St James Church of England Primary School

Admission Arrangements 2027/28 Academic Year

These arrangements are based on the DfE School Admissions Code and the DfE School Admission Appeals Code and apply to the admission of children to St James’ Church of England Primary School in the normal admissions round for the academic year 2027/28.

Admissions authority

St. James’ CE Primary School is an Academy. The Forward as One Church of England Multi Academy Trust is the admissions authority for the school. The school is required by its funding agreement to comply with these codes, and with the law relating to admissions as set out in the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. This policy complies with the Articles of Association. Tameside will operate an equal preference scheme. These arrangements do not apply to those being admitted for nursery provision.

Children in Tameside are eligible for a full-time Reception place from the September following their fourth birthday. 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.

Parents of children who are admitted for nursery provision must apply for a place at the school if they want their child to transfer to the reception class; attendance at a nursery or co-located children’s centre does not guarantee admission to the school.

APPLYING FOR A RECEPTION PLACE AT ST JAMES’ CHURCH OF ENGLAND PRIMARY SCHOOL SEPTEMBER 2027

If you are a Tameside resident you must make your application online to Tameside Local Authority, even if you wish your child to attend a school in another Local Authority area.

It is the parent’s responsibility to apply for a school place. This is done online. Details of how to apply and where to view the ‘Starting Out’ Booklet are on Tameside’s website www.tameside.gov.uk/school/admissions All applications must be made online. Only one application may be submitted for each child.

The local authority and/or school may verify information you provide on your application, which could involve contacting other departments of the local authority. In instances where the information provided is different from that held by them, they may use the information on the application to investigate further. If false or misleading information is given, Tameside local authority and/or school has the right to withdraw the offer of a school place.

If you are not a Tameside resident you must make your application to the Local Authority where you live, even if you wish your child to attend St James’. Applications must be returned in accordance with your own local authority’s specific instructions and not to Tameside.

THE PROCESS

The application will invite parents to indicate a preference for up to 6 schools, and then to rank the schools in order of preference, parents will also be able to give reasons for each preference.

Your online application must be submitted by the closing date of 15 January 2027, with any supporting information / evidence if appropriate.

The council will follow the timetable set out in the coordinated admissions scheme. Late applications will be dealt with as late and ranked after all applications received by the deadline.

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 and proof of disposal of current property. No changes can be considered even where there are exceptional circumstances, once information has been exchanged with other admission bodies because the allocations process has commenced. In the case of primary schools this cut-off date is the 21 January 2027.

Notification of offers of a single school place will be sent out to parents on 16 April 2027. 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.

THE PUBLISHED ADMISSION NUMBER FOR ST JAMES’ CHURCH OF ENGLAND PRIMARY SCHOOL IS 30.

Where applications for admission to the school exceed the number of places available, the following criteria will be applied, in the order set out below, to decide which children to admit.

CRITERIA FOR ALLOCATING PLACES TO OVERSUBSCRIBED SCHOOLS

Children with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) where the school is named will be allocated places before the oversubscription criteria are applied.

The criteria for oversubscription for St James’ are:

1. Cared for children and all previously cared for 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 cared for children are children who were cared for but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order)

A ‘cared for 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.

2. Children and families with exceptional medical or social needs

Written evidence must be provided by a suitably qualified professional – e.g. a GP or consultant for medical needs, or a social worker for social needs – the information must confirm the exceptional medical or social need and demonstrate how St James’ is the only school that can meet the defined needs of the child. A panel of governors and the headteacher will make a decision as to whether to admit a child under this criterion, using the evidence provided. Parents/carers are responsible for providing all information in support of an application by the closing date, officers of the Council will not ask for additional information. All information provided will be treated in the strictest confidence.

3. Sibling

This will apply where there are brothers or sisters attending the school as at the closing date for applications, who will still be attending at the time of admission, i.e. in the September when a pupil is admitted to Reception. Preference will be given to pupils living nearest to the school.

The sibling criterion includes; natural sisters/brothers; half-sisters/brothers; step sisters/brothers; adopted sisters/brothers; sisters/brothers of fostered children; children of the parent/carer’s partner, and in each case living at the same address. This allows for the admittance of children whose siblings will still be attending the preferred school.

4. All other applications on distance

Preference will be given to pupils 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.

Where oversubscription occurs in applying either criteria 1, 2 or 3, priority will be given to those pupils living nearest the school, measured as a straight line (as above).

The address from which distance will be measured will be the permanent residential address, as at the closing date for applications, 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 parent receives the 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, 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.

An adoption order is an order under section 46 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002. A ‘residence order’ is as an order settling the arrangements to be made as to the person with whom the child is to live under section 8 of the Children Act 1989. Section 14A of the Children Act 1989 defines a ‘special guardianship order’ as an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian (or special guardians).

In cases where twins, triplets, or other multiple birth siblings are split when allocations take place, they will be allocated a place over the Published Admission Number and will remain excepted pupils for the time they are in an infant class or until the class numbers fall back to the current infant class size limit.

ADMISSION OUTSIDE NORMAL AGE GROUP/SUMMER BORN CHILDREN

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.

School admission authorities are required to provide for the admission of all children in the September following their fourth birthday, but flexibilities exist for children whose parents do not feel they are ready to begin school before they reach compulsory school age.

Where a parent requests their child is admitted out of their normal age group, the school admission authority is responsible for making the decision on which year group a child should be admitted to. They are required to make a decision on the basis of the circumstances of the case and in the best interests of the child concerned.

There is no statutory barrier to children being admitted outside their normal age group, but parents do not have the right to insist that their child is admitted to a particular age group.

A parent who chooses not to send their summer born child to school until they have reached compulsory school age may request that their child is admitted outside their normal age group - to reception rather than year 1.

Parents should submit reasons for requesting admission for their child outside of the normal age range 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 school governors and the headteacher 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, officers of the Council will not ask for additional information. All information provided will be treated in the strictest confidence.

ADMISSION OF CHILDREN OF UK SERVICE PERSONNEL

The school acknowledges that service families are subject to movement within the UK and from abroad. Although the school is not able to reserve places for blocks of pupils we will consider requests, if accompanied by an official MOD letter declaring a relocation date and a Unit postal address or quartering area address. For in year admissions places will be allocated, subject to a place being available in the relevant year group, prior to moving. If we are unable to allocate a place at that time, parents will be offered the right to appeal.

IN YEAR TRANSFERS

Parents wishing to apply for an in-year transfer to St James’ should apply using the online School Transfer Request Form. The online School Transfer Request Form can be accessed from the Tameside Council website at:

www.tameside.gov.uk/admissions

If you want to transfer your child to St James’, you must apply through Tameside Council even if you live in another area. If you want to apply for a school in another area, you will need to contact that area for further details of what you need to do.

If a place is available in the requested year group, parents will normally be offered that place but there are some exceptions (see Fair Access Protocol section).

Parents will receive an offer of a school place through Tameside Council and this can take up to 20 school days.

IN YEAR FAIR ACCESS PROTOCOL

All local authorities have a Fair Access Protocol for in year transfers that ensures the speedy admission of pupils who may experience difficulty in being allocated a school place, for example, if they have been out of school for a long period of time. With specific short term exceptions, all schools in Tameside are participants in the protocol, which may result in schools admitting pupils over their published admission number. Full details of the In Year Fair Access Protocol can be found on the Council’s website

WAITING LISTS

If St James’ is oversubscribed, the Council will maintain a waiting list. The waiting list will operate until the end of the relevant school year. 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. All pupils on the waiting list will be ranked according to the oversubscription criteria. When a place becomes available children who have been referred under the local authority’s Fair Access protocol or who is the subject of a direction by the local authority to admit will be given precedence over any other children on the waiting list. Then any places will be offered 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. If the circumstances of children on the waiting list change (e.g. they move house) they should inform the Council immediately and provide appropriate supporting evidence.

A place from the waiting list will only be held for two school days. Tameside Council will use the information provided on the original application to contact parents, it is the responsibility of parents to change their details with the School Admissions Team if they move house or change their phone number. If no response is received from a parent who has been offered a place from the waiting list within the 2 school day limit, it will be offered to the next child on the ranked list and so on until the place is filled.

If a parent is offered a place from the waiting list and rejects it or does not respond to requests by email or answerphone message to contact the School Admissions Team, they will be removed from that waiting list.

APPEALS

Any parent who is refused admission to St James’ has the right of appeal to an Independent Appeals Panel. For pupils with an Education Health and Care Plan, an appeal can be made to the SEN and Disability Tribunal (details are included in the plan).

Parents, who wish to appeal against the decision of the local authority to refuse admission to St James’, should do so in writing, setting out clearly why your child should go to St James’. Information about appeals will be sent out with the allocation letter and can also be found on the School Admissions webpage http://www.tameside.gov.uk/schools/admissions

The Appeals Panel will:

be independent of the school and the LA;
give the appellant, who may be accompanied by a friend or be represented, the opportunity to make oral representation;

The Local Authority will:

give the appellant at least ten school days notice of the time and place of the hearing;

The clerk will:

send the appeal papers to the appellant at least seven working days before the hearing.

The appeal shall be decided by a simple majority of the votes cast, the chairman of the panel having a casting vote.

The decision of the Appeals Panel and the grounds on which it was made shall be communicated by the Clerk in writing to the appellant. That decision shall be binding on all parties. Subject to the above conditions, all matters of procedure shall be determined by the local authority.