St Peters RC Primary School, (Academy) Stalybridge

SCHOOL ADMISSION POLICY 2027-2028

St. Peter’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 (Corpus Christi Catholic Academy Trust) is the admission authority and has delegated full responsibility for admissions to the Local Governing Body. The local authority undertakes the co-ordination of admission arrangements during the normal admission round. 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.

Catholic looked after and previously looked after children. (see notes 2&3)
Catholic children who are resident in the parish of St. Peter’s and St. Raphael’s, Stalybridge. (see notes 3&11)
Other Catholic children. (see note 3)
Other looked after and previously looked after children. (see note 2)
Catechumens and members of an Eastern Christian Church. (see notes 4&5)
Children of other Christian denominations whose membership is evidenced by a minister of religion. (see note 6)
Children of other faiths whose membership is evidenced by a religious leader. (see note 7)
Any other children.

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

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. 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[1], you must complete a Common Application Form available from the local authority in which you live. You are also requested to supply the Supplementary Information detailed at the end of this policy if you wish to apply under oversubscription criteria 1 to 8. The Supplementary Information 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 2027 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 supplementary information required 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

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 the head teacher at St. Peter’s Catholic Primary School, Hough Hill Road, Stalybridge SK15 2HB 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 teacher, including the head teacher’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, 2028.

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. Application should be made online to Tameside Local Authority at https://tameside.gov.uk/admissions. A link is provided on our school website at School Admissions – St Peter's Stalybridge (stpetersstalybridge.co.uk)

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).

Nursery

For children attending the school’s nursery, application to the reception class of the school must be made in the normal way, to the home local authority. Attendance at the school’s nursery does not automatically guarantee that a place will be offered at the school.

The admission authority reserves the right to withdraw the offer of a place or, where a child is already attending the school the place itself, where it is satisfied that the offer or place was obtained by deception.

Notes (these notes form part of the oversubscription criteria)

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.
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 arrangements 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.

‘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.

‘catechumen’ means a member of the catechumenate of a Catholic Church. This will normally be evidenced by a certificate of reception into the order of catechumens.
‘Eastern Christian Church’ includes Orthodox Churches, and is normally evidenced by a certificate of baptism or reception from the authorities of that Church.
“children of other Christian denominations” means children who belong to other churches and ecclesial communities which acknowledge God’s revelation in Christ, confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the Scriptures, and, in obedience to God’s will and in the power of the Holy Spirit commit themselves: to seek a deepening of their communion with Christ and with one another in the Church, which is His body; and to fulfil their mission to proclaim the Gospel by common witness and service in the world to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. An ecclesial community which on principle has no credal statements in its tradition, is included if it manifests faith in Christ as witnessed to in the Scriptures and is committed to working in the spirit of the above.

All members of Churches Together in England and CYTÛN are deemed to be included in the above definition, as are all other churches and ecclesial communities that are in membership of any local Churches Together Group (by whatever title) on the above basis.

“children of other faiths” means children who are members of a religious community that does not fall within the definition of ‘other Christian denominations’ at 6 above and which falls within the definition of a religion for the purposes of charity law. The Charities Act 2011 defines religion to include:

A religion which involves belief in more than one God, and
A religion which does not involve belief in a God.

Case law has identified certain characteristics which describe the meaning of religion for the purposes of charity law, which are characterised by a belief in a supreme being and an expression of belief in that supreme being through worship.

‘brother or sister’ includes:
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
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.
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.
For the purposes of this policy, parish boundaries are as shown on the map below and will be applied to the admission arrangements for 2027-2028.

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.

ST PETER’S CATHOLIC PRIMARY

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION REQUIRED FOR ADMISSION TO SCHOOL 2027 – 2028

For a child to be treated as Catholic, evidence of Catholic baptism or of welcome into the Church will be required. Those who have difficulty obtaining written evidence of baptism should contact their Parish Priest.
For children applying under the over-subscription criteria 5, 6 or 7, evidence of faith must be submitted to the school by the closing date – 15^th January 2027.
Baptismal and birth certificates, along with two proofs of address, must be forwarded to the school by the closing date – 15^th January 2027.

Parents are asked to provide TWO documents from the list below as proof of address:
Mortgage statement*
Tenancy Agreement or letter from landlord*
Council Tax statement*
Benefit statements*
Recent utility bill (gas, electricity, land-line phone bill but not a mobile phone bill)**
Current TV Licence
Letter from a solicitor confirming exchange of contracts on a residence**

* issued within last 12 months

** issued within last 3 months

St Peter’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 and articles of association and seeks at all times to be a witness to Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The academy company (Corpus Christi Catholic Academy Trust) is the admission authority and has delegated full responsibility for admissions to the Local Governing Body. The admission authority has set the school’s Published Admissions Number (PAN) at 26 pupils to be admitted to the Nursery unit in the school year which begins in September 2027. Admissions will take place in September 2027 and in January 2028, if there are places available following the September 2027 admission.

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 Nursery unit 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.

Catholic looked after and previously looked after children. (see notes 2&3)
Catholic children who are resident in the parish of Ss Peter & Raphael. (see notes 3&11)
Other Catholic children. (see note 3)
Other looked after and previously looked after children. (see note 2)
Catechumens and members of an Eastern Christian Church. (see notes 4&5)
Children of other Christian denominations whose membership is evidenced by a minister of religion. (see note 6)
Children of other faiths whose membership is evidenced by a religious leader. (see note 7)
Any other children.

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

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. Distance will be measured as a straight-line measurement between the front door of the child’s home address (including the community entrance to flats) 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.

Application Procedures and Timetable

To apply for a place in the Nursery unit you must contact the School Business Manager to request an application form. Application forms may also be downloaded from our school website using the following link: Nursery-Application-Form.pdf (stpetersstalybridge.co.uk) You are also requested to supply the Supplementary Information detailed at the end of this policy if you wish to apply under oversubscription criteria 1 to 8. The completed application form and Supplementary Information must be returned to the School Business Manager by 31^st January 2027. Forms and information may be submitted by hand at the school office, or electronically via Email to: admin@st-peters.tameside.sch.uk

You will receive a letter by March 2027 to advise whether your child has gained a place in our Nursery unit. If your child is not allocated a place, you will be informed of the reasons, which will be related to the oversubscription criteria above.

if you do not provide the required supplementary information and return it by the closing date of 31^st January 2027, together with all supplementary information, your child may not be placed in the correct criterion, 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 31^st January 2027.

A meeting of the governors’ admissions committee will take place in February 2027 prior to admission in September 2027. If we have places available for a January intake, the admissions meeting will take place in October 2027. An offer letter for a Nursery place in January 2028 will be issued to parents following this October meeting.

For categories 1-5, a valid certificate of Catholic baptism is required to establish the faith of the child. We also require proof of address to confirm residency of parish. This proof must be supplied to the school before the meetings to allocate places. Priority cannot be given to children without this supplementary information.

Proof of birth is needed to establish a child’s age. This must be supplied to school before the meetings to allocate places.

Late Applications

The admissions committee will consider late applications submitted after 31^st January 2027 once the admissions process for on-time applications is complete. Late applications will be administered where we have spaces available in the Nursery unit.

Waiting List

Children who do not gain a place in the Nursery unit will be offered the opportunity to be placed on a waiting list. The 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 admissions will operate throughout the school year. The waiting list will be held open until the last day of the summer term, 2028.

In-Year Applications

An application can be made for a place for a child at any time outside the normal admissions round and the child will be admitted where there are available places. The application should be made to the School Business Manager in the same way as detailed above in the section ‘Application Procedures and Timetable.’

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).

Notes (these notes form part of the oversubscription criteria)

An Education, Health and Care Plan is a plan made by the Local Authority under Section 37 of the Child and Families Act 2014, specifying the Special Educational provision required for a child.

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 a Local Authority 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 one who was looked after, but ceased to be so because he or she was adopted or became subject to a child arrangements 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.

‘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.

Baptismal certificates must be forwarded to the school by 31st January 2027.

‘Catechumen’ means a member of the catechumenate of a Catholic Church. This will normally be evidenced by a certificate of reception into the order of catechumens.
‘Eastern Christian Church’ includes Orthodox Churches and is normally evidenced by a certificate of baptism or reception from the authorities of that Church.
“Children of other Christian denominations” means children who belong to other churches and ecclesial communities which acknowledge God’s revelation in Christ, confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the Scriptures, and, in obedience to God’s will and in the power of the Holy Spirit commit themselves: to seek a deepening of their communion with Christ and with one another in the Church, which is His body; and to fulfil their mission to proclaim the Gospel by common witness and service in the world to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. An ecclesial community which, on principle, has no credal statements in its tradition, is included if it manifests faith in Christ as witnessed to in the Scriptures and is committed to working in the spirit of the above.

“Children of other faiths” means children who are members of a religious community that does not fall within the definition of ‘other Christian denominations’ at 6 above and which falls within the definition of a religion for the purposes of charity law. The Charities Act 2011 defines religion to include:

A religion which involves belief in more than one God, and
A religion which does not involve belief in a God.

“Brother or sister” includes:

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
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.

“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.
For the purposes of this policy, parish boundaries are as shown on the map below and will be applied to the admissions arrangements for 2027-2028.

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 application form. Where parents have shared parental 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 application form, provided that the child resides at that address for any part of the school week.

Children entering the Nursery will not automatically be offered a place in the Reception Class. The admissions criteria for admission to school will still apply.

The Governing Body reserves the right to withdraw the offer of a nursery place where false evidence is received in relation to baptism, sibling connections or place of residence.

For a child to be treated as Catholic, evidence of Catholic baptism or reception or welcome into the Church will be required. Those who have difficulty obtaining written evidence of baptism should contact their Parish Priest.
For children applying under the over-subscription criteria 5, 6 or 7, evidence of faith must be submitted to the school by the closing date – 31^st January 2027.
Baptismal and birth certificates, along with two proofs of address, must be forwarded to the school by the closing date – 31^st January 2027.
Parents are asked to provide TWO documents from the list below as proof of address:

Mortgage statement*
Tenancy Agreement or letter from landlord*
Council Tax statement*
Benefit statements*
Recent utility bill (gas, electricity, land-line phone bill but not a mobile phone bill)**
Current TV Licence
Letter from a solicitor confirming exchange of contracts on a residence**

* issued within last 12 months

** issued within last 3 months

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

Oversubscription Criteria

Application Procedures and Timetable

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