St Christopher's Catholic Primary School

RECEPTION ADMISSION POLICY AND ARRANGEMENTS 2027/2028

St Christopher’s RC Primary is a Catholic School in the trusteeship of the Diocese of Salford. It is maintained by Tameside Local Authority and is a voluntary aided School. The Governing Body is the Admissions Authority and is responsible for taking all decisions on applications for admissions. The co-ordination of admissions arrangements is undertaken by the Local

Authority.

For the school’s year commencing September 2027, the Governing Body has determined that the number of children to be admitted to Reception will be 30.

The school’s role is to participate in the mission of the Catholic Church by providing a curriculum, including Catholic religious education and worship, which will help children to grow in their understanding of the Good News and in the practice of their faith. The school will help the children develop fully as human beings and prepare them to undertake their responsibilities as Catholics in society. The school requires all parents applying for a place here to understand and respect this ethos and its importance to the school community. This does not affect the rights of parents who are not of the Catholic faith to apply for a place here.

Admissions to the school will be determined by the Governing Body. Parents must complete a Local Authority Preference Form or apply online via the website at www.tameside.gov.uk. If you wish to have your application considered against the school's religious criteria then you must ALSO complete the Supplementary Form, which is available from the school.

If there are fewer than 30 applications, all applicants will be offered places. If there are more applications than the number of places available, the following oversubscription criteria will be applied:

1. Both baptised Catholic and non-baptised looked after children and previously looked after children.
2. Children with an exceptional social, medical, educational or religious need which can be best met, or only met at this school;*
3. Baptised Catholic children who have a sibling in the school at the time of admission.
4. Baptised Catholic children resident in the parish of Holy Cross and St Helen, Ashton.  
5. Looked After Children and previously Looked After Children. 
6. Other children who have a sibling in the school at the time of admission.
7. Other Baptised Catholic children.
8. All remaining applicants.  

*Exceptional needs of this kind will occur very rarely. It is strongly recommended that a written application is submitted in advance of the normal admissions timetable.

If it is not possible to offer places for all applications within any criterion above, priority will be given to those living closest to the school measured as detailed below.

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

In the event of two or more applications with distances, which are exactly the same competing for a final place, e.g., blocks of flats, the place will be decided by drawing lots, the first name drawn will be offered the place

Notes for Applicants:

a. All applications will be considered at the same time and after the closing date for

    admissions which is 15^th January 2027. Applications received after this date will be

     treated as a late application and will not be considered until after the main allocation

    of places has taken place.

b.  Looked after children and all previously looked after children, including those 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. 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).

      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) at the time of making an application to a school. 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 or main purpose is to benefit society.

c. The school will admit all children having an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) in which

    the school is named.

 d. For a child to be considered as a Catholic evidence of a Catholic Baptism or reception

    into the Catholic Church is required. Written evidence of reception into the Catholic

    Church can be obtained by referring to the Register of Receptions, or in some cases a

    sub-section of the Baptismal Registers of the Church in which the Rite of Reception

    took place. If, for example, a child has been baptised in the Church of England and the

    parents are subsequently admitted to the Catholic Church through the RCIA programme,

    the child must also be admitted to the Church by the Rite of Reception.

    The Governing Body will require written evidence in the form of a Certificate of

    Reception before applications for school places can be considered for categories of

    ‘Baptised Catholics’. A Certificate of Reception is to include full name, date of birth,

    date of reception and parent(s) name(s). The certificate must also show that it is copied

    from the records kept by the place of reception.

    Those who have difficulty obtaining written evidence of baptism for a good reason, may

    still be considered as baptised Catholics but only after they have been referred to the

    parish priest who, after consulting with the [appropriate diocesan authority] will decide

    how the question of baptism is to be resolved and how written evidence is to be

    produced in accordance with the law of the Church.

e. Home Address is considered to be the address where the child normally lives. Where

    care is split and a child moves between two addresses, the household in receipt of the

    child benefit would normally be the address used but the admission authority body

    reserves the right to request other evidence as fit the individual circumstance. Applicants

    should not state the address of another relative or person who has daily care of the child.

f. ‘Sibling’ is defined in these arrangements as full, half or step brothers and sisters, adopted

    and foster brothers and sisters who are living at the same address and are part of the

    same family unit. This does not include cousins or other family relationships.

g. A waiting list for children who have not been offered a place will be kept until the end of the Autumn term and will be ranked according to the Admission Criteria. The waiting list does not consider the date the application was received or the length of time a child's name has been on the waiting list. This means that a child's position on the list may change if another applicant is refused a place and their child has higher priority in the admissions criteria. 

h. For ‘In Year’ applications received outside the normal admissions round, if places are

    available they will be offered to those who apply. If there are places available but more

    applicants than places then the published oversubscription criteria will be applied.

i. If an application for admission has been turned down by the Governing Body, parents

   may appeal to an Independent Appeals Panel. Parents must be allowed at least twenty

   school days from the date of notification that their application was unsuccessful to

   submit that appeal. Parents must give reasons for appealing in writing and the decision

   of the Appeals Panel is binding on the Governors.

j. The Governing Body reserve the right to withdraw the offer of a school place where

    false evidence is received in relation to the application.

k. It is the duty of governors to comply with regulations on class size limits for children

    aged between rising five and seven. The Governing Body may exceed the regulations for

    twins and children from multiple births where one of the children is the 30th child

    admitted. This also applies to in-year applicants who are looked after/previously looked

    after, children of UK service personnel or children who move into the area for whom

    there is no other school available within a reasonable distance.

 l. 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 of compulsory school age until the start of the term after their fifth birthday. After a place has been allocated and accepted parents can request that the place be deferred until later in the 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 made. Parents can also request that their child attend on a part time basis until the child reaches compulsory school age. 

m. A request may be made for a child to be admitted outside of their normal age group, for 

example, if the child is gifted and talented or has experienced problems such as ill health. In addition, the parents of a summer born child, i.e. a child born between 1st April and 31st 

August, may request that the child be admitted out of their normal age group, to reception

rather than year 1. 

If a parent wishes their child to be educated out of their normal school year (kept back a year), they must discuss this with the school before applying. However, the final decision on this rests with the headteacher.

Parents should submit reasons for requesting admission for their child outside of the normal age range together with their application. Please submit any application to the Headteacher, Addressing it to the Headteacher, St Christopher’s Road, Ashton, OL69DP. 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. Parents should complete the online application and include details of 

their request to defer entry for their child. They may also contact the Admissions Team for 

further information. 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.