Local Authority Preference Form will be considered on an equal basis with the following set of oversubscription criteria forming a priority order where there are more applications for admissions than the college has places available.

1. Baptised Roman Catholic children who are in Public Care.
2. Baptised Roman Catholic children with exceptional medical or social needs

   (Where evidence is provided from a child’s doctor or other agency that he/she has exceptional needs which mean that admission to a particular school is essential, reference will be made to the Community Health Physician, Social Services, or Educational Psychologist, as appropriate. A panel of governors will make a decision as to whether to admit a child under this criterion using the evidence provided. All information provided will be treated in the strictest confidence.)

3. Baptised Roman Catholic children who live in a designated Parish.
4. Baptised Roman Catholic children who attend a designated Roman Catholic Primary School.
5. Baptised Roman Catholic children who will have a brother or sister attending the school at the time of admission.
6. Other Baptised Roman Catholic children.
7. Other children who are in Public Care.
8. Other children with exceptional medical or social needs.

   (Where evidence is provided from a child’s doctor or other agency that he/she has exceptional needs which mean that admission to a particular school is essential, reference will be made to the Community Health Physician, Social Services, or Educational Psychologist, as appropriate. A panel of governors will make a decision as to whether to admit a child under this criterion using the evidence provided. All information provided will be treated in the strictest confidence.)

9. Other children who will have a brother or sister attending the school at the time of admission.
10. Other children who attend a designated Roman Catholic Primary School.
11. Other children.

Tie breaker definition

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 employs 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 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.

Designated Parishes (Criterion 3)[1]:

The Designated Parishes are:

St Damian’s

• St Joseph’s, Mossley
• St Anne’s, Ashton
• St Stephen’s, Droylsden
• St Christopher’s, Ashton

St Thomas More

• St John Fisher, Haughton Green
• St Mary’s, Denton
• St Anne’s, Audenshaw
• Holy Family, Denton
• St Paul’s, Guide Bridge

All Saints

• St Raphael’s, Millbrook
• St Peter’s, Stalybridge
• St Mary’s, Dukinfield
• St Paul’s, Hyde
• St James, Hattersley

Maps showing Parish boundaries can be consulted in the appropriate parish.

Designated Primary Schools (Criteria 4 and 10)

The Designated Primary Schools are:

St Damian’s

• St Christopher’s RC Primary School, Ashton
• Our Lady of Mount Carmel RC Primary School, Ashton
• St Stephen’s RC Primary School, Droylsden
• St Joseph’s RC Primary School, Mossley

St Thomas More

• St Anne’s RC Primary School, Audenshaw
• St Mary’s RC Primary School, Denton
• St John Fisher RC Primary School, Haughton Green

All Saints

• St Raphael’s RC Primary School, Millbrook
• St Peter’s RC Primary School, Stalybridge
• St Mary’s RC Primary School, Dukinfield
• St Paul’s RC Primary School, Hyde
• St James RC Primary School, Hattersley

Notes

1. The governing body is the admissions authority. The admissions committee is composed of the following governors: chair of governors, parish priest, head teacher, parent governor & independent clerk.
2. In the autumn term all parents who have expressed an interest in a school place will be sent a copy of the Local Authority ‘Secondary Admission Booklet’ which gives details of the LA co-ordinated admissions arrangements. These are available from Local Authority offices and primary schools.
3. Parents must complete a common application form and may express up to 3 preferences for secondary school admission. The closing date for all applicants is (as the LA Coordinated Admissions Scheme). All applicants will be considered by the governors at the same time in a fair way according to the published criteria.
4. Parents will be informed of the governors’ decision by the LA on (as the LA Coordinated Admissions Scheme). An offer of a place does not guarantee a place for brothers and sisters in subsequent years.
5. "Roman Catholic" means a person/child who has been baptised into the Roman Catholic faith. Parents who wish their application to be considered under criteria 1-6 are required to submit a Supplementary Information Form (SIF) direct to each school for which they express a preference; the SIF is available from the high school or the Local Authority.
6. The term ‘brothers and sisters’ will be taken to include step brothers and sisters, foster children and children of the parent’s partner, living in the same household. In cases where twins, triplets or other multiple birth siblings would be split when allocations take place, and there are too few places available at the school to accommodate them all, siblings will be offered a place at the same alternative school, which may not be a preference school named on the Common Application Form.
7. Late applications will be considered after all those that were received by the deadline.
8. 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.
9. Waiting List: If the school is oversubscribed the governors will maintain a waiting list. The waiting list will operate until the end of the school year 2012. Parents who have expressed the school as a preference and have not been offered a place at the school or at a higher preference school, will automatically be placed on the waiting list. Other parents who have submitted an appeal or who have opted to go on the list will also be placed 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 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 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 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.”
10. Appeal to an Independent Appeals Panel: Any parent of guardian who is dissatisfied with the refusal of a school place has the right of appeal to an Independent Appeals Panel. Parents/Guardians will be sent details of the appeal procedures with the letter refusing a place.

    If you wish to appeal, your written appeal request should be sent to the appropriate school:

    For St Damian’s RC Science College:

    Chair of Governors
    St Christopher’s Presbytery
    Lees Road
    Ashton-under-Lyne
    OL6 8BA

    For St Thomas More RC Mathematics and Computing College:

    Chair of Governors
    c/o St Thomas More RC College
    Town Lane
    Denton
    M34 6AF 

    For All Saints Catholic College, A Language College:

    Chair of Governors
    All Saints Catholic College, A Language College
    Kenyon Avenue
    Dukinfield
    SK16 5AR

[1] Designation may change subject to reorganisation of parishes within the Salford Diocese.