Mottram Church of England Primary School

ADMISSION ARRANGEMENTS 2027/2028

Approved by: Governing Body Date: Spring 2026

Next review due by: Autumn 2027

Contents

Admissions Arrangements 2027/2028
Aims
Legislation and statutory arrangements
Definitions
How to apply
Requests for admission outside the normal age group
Allocation of places
Waiting list
In year admissions
Fraudulent applications
Appeals
Twins and multiple births
Monitoring arrangements

Admission Arrangements 2027/2028

Parents should be aware before applying that in this school RE, collective worship and our whole ethos are based on the teachings of the Church of England. Having stated this, Mottram CofE Primary School welcomes children of all faiths and those of none.

Letters informing parents of whether or not their child has been allocated a place will be sent out by the Local Authority on 16^th April. Parents of children not admitted will be informed of the reason and offered an alternative place by the Authority. The number of places available for admission to the Reception class in the year 2027 will be a maximum of 20. This arrangement follows consultation between the governing body, the Diocesan Board of Education, Local Authorities and other admissions authorities in the area. The governing body will not place any restrictions on admissions to the reception class unless the number of children for whom admission is sought exceeds this number.

2. Aims of the policy

This policy aims to:

Explain how to apply for a place at the school
Set out the school’s arrangements for allocating places to the pupils who apply
Explain how to appeal against a decision not to offer your child a place

3. Legislation and statutory requirements

This policy is based on the following advice from the Department of Education

The school is required to comply with these codes, and with the law relating to admissions as set out in the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.

4. Definitions

The normal admissions round is the period during which parents can apply for state-funded school places at the school’s normal point of entry, using the common application form provided by their home local authority. Applications for admission to the school are made on-line, by using the online application form, held at Tameside.gov.uk. between 1 November 2026 and 15 January 2027. The school will send out a letter from the Local Authority which will explain how to apply and how to view the on-line Starting Out booklet. It is not normally possible to change the order of your preferences for schools after the closing date on 15 January 2027.

Looked after children are children who, at the time of making an application to a school, are:

In the care of the local authority
Being provided with accommodation by a local authority in exercise of its social services functions

Previously looked after children are children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they:

Were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 or the Adoption and Children Act 2002, or
Became subject to a child arrangements order, or
Became subject to a special guardianship order

This includes children who appear to have been in state care outside of England and have ceased to be in state care due to being adopted.

A child is regarded as having been in state care outside of England if they were in the care of or were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation or any other provider of care whose sole main purpose is to benefit society.

A child reaches compulsory school age on the prescribed day following his or her fifth birthday (or on his or her fifth birthday if it falls on a prescribed day). The prescribed days are 31 December, 31 March and 31 August.

5. How to apply

For applications in the normal admissions round you should use the application form provided by your home local authority (regardless of which local authority the schools are in). You can use this form to express your preference for 6 state-funded schools, in rank order.

Letter informing parents their child has been allocated a place will be sent out by the Tameside Local Authority on 16^th April or the next working day. Notification of offers of a single school place will be sent out to parents on 16^th April or the next working day. These notifications will also inform parents of their right of appeal, and who to contact, if an application has not been successful. Parents will not receive multiple offers

6. Requests for admission outside the normal age group

Parents are entitled to request a place for their child outside of their normal age group.

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 naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely
The Headteacher’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 7.3. 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.

7. Allocation of places

7.1 Admission number

The school has an agreed admission number of 20 pupils for entry in reception.

7.2 Special Educational Needs

Where a child has an education, health and care plan (EHCP) which names the school, then that child will be admitted to the school and the number of available places in the PAN will reduce correspondingly. Admission of children with an EHCP is dealt with by the home Local Authority (LA) (which is where you reside).

7.3 Oversubscription criteria

All children whose education, health and care (EHC) plans name the school will be admitted before any other places are allocated.

If the school is not oversubscribed, all applicants will be offered a place.

In the event that the school receives more applications than the number of places it has available, places will be given to those children who meet any of the criteria set out below, in order until all places are filled.

Looked after children and previously looked after children, including those children who appear (to the admission authority) to have been in state care outside 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 at the time of making an application to a school, or (c) have been in state care outside England. Previously looked after children are children who were looked after but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order).

Priority will next be given to children on the basis of social or medical need. Professional supporting evidence from e.g. a doctor, psychologist, social worker, is essential if admission is to be made under the criterion for special medical or social circumstances, and such evidence must set out the particular reasons why the school is question is the most suitable school and the difficulties which would be caused if the child had to attend another school.

Priority will next be given to children with siblings at the school who will still be in school at the time of admission. Siblings include step siblings, foster siblings, adopted siblings and other children living permanently at the same address. Priority will not be given to children with siblings who are former pupils of the school.

Children who live nearest to the school. The address used on the school’s admission form must be the current one at the time of application. If this address changes subsequently, the parents should notify the school. Where the parents live at different addresses, the current address of the child at the time of application will be the one used. This will normally be the one where the child wakes up for the majority of Monday to Friday mornings. Parents may be asked to show evidence of the claim that is being made for the address, e.g. Applicants must provide the LA with TWO documents from the following list:

• Mortgage statement*

• Tenancy agreement or letter from landlord*

• Council Tax statement* • council Tax benefit statement*3

• TV licence*

• Home contents insurance certificate*

• Buildings insurance certificate*

• Recent utility bill (gas, electricity, water, land-line telephone bill but not a mobile phone bill)**

• Letter from solicitor confirming exchange of contracts on a house**

* issued within the last 12 months ** issued within the last 3 months.

Where the above criteria are not adequate to distinguish between requests for admission which cannot all be accepted without exceeding the admission limit, priority will be decided on the basis of the distance from the school to home; those living nearest being given priority. 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 a tie break a random paper draw will be undertaken by an independent body.

7.4 Change of Preference

Changes to preferences, ranking order or pupil details, will not be allowed after the closing date of 15 January 2027 except in exceptional circumstances, for example, if the family has recently moved address. Evidence must be provided to support the request. An intention to change address cannot be considered by the local authority until the move has actually taken place and proof is available, or parents may provide a solicitor’s letter confirming an exchange of contracts on a property, or a tenancy agreement. No changes can be considered even where there are exceptional circumstances once information has been exchanged with the other admission bodies by the Council, because the allocations process has commenced. In the case of primary schools, the deadline for submittals is 22 January 2027.

7.5 Late Applications for Admission

The closing date for applications in the normal admissions round is 15 January 2027. Applications received after this date will be considered after all applications received on time have been processed.

7.6 Deferred Admission

Children are eligible for a reception place from the beginning of the school year in which they become 5 years old. However, they do not become compulsory school age until the start of the term after their fifth birthday. Parents may therefore request that their school place be deferred until later in the school year. However, they cannot 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

7.7 Fair Access Protocol

We participate in Tameside Local Authority’s Fair Access Protocol. This helps ensure that all children, including those who are unplaced and vulnerable, or having difficulty in securing a school place in-year, get access to a school place as quickly as possible.

8. Waiting List

If the school is oversubscribed the Local Authority will maintain a waiting list on our behalf, until the end of the 31^st December. 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 along with those who have submitted an appeal or 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 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 admitted in the order of the oversubscription criteria and this may be above those who have been on the waiting list for some time.

9. In year admissions

Parents can apply for a place for their child at any time outside the normal admissions round. As is the case in the normal admissions round, all children whose EHC plans name the school will be admitted.

Likewise, if there are spaces available in the year group you are applying for, your child will be offered a place.

If there are no spaces available at the time of your application, your child’s name will be added to a waiting list for the relevant year group. Parents have the right to appeal the decision if their application for a place is unsuccessful in accordance with section 11 of this policy. When a space becomes available, it will be filled by one of the pupils on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria listed in section 7.3 of this policy. Priority will not be given to children on the basis that they have been on the waiting list the longest.

Applications for in-year admissions should be sent Tameside Admissions Authority via https://www.tameside.gov.uk/admissions#_How_to_Apply_3

Parents will be notified of the outcome of your in-year application in writing within 15 school days.

10. Fraudulent Applications

Where the governing body discovers that a child has been awarded a place as the result of an intentionally misleading application from a parent (for example a false claim to residence in the catchment area or of involvement in a place of worship) which effectively denies a place to a child with a stronger claim, then the governing body is required to withdraw the offer of the place. The application will be considered afresh, and a right of appeal offered if a place is refused.

11. Appeals

If your child’s application for a place at the school is unsuccessful, you will be informed why admission was refused and given information about the process for hearing appeals. If you wish to appeal, you must set out the grounds for your appeal in writing and send it to the following address within 20 school days of the receipt of the outcome letter and send it to the following email address schoolappeals@tameside.gov.uk

You can find details of the school’s appeals timetable on the following webpage: https://www.tameside.gov.uk/Education/OrganisationandAdmissions/School-Admissions/Appealing-for-a-School-Place-Guidance-For-Parent

12. Twins and other multiple births

In cases where twins, triplets, other multiple birth siblings, or other siblings whose date of birth falls within the same academic year, where one of the siblings is the 20th child admitted an exception will be made to allow the other sibling(s) into the class. 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.

13. Monitoring Arrangements

This policy will be reviewed and approved by the governing body every year.

Whenever changes to admission arrangements are proposed (except where the change is an increase to the agreed admission number), the governing board will publicly consult on these changes. If nothing changes, it will publicly consult on the school’s admission arrangements at least once every 7 years.

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