Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School, Ashton Under Lyne

ADMISSION POLICY 2027-2028

Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School is a Voluntary Aided school. The Governing Body is the admission authority for the school, and the school is required to act in accordance with the School Admissions Code. The admissions process is co-ordinated by Tameside Council (the Local Authority) and the school liaises with the Local Authority on admissions issues. The following arrangements for admissions, which include the criteria used to determine the allocation of places when the school is oversubscribed, have been agreed following consultation with Manchester Diocesan Board of Education and Tameside Local Authority.

Admission arrangements

The school’s published admission number (PAN) agreed for admission to the Reception Class is 30. If no more than 30 applications are received for admission to the Reception Class, all applicants will be offered places.

39 part time children may be admitted to the Nursery class. (Please see Nursery admissions policy for full details). A separate application must be made for any transfer from the Nursery class to the Reception Class in the Primary School.

Responsibility for admissions is delegated to the Governing Body. 

The school will admit all children having an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) in whose plan the school is named.

When the number of applications received is greater than the number of remaining places available (after the admission of any pupils with an EHCP naming the school), the decision on which children will be admitted will be based on the following oversubscription criteria, which will be applied in the order of priority set out below:

Notes:

a)  Where there are more applicants for the available places within a category, then priority will be given to children living nearest 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, the place will be allocated to the pupil that is nearer using walking distance as measured using the local authority’s school admissions data mapping software.

b)        Where admission is sought under exceptional medical or social circumstances criteria, professional supporting evidence, e.g. from a doctor, psychologist or social worker, is essential. Such evidence must set out the particular reasons why the school is the most suitable for the child and the difficulties that would be caused if the child had to attend another school.

c)         Sibling (brother or sister) includes natural sisters/brothers; half-sisters/brothers; step sisters/brothers; adopted sisters/brothers, sisters/brothers of adopted children; children of the parent/carer’s partner, and in each case living at the same address and full brother or sister living apart.

d)       A map showing the area covered by the former Parish of Holy Trinity is available at the school.

e)       Tie breaker: In the event that a number of children equally meet the criteria, and where to admit all of them would exceed the PAN of 30, then the children who meet the lowest criteria will have their places decided by the drawing of lots. For example, this would apply in the event of two or more applicants meeting the exact same distance criteria. The drawing of lots will be done by someone with no connection to the school.

Infant class size 

Infant classes (those where the majority of children will reach the age of 5, 6 or 7 during the school year) will not contain more than 30 pupils with a single school teacher. Additional children may be admitted under very limited exceptional circumstances. These children will remain an ‘excepted pupil’ for the time they are in an infant class or until the class numbers fall back to the current infant class size limit. The excepted children are:

a) Children admitted outside the normal admissions round with an EHCP specifying a school; 

b) Children in public care and previously looked after children.           
This includes any "looked after child", “previously looked after children” and any child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, residence or special guardianship order.  ‘Looked after’ means that the child was (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.
This criteria also includes looked after children and all previously looked after children 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.; 

c) Children admitted, after initial allocation of places, because of a procedural error made by the admission authority or local authority in the original application process; 

d) Children admitted after an independent appeals panel upholds an appeal; 

e) Children who move into the area outside the normal admissions round for whom there is no other available school within reasonable distance; 

f) Children of UK service personnel admitted outside the normal admissions round; 

g) Children whose twin or sibling from a multiple birth is admitted otherwise than as an excepted pupil; 

h) Children with special educational needs who are normally taught in a special educational needs unit attached to the school, or registered at a special school, who attend some infant classes within the mainstream school.

Applying for places

Applications must be made online through the local authority’s Citizens Portal. 

Please give details of the points you wish to be taken into consideration regarding your child’s qualifications for entry under the above criteria when making the submission. 

Waiting list 

Where we have more applications than places, the admissions criteria will be used. Children who are not admitted will have their name placed on a waiting list.  The names on this waiting list will be in the order resulting from the application of the admissions criteria.  Since the date of application cannot be a criterion for the order of names on the waiting list, late applicants for the school will be slotted into the order according to the extent to which they meet the criteria.  Thus it is possible for a child who moves into the area later to have a higher priority than one who has been on the waiting list for some time.   If a place becomes available within the admission number, the child whose name is at the top of the list will be offered a place.  This is not dependent on whether an appeal has been submitted. This waiting list will operate until the end of the autumn term only and is held by the Local Authority.

In-year admissions

Admissions outside of the normal school round should be made to the Local Authority in the same way as all other applications. In the event that more children apply than there are places available, the usual order of priority will apply. Unsuccessful applications can be appealed as detailed below. For in-year admissions, unsuccessful applications or appeals will not be placed on a waiting list. 

Appeals

Where the governors are unable to offer a place because the school is oversubscribed, parents have the right to appeal to an independent admission appeal panel, set up under the School Standards and Framework Act, 1998, as amended by the Education Act, 2002.  

Appeals can be made online or in writing to: 

Democratic Services

Tameside One

Market Place

Ashton Under Lyne

Tameside MBC OL6 6BH

Parents will have the opportunity to submit their case to the panel in writing and also to attend in order to present their case.   You will normally receive 14 days’ notice of the place and time of the hearing.

Nursery Admissions

39 places are available in the Nursery, and the Governors shall determine how many of these places are to be allocated on a full-time or part-time basis each year, depending on the number of applicants.

 A place in the Nursery does not guarantee a place in the Reception class the following year. A separate policy is available on the school website.

Deferred Admissions

Children will be admitted to the Reception class at the beginning of the Autumn term before their fifth birthday. Parents may request that their school place be deferred until later in the school year and, if they do this, the place will be held for the child.  They cannot, however, defer entry beyond the beginning of the term after the child’s fifth birthday, nor beyond the beginning of the final term of the school year for which the original application was accepted. Parents can also request that their child attends on a part time basis until the child reaches compulsory school age.

Admission outside Age Range

Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group, for example, if the child is gifted and talented or has experienced problems such as ill health.  This could be because they were born prematurely or because of other critical social or medical factors.  In addition the parents of summer born children (Who would not become 5 until April-August) may choose not to send their child to school until the September after their 5^th birthday and may request they are admitted out of their normal age group - to reception rather than year 1

Parents requesting their child to be admitted outside of the normal age range should submit reasons for the request together with their application.  The online application provides space to do this and you should also submit views of medical professionals as necessary.  A decision will be made taking account of parents’ wishes, information about the child’s academic, social and emotional development; and whether they have previously been educated outside their normal age group. Each request will be treated on an individual basis having regard to the views of an educational professional who will be involved in educating the child.

Each request and the evidence provided will be considered by a panel of Governors who will make a decision on the parental request, using the evidence provided.  Parents/carers are responsible for providing all information in support of an application by the closing date, Governors will not ask for additional information.  All information provided will be treated in the strictest confidence.

Please note that one admission authority cannot be required to honour a decision made by another which means, where multiple applications are being made to different schools, you may receive differing outcomes.

Please keep this copy of the Admissions Policy for your own information.