ADMISSIONS’ ARRANGEMENTS INCLUDING OVERSUBSCRIPTION CRITERIA 

 St George’s Church of England Primary School is an Academy. The Forward as One Church of England Multi Academy Trust is the admissions authority for the school.

Published Admission Number: The number of places available for the Reception Class for year 2027/28 is 15.   

Normal date of admission: Children are eligible to a full-time Reception place from the September following their fourth birthday.  

Deferred admission: Where a child has been offered a place in Reception at the school, the child’s parents/carers can defer the date their child is admitted to the school until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age and not beyond the beginning of the final term of the school year for which it was made. Where the parents wish, children can attend on a part time basis until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which the child reaches compulsory school age.  

Admission of children outside their normal age group: 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.  Any such request should be made in writing to the Headteacher at St Georges Church of

England Primary School, Stamford St, Mossley, OL5 0HT at the same time as the online admission application is made.  A panel of governors will make its decision about the request based on the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child.   A decision will be made taking account of parents’ wishes, information about the child’s academic, social and emotional development.   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 will be informed of their statutory right to appeal. This right does not apply if they are offered a place in another year group at the school.

The governors must admit all children who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) in which the school is named.  In the event of oversubscription for the remaining places, the follow criteria will apply in the order shown.   

1. Looked after children or children who have previously been looked after but immediately after being looked after became the subject to an adoption, child arrangements or special guardianship order, 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.

1. Exceptional/special family or medical circumstances that may apply. In the event of a place being sought under this criterion, supporting evidence will be required, e.g. letter from doctor or hospital, Community Health Physician, Social Services or the Educational Psychologist, as appropriate. This evidence must state the reasons why the child should attend this school rather than any other school.   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.

1. Children living in the same home as siblings (brothers or sisters) already in school at the time of admission. This will include full, step, half, foster and adopted siblings and children of the parent/carer’s partner 

1. Children having a regular involvement with St. George’s Church, i.e. where one or more parent attends public worship at church with the child on average once a month over the 6 months period immediately prior to application. This should be verified by a letter from the vicar or a completed certificate of attendance signed by the vicar and returned to the school by the closing date.

1. Children having a regular involvement with another Christian church in the area which is a member of Churches Together.  For the purposes of these admission arrangements 'Christian church' means a church which is Designated under the Ecumenical Relations Measure 2018, nationally by the

Archbishops of Canterbury and York, or locally by the diocesan bishop, or which is a member of Churches Together in England, or affiliated to the Evangelical Alliance or a Partner Church of Affinity.

The list of nationally Designated churches can be found at https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2019

04/list_of_designated_churches_3_oct_18.pdf.  i.e. where one or more parent attends public worship at church with the child on average once a month over the six months period immediately prior to application. This should be verified by a letter from the vicar, minister or other church officer of that church, or a completed certificate of attendance signed by the same and returned to the school by the closing date.  

1. Those whose homes are within the Benefice of Mossley. (map available on request) – this is the old parishes of St George’s and All Saints  

1. Any other children, with priority given to those living nearest the school.

If the school is not oversubscribed, all applicants will be offered places. If the school is oversubscribed, all applicants for admission will be considered against the above criteria.  

NB all children seeking a place in Reception MUST apply, including children who attend the nursery at St George’s.  No additional priority is given to children attending the nursery. Applications must be made on the Common Application Form available from the local authority and should be returned to the local authority by the closing date. The local authority will forward the applications to the school.

Tie-breakers 

In the event of oversubscription, where there are more applicants for the available places within a category, the following definitions will be used as tie breakers: 

1. Children living nearest 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.

2. 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.  

3. If the walking distance from home to school does not distinguish between two or more applicants with equal priority for the remaining place, random allocation will be used as the final tie-breaker. This will be supervised by someone independent of the school.

NOTE        

• 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/carers 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.  Where there is a dispute about the correct address to use, the governors reserve the right to make enquiries of any relevant third parties eg the child’s GP
• If false or misleading information is given in the application, then the offer of a place may be withdrawn.
• Having attended a place in Nursery does NOT guarantee a place in Reception.

Waiting List 

If the school is oversubscribed the governors will maintain a waiting list.   The waiting list will operate until 31 December at the end of the Autumn term 2027 for those parents/carers who have submitted an appeal

or who have 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 applications 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. All in year applications will be dealt with by the LA.  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.   

In-year applications 

It sometimes happens that a child needs to change school other than at the ‘normal’ time and such admissions are known as in year admissions.   Parents/carers wishing their child to attend this school may arrange to visit the school.  All applicants must use the online platform and submit an application to the LA.  The school will then co-ordinate the application for a place taking note of the published admission number, the legal infant class size and the over subscription criteria as the school operates a school class organisation of mixed ages.  This will apply for all year group applications.  The exception to this is outlined below.  If there is no place available in our school, the LA will inform the parents/carers and information about how to appeal against the refusal will be provided.  Appeals for children moving into the area will not be considered until there is evidence of a permanent address.

Children from multiple births 

Where there are children of multiple births wishing to be admitted and the sibling (brother or sister) is offered the final place the governors may admit over the published admission number.

Infant Class Sizes 

The exceptional circumstances where an infant class size may contain more than 30 pupils are as follows:

• Children with education, health care plans admitted outside the normal admission round
• Looked after children and previously looked after children admitted outside the normal admission round
• Children admitted, after initial allocation of places, because of a procedural error made by the admission authority in the original application process
• Children admitted after an independent appeals panel upholds an appeal
• Children who move into the area outside the normal admission round for whom there is no available school within reasonable distance
• Children of UK service personnel admitted outside the normal application round
• Twins and children from multiple births when one of the siblings is the 30^th child admitted

Appeals 

Where the governors are unable to offer a place because the school is over subscribed, parents/carers 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.  Parents/carers should notify the clerk to the governors at the school within 20 days of receiving the letter refusing a place.  Parents/carers 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 school days’ notice of the place and time of the hearing.  The panel’s decision is binding on the governors.

National Offer Date 

A place to St George’s will be arranged by Tameside MBC Admissions department.   The national offer day when parents will be advised of their allocated school is 16th April or the next working day.