Audenshaw School

ADMISSIONS POLICY 2027/28 

This policy is reviewed annually by the Standards Committee

History of Document

 OUR MISSION

Our school aims to provide a quality education in a caring community based on values of respect, responsibility and resilience and a relentless pursuit of excellence in all that we do.

OUR VISION

Our School will be recognised as a fully inclusive, aspirational, high achieving centre of excellence, firmly rooted in the local community.

We will create, develop and maintain a challenging and stimulating personalised learning environment where no student is overlooked or left behind and where teaching and learning is high quality, inspirational and innovative.  

We will consistently have high academic standards and expectations for every individual and continue to place considerable value on sport and healthy living and developing strong links with the community.   

All members of our school community will be valued and every success will be celebrated.

Our School will maintain a safe, secure and caring environment in which to work and learn.

AUDENSHAW SCHOOL SAFEGUARDING STATEMENT

This School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

CONTENTS

1.    Introduction

In common with other Tameside secondary schools, Audenshaw School has introduced a number of changes to its admission procedures to comply with the requirements of the Admissions Code September 2021. Audenshaw School will operate an equal preference scheme.

2.    Applying for a Place at Audenshaw School for September 2027

The application process is detailed in the online Moving On document from Tameside LA which is available at www.tameside.gov.uk/schools/admission

All parents who live in Tameside should apply for a place at School online at www.tameside.gov.uk 

If you live outside Tameside you should contact your own local authority. 

3.    The Process

• The Online Application Form will invite all parents to name 6 schools in order of preference. In allocating places, Audenshaw School will operate an equal preference scheme. 
• There will be a common timetable for all including a single notification date. Late applications will be dealt with as late and ranked after all applications received by the deadline. 
• Changes to preferences or ranking order will not be allowed after the closing date of 31 October 2026 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 5 November 2026 when the allocations process has started. 
• Applications from outside the Tameside area will be forwarded by the relevant LA to Tameside. Any application forms mistakenly received by Audenshaw School will be forwarded to the LA. 
• Governors will apply the school’s oversubscription criteria irrespective of the preference order, and provide the Local Authority with a list of applicants ranked according to the criteria. 
• Notification letters containing offers of a single school place will be sent out to parents/carers on 1 March 2027. This is common with all other LAs nationally. These letters will also inform parents of their right of appeal, and who to contact, if an application to Audenshaw School has not been successful. 
• Parents will not receive multiple offers. 
• Audenshaw School will operate a waiting list for each year group. Where the school receives more applications for places than there are available, a waiting list will operate until the end of the academic year.  This will be maintained by the Academy Trust and will be open for any parent to ask for their child’s name to be placed on the waiting list, following an unsuccessful application.  All students 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 significate 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 will be given precedence over any other children on the waiting list.

4.    Electronic Admissions by E-Mail

Parents/carers must now apply on-line. 

To access this facility log on to Tameside’s website (www.tameside.gov.uk). You will need to register before you can make an application. The LA will send you a confirmation reply.

Each child will be issued with a unique identification number (UID) which you enter on-line along with your child’s date of birth in order to bring up your child’s details and application form. No one else will be able to access your child’s information.

Preferences can then be entered in ranked (priority) order. These may be changed at any time before the closing date of 31 October 2026. Parents will receive confirmation of their child’s school allocation by e-mail on 1 March, 2027. Letters will additionally be sent by post.

5.    Admissions Arrangements for Audenshaw School

Boys will be admitted at age 11 without reference to ability or aptitude. The published admission number for the school is 210. 

Where applications for admission exceed the number of places available, the following criteria (see also the online ‘Moving On’ information) will be applied, in the order set out below, to decide which children to admit.

Admissions September 2027

Published Admission Number: 210 

6.    Oversubscription Criteria

If the school receives more applications for places than there are places available, the criteria for over-subscription are applied to determine who should be allocated the places at the school. Children with Educational Health Care Plans (EHCP’S), where Audenshaw School is the named school, will be allocated places before the oversubscription criteria are applied. An application to Audenshaw School indicates a preference for single sex education.

The criteria for over-subscription for Audenshaw School are:

1. Children in Public Care (Looked After Children/Previously Looked After) as per the Admissions Code 2021

 A 'looked after child' or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order including those who appear [to the admission authority] to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. A looked after child is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989)

2. Children and families with exceptional medical or social needs

Written evidence must be provided from a doctor or other agency that he has exceptional 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. Members of the school’s Admission Committee 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. Sibling: this will apply where there are brothers attending the school in years 7-10 at the time of application. Preference will be given to students living nearest to the school.*             

Sibling is defined in these arrangements as children who live as siblings in the same house, including natural siblings, half siblings, adopted siblings. step siblings and foster siblings, and in each case living at the same address.

In the case where twins/triplets, other multiple birth siblings or other siblings whose date of birth falls within the same academic year, are split between Audenshaw and another school when allocations take place, siblings will be offered a place at Audenshaw, if that is the parents wish.  

4. Children of Staff 

This will apply where: 

a)    A member of staff has been employed by the Governors of the school on a permanent contract for two consecutive years or more at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made.

b)    The member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post at the school for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.

5. All other applications on distance. Preference will be given to students living nearest to the school.*

* Where oversubscription occurs in applying criterion 3, or 5, 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.

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 child benefit.

“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.”

7.    Appeals

If you are unsuccessful in your application for a place at Audenshaw School for 2027 admission, please go to the following link for information on how to appeal: 

https://www.tameside.gov.uk/schools/admission

For guidance on the appeals process, further information can be found at: 

https://www.tameside.gov.uk/schools/admissions/receptionyear7

8.    Requests for admission outside the normal age group

Parents may seek a place for their child outside their normal age group. To do so parents should include a request with their application, specifying why admission out of normal year group is being requested

Decisions on requests for admission outside the normal age group will be made on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. In accordance with the School Admissions Code, this will include taking account of:  

·         Parents’ views 

·         Information about the child’s academic, social and emotional development  

·         Where relevant, their medical history and the views of a medical professional  

·         Whether they have previously been educated out of their normal age group  

·         Whether they may have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely 

·         The Principal’s views 

Wherever possible, requests for admission outside a child’s normal age group will be processed as part of the main admissions round. They will be considered on the basis of the admission arrangements laid out in this policy, including the oversubscription criteria listed in section 2. Applications will not be treated as a lower priority if parents have made a request for a child to be admitted outside the normal age group.  

Parents will always be informed of the reasons for any decision on the year group a child should be admitted to. Parents do not have a right to appeal if they are offered a place at the school but it is not in their preferred age group.