St Mary’s Catholic Primary School

ADMISSION POLICY 2027-2028

St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School was founded by the Catholic Church to provide education for children of Catholic families. Whenever there are more applications than places available, priority will be given to Catholic children in accordance with the oversubscription criteria listed below. The school is conducted by its academy company as part of the Catholic Church in accordance with its trust deed and articles of association and seeks at all times to be a witness to Our Lord Jesus Christ. 

As a Catholic school, we aim to provide a Catholic education for all our pupils. At a Catholic school, Catholic doctrine and practice permeate every aspect of the school’s activity. It is essential that the Catholic character of the school’s education be fully supported by all families in the school. We therefore hope that all parents will give their full, unreserved and positive support for the aims and ethos of the school. This does not affect the right of an applicant who is not Catholic to apply for and be admitted to a place at the school in accordance with these admission arrangements.

The academy company is the admission authority and has responsibility for admissions to this school. The local authority undertakes the co-ordination of admission arrangements during the normal admission round[1] . The admission authority has set the school’s Published Admissions Number (“PAN”) at 30 pupils to be admitted to the reception year in the school year which begins in September 2027.

The admission authority will, where logistically possible, admit twins and all siblings from multiple births where one of the children is the last child ranked within the school’s PAN.

Pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan (see note 1)

The admission of pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan is dealt with by a completely separate procedure. Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan that names the school must be admitted. Where this takes place before the allocation of places under these arrangements this will reduce the number of places available to other children. 

Oversubscription Criteria

Where there are more applications for places than the number of places available, places will be offered according to the following order of priority.

1. Catholic looked after and previously looked after children. (see notes 2&3)
2. Catholic children who are resident in the parish(es) of St. Mary’s. (see notes 3&11)
3. Catholic children who are resident in the parish(es) of St. Mary’s [for whom St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School is the nearest Catholic school. (see notes 3&11)
4. Other Catholic children. (see note 3)
5. Other looked after and previously looked after children. (see note 2)
6. Catechumens and members of an Eastern Christian Church. (see notes 4&5)
7. Children of other Christian denominations whose membership is evidenced by a minister of religion. (see note 6)
8. Children of other faiths whose membership is evidenced by a religious leader. (see note 7)
9. Any other children.

Within each of the categories listed above, the following provisions will be applied in the following order.

1. The attendance of a brother or sister at the school at the time of enrolment will increase the priority of an application within each category so that the application will be placed at the top of the category in which the application is made after children in (i) above (see note 8).

Tie Break

Priority will be given to children living closest to the school determined by the shortest distance. Distances are calculated 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 two or more children where this would determine the last place to be allocated, random allocation will be carried out and supervised by a person independent of the school. All the names will be entered into a hat and the required number of names will be drawn out.

Application Procedures and Timetable

To apply for a place at this school in the normal admission round[2], you must complete a Common Application Form available from the local authority in which you live. You are also requested to complete the Supplementary Information Form attached to this policy if you wish to apply under oversubscription criteria 1 to 4 or 6 to 8. The Supplementary Information Form should be returned to the School Business Manager by 15^th January 2027.          

You will be advised of the outcome of your application on 16^th April or the next working day, by the local authority on our behalf. If you are unsuccessful (unless your child gained a place at a school you ranked higher) you will be informed of the reasons, related to the oversubscription criteria listed above, and you have the right of appeal to an independent appeal panel.

If you do not provide the information required in the SIF and return it by the closing date, together with all supporting documentation, your child may not be placed in criteria 1 to 4 or 6 to 8, and this may affect your child’s chance of being offered a place.

All applications which are submitted on time will be considered at the same time and after the closing date for admissions which is 15^th January 2027.

Late Applications[3]

Late applications will be administered in accordance with your home Local Authority Primary Co-ordinated Admissions Scheme. You are encouraged to ensure that your application is received on time.

Admission of Children Below Compulsory School Age and Deferred Entry

A child is entitled to a full-time place in the September following their fourth birthday. A child’s parents may defer the date at which their child, below compulsory school age, is admitted to the school, until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age, or beyond the beginning of the final term of the school year for which an offer was made. A child may take up a part-time place until later in the school year, but not beyond the point at which the child reaches compulsory school age. Upon receipt of the offer of a place a parent should notify the school, as soon as possible, that they wish to either defer their child’s entry to the school or take up a part-time place.

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 1^st April and 31^st 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 Mr Ashley Jenkinson, Head of School at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Cheetham Hill Road, Dukinfield. SK16-5LB at the same time as the admission application is made. The admission authority will make its decision about the request based on the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child. In addition to taking into account the views of the Head of School, including the Head’s statutory responsibility for the internal organisation, management and control of the school, the admission authority will take into account the views of the parents and of appropriate medical and education professionals, as appropriate. 

Waiting Lists

In addition to their right of appeal, unsuccessful children will be offered the opportunity to be placed on a waiting list. This waiting list will be maintained in order of the oversubscription criteria set out above and not in the order in which applications are received or added to the list. Waiting lists for admission will operate throughout the school year. The waiting list will be held open until the last day of the summer term.

Inclusion in the school’s waiting list does not mean that a place will eventually become available.

In-Year Applications

An application can be made for a place for a child at any time outside the normal admission round and the child will be admitted where there are available places. Applications should be made to Tameside Admissions Team online  https://www.tameside.gov.uk/admissions or by contacting School Admissions, Tameside Council, PO Box 317, Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 0GS  

Where there are places available but more applications than places, the published oversubscription criteria, as set out above, will be applied. 

If there are no places available, the child will be added to the waiting list (see above).

You will be advised of the outcome of your application in writing, and you have the right of appeal to an independent appeal panel. 

Fair Access Protocol

The school is committed to taking its fair share of children who are vulnerable and/or hard to place, as set out in locally agreed protocols. Accordingly, outside the normal admission round the admission authority is empowered to give absolute priority to a child where admission is requested under any locally agreed protocol. The admission authority has this power, even when admitting the child would mean exceeding the PAN (subject to the infant class size exceptions).

Notes (these notes form part of the oversubscription criteria)

1. An Education, Health and Care Plan is a plan made by the local authority under section 37 of the Children and Families Act 2014, specifying the special educational provision required for a child. 
2. A ‘looked after child’ has the same meaning as in section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989, and means any child who is (a) in the care of a local authority or (b) being provided with accommodation by them in the exercise of their social services functions (e.g. children with foster parents) at the time of making an application to the school. 

A ‘previously looked after child’ is a child who was looked after, but ceased to be so because he or she was adopted, or became subject to a child arrangement order or special guardianship order. Included in this definition are those children who appear (to the admission authority) to have been in state care outside of England and who ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.

1. ‘Catholic’ means a member of a Church in full communion with the See of Rome. This includes the Eastern Catholic Churches. This will normally be evidenced by a certificate of baptism in a Catholic Church or a certificate of reception into the full communion of the Catholic Church. For the purposes of this policy, it includes a looked after child living with a family where at least one of the parents is Catholic.

For a child to be treated as Catholic, evidence of Catholic baptism or reception into the Church will be required. Those who have difficulty obtaining written evidence of baptism should contact their Parish Priest who, after consulting with the Diocese, 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.

1. ‘brother or sister’ includes:
2. all natural brothers or sisters, half brothers or sisters, adopted brothers or sisters, stepbrothers or sisters, foster brothers or sisters, whether or not they are living at the same address; and 
3. the child of a parent’s partner where that child lives for at least part of the week in the same family unit at the same home address as the child who is the subject of the application. 

1. A ‘parent’ means all natural parents, any person who is not a parent but has parental responsibility for a child, and any person who has care of a child.
2. For the purposes of this policy, parish boundaries are as shown on the attached map and will be applied to the admission arrangements for 2027 – 2028.

1. A child’s “home address” refers to the address where the child usually lives with a parent or carer, and will be the address provided in the Common Application Form (“CAF”). Where parents have shared responsibility for a child, and the child lives for part of the week with each parent, the home address will be the address given in the CAF, provided that the child resides at that address for any part of the school week.

1. A child’s “home address” refers to the address where the child usually lives with a parent or carer, and will be the address provided in the Common Application Form (“CAF”). Where parents have shared responsibility for a child, and the child lives for part of the week with each parent, the home address will be the address given in the CAF, provided that the child resides at that address for any part of the school week.

The parish of St Mary and St Paul incorporates the former parish of St Mary, which covers the entirety of Dukinfield (postcode area SK16) and no other locations. Applicants who are able to demonstrate residency within Dukinfield (SK16) are therefore also demonstrating that they live within the parish of St Mary, as defined by its historical boundaries. Further details about the parish boundaries are available on request from the school.

Supplementary Information Form 

Please enclose copies of Birth Certificate and Baptismal Certificate

FORM MUST BE RETURNED by 15^th JANUARY 2027 PRIOR TO YOUR CHILD’S ADMISSION

Proof of Address may be required at a later date prior to offer of a place

  Office@stmarysrc.org.uk