St Mary's C of E Primary School, Droylsden

St Mary’s Church of England Primary School, Droylsden 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 and with Manchester Diocese on admissions issues.

ADMISSION ARRANGEMENTS FOR RECEPTION (FOUNDATION 2) CHILDREN

Children are admitted into the Foundation Two (Reception Year) age group of the Primary School in September following the child’s 4^th (fourth) birthday.

Applications for admission to the Reception Year should be made on the Common Application Form issued by the local authority in which the child’s parent(s)/guardian(s) live. The application form should be returned to the local authority by the closing date. Details of all the applications made will be forwarded to the school.

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

The school will admit all children having an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) where the school is named on the EHCP.

Oversubscription criteria

When the number of applications received is greater than the number of places remaining available (after the admission of any children with an EHCP naming the school) the Governors’ decision on which children will be allocated places will be based on the following criteria which are listed in priority order. These will then be sent to the local authority, who will then collate the allocations and inform parents accordingly.  

IMPORTANT:- The following oversubscription criteria should be read in conjunction with the additional notes below. 

After the admission of any children with a statement or an EHCP naming the school, places are allocated for the Reception Year in the following order of priority:-

1. All looked after or previously looked after children (See note 1)
2. Regular attendance at St. Mary’s Church of England Church, Droylsden (See note 2).
3. Children who will have an older sibling (including natural sisters/brothers; half and step sisters/brothers; adopted sisters/brothers; sisters/brothers of fostered children, and in each case must be living at the same address) attending the school at the time of their admission.
4. Regular attendance at other Church of England Churches. (See note 2)
5. Regular attendance at other Christian Churches that are members of “Churches Together in England.”(See note 2) or  regular attendance at other places of worship
6. Children with exceptional medical or social need.   (See note 4)
7. Children of staff who do not meet any of the criteria 1-6
8. All other children (places will be allocated giving priority first to children living nearest to school). 

Notes. 

1. 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.

2. To meet criteria (2), (4) or (5), regular attendance at Church or other places of worship is defined as attendance at public worship at least once a month by one parent/guardian for a minimum period of twelve months immediately prior to the date of making the application. A form to be completed by the Minister or 

other Religious leader is available from the school office and should be returned to the school by the closing date. This form must be used IN ALL CASES to support any application for these criteria. For applications under criterion (5), a list of Churches in membership of Churches Together in England can be viewed at www,cte.org.uk/MemberChurches

2b. In the event that during the period specified for attendance at worship the church (or in relation to those of other faiths, relevant place of worship) has been closed for public worship and has not provided alternative premises for that worship, the requirements of these admissions arrangements in relation to attendance will only apply to the period when the church  (or in relation to those of other faiths, relevant place of worship or alternative premises) have been available for public worship”. Public worship was closed between January 5th to April 3^rd 2021.

3. In cases where there are children of multiple births (twins, triplets, etc) wishing to be admitted and the sibling (brother or sister) is offered the final place the Governors may admit over the published admission number if it is possible to do so. Such children are a permitted exception to the infant class size limit.

4. To meet criteria (6) written professional supporting evidence must be provided (e.g. from a doctor, psychologist or social worker) setting 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. The 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.

5. To meet criteria 7 a member of staff will have been employed at the school for two or more years when the application is made or has been recruited in order to fill a vacancy for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.

Tie-breakers

Where oversubscription occurs in applying criteria 1-7, priority will be given to those pupils living nearest to school, using a straight line, as designated by Tameside Council. (see note ** below)

Places are allocated on the basis of the parents’ principal home address. The only address that can be considered is the address of the parent/guardian with whom the child is permanently resident. Where a child lives with parents with joint responsibility, each part of the week, the home address, for the purpose of distance measurements will be that which the child travels to school for the majority of school days during a normal week.

** “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. Mapping 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 applicants where this distance would be the last place(s) to be allocated, the place will be allocated to the child that is nearer using walking distance as measured using the local authority’s school admissions data mapping software.

If this does not distinguish between two or more applicants with equal priority for the final available place(s), random allocation will be used as the final tie-breaker. This will be supervised by someone independent of the school.

Late Applications

Applications received after the closing date will be dealt with as late and will be considered after all applications received on time have been processed.  

Appeals against refusal of admission.

Parents have the right to appeal against refusal of admission. Information about this will be sent out by the Local Authority. 

If the school is oversubscribed the governors will maintain a waiting list. The waiting list will operate until 31st August 2028. 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. Other parents who have submitted an appeal or who have opted to go on the list will also be placed 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.  A significant change of circumstances, such as a change of address, will be taken into account: evidence must be provided.

Deferred Admissions

Children are eligible for a Reception Year (Foundation 2) 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. Once they have been offered a place at the school, the child’s parents can defer the date their child is admitted to the school 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.  Where parents wish, children may 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.

Requests for admission outside a child’s normal age group.

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. In addition, the parents of a summer born child may choose not to send that child to school until the September following their fifth birthday and may request that they are admitted out of their normal age group – to reception rather than year 1. 

Parents requesting admission out of the normal age group must put their request in writing, addressed to the Headteacher at the school, together with any supporting evidence that the parent wishes to be taken into account. The governing body will make decisions on requests for admission outside the normal age group on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. This will include taking account of the parent’s views; any information provided 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; and whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely. The governing body will also take into account the views of the Headteacher. When informing a parent of their decision on the year group the child should be admitted to, the governing body will set out clearly the reasons for their decision.

Where the governing body agrees to a parent’s request for their child to be admitted out of their normal age group and, as a consequence of that decision, the child will be admitted to a relevant age group (i.e. the age group to which pupils are normally admitted to the school) the local authority and governing body must process the application as part of the main admissions round, unless the parental request is made too late for this to be possible, and on the basis of their determined admission arrangements only, including the application of oversubscription criteria where applicable. The governing body must not give the application lower priority on the basis that the child is being admitted out of their normal age group. 

Parents have a statutory right to appeal against the refusal of a place at a school for which they have applied. This right does not apply if they are offered a place at the school but it is not in their preferred age group.

Nursery Admissions

Please refer to the separate nursery admissions policy for details of the admission arrangements for the nursery class.

Please note that a separate application must be made for any child wishing to transfer from the nursery class to the Reception Year at the primary school.

If you are unsuccessful in receiving a place in Nursery, there is no appeal process. However you may submit your details to be held on a waiting list. All pupils on the waiting list will be ranked according to the oversubscription criteria as previously stated. 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.  A significant change of circumstances, such as a change of address, will be taken into account: evidence must be provided.

In year applications

Any in year request for a place after the admission date will be considered by the school according to the criteria stated above. A parent will submit an application form and any supplementary evidence. The Governing Body’s Admissions Panel will meet to consider and determine the request. In the event of a refusal to admit the applicants have a right of appeal using the local authority appeal system.