St Stephens Church of England Primary School

St. Stephen’s Church of England Primary School, Audenshaw 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

The school’s published admission number (PAN) for the admission of children to the Reception Year in September 2027 is 30. If no more than 30 applications are received for admission to the Reception Year, all applicants will be offered places.

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 will admit all children who have 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 remaining places available (after the admission of any children with an EHCP naming the school), the decision on which children will be allocated places will be based on the following criteria, which will be applied in the order of priority shown:

1.	Looked after children and all previously looked after 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 looked after children are children who were looked after but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order) Cared For Child (See note 1)
2.	Regular attendance at public worship or Sunday School at St Stephen’s Church (See note 2)
3.	Children who will have an older sibling (brother or sister) attending the school at the time of the admission of the younger child. (See note 3)
4.	Regular attendance at public worship or Sunday School at another Christian church which is a member of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (See note 4)
5.	Children whose exceptional medical or social circumstances mean that their needs can only be met at this school. (See note 5)
6.	Any other children ranked by geographical distance from school, with those living closest to the school having priority. (See note 6)

Notes

A 'looked after 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.

Regular attendance is defined as attendance at least twice a month by the child’s parent(s)/carer(s) at public worship at St Stephen’s Church for at least 6 months prior to the date of application for admission to the school, or attendance by the child at least twice a month at Sunday School/Sunday children’s activities at St Stephen’s Church for at least 6 months prior to the date of application for admission to the school. For applicants seeking admission under criterion 2, evidence of regular attendance must be provided by the incumbent (on the Supplementary Information Form set out at Annex A to this policy). This form should be signed by parents/ guardian and returned to the school at the same time as the Common Application Form is completed and returned to the local authority.

Sibling (brother or sister) includes full, step, half, foster and adopted sibling living at the same address. Sibling priority will not be given where the brother or sister lives at a different address to the child for whom application is being made. No sibling priority is given to cousins regardless of their address.

Regular attendance is defined as attendance at least twice a month by the child’s parent(s)/carer(s) at public worship at a Christian Church in membership of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland for at least 6 months prior to the date of application for admission to the school, or attendance by the child at least twice a month at Sunday School/Sunday children’s activities at a Christian Church in membership of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland for at least 6 months prior to the date of application for admission to the school. Evidence of regular attendance must be provided by a member of the clergy or other designated church officer (on the Supplementary Information Form set out at Annex A to this policy). This form should be signed by parents/ guardian and returned to the school at the same time as the Common Application Form is completed and returned to the local authority. A list of churches in membership of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland may be viewed at www.ctbi.org.uk

Applicants seeking places under criterion 5 must provide written professional supporting evidence (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. A panel of governors from St Stephen’s CE Primary School will make a decision whether to admit a child under this criterion using the written evidence provided. All the evidence will be treated in the strictest confidence.

The address from which distance will be measured will be the permanent residential address, at the time of the application, of the parent. Where a child lives with parents 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. 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.

Tie-breakers

Where there are more applicants for the available places within a category, the distance from the central point of the child’s home to the main entrance to the school, measured using the LA system described at note 6 above, will be used as the tie-breaker, nearer addresses having priority.

If the distance from home to school does not distinguish between two or more applicants with equal priority for the remaining place(s), random allocation will be used as the final tiebreaker. All the names of applicants with equal priority for the remaining place(s) will be entered into a hat and the required number of names will be drawn out. This random allocation will be supervised by someone independent of the school.

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 if it is possible to do so.

Waiting list

Children who have not been offered a place will have their name placed on a waiting list. The names on this waiting list will be in the order resulting from the application of the admissions oversubscription criteria. Since the date of application cannot be a criterion for the order of names on the waiting list, late applicants for the school will be slotted into the order according to the extent to which they meet the criteria. Thus, it is possible that a child who moves into the area later to have a higher priority than one who has been on the waiting list for some time. If a place becomes available within the admission number, the child whose name is at the top of the list will be offered a place. This is not dependant on whether an appeal has been submitted. The waiting list will operate until 31 December at the end of the Autumn Term only.

Appeals

Where the governors are unable to offer a place because the school is oversubscribed, parents will be informed of the reason why admission was refused and of their right to appeal to an independent admission appeal panel.

Applying for places

As set out above, all applications must be made on the local authority’s online application portal. Details of all the applications made will be forwarded to the school.

Applicants seeking admission under criteria 2 or 4 will also need to complete and return the Supplementary Information Form (see Annex A).

Applicants seeking places under criterion 5 must provide written professional supporting evidence (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.

Late applications

Once the closing date for applications has passed, late applications will be dealt with after applications that are received on time have been dealt with.

Deferred Admissions

Children are entitled to a full-time place in school in the September following their fourth 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 for which the application was made. Where parents wish, children may attend part-time 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.

IN YEAR TRANSFERS

Parents wishing to apply for an in-year transfer to St Stephen’s C of E Primary School should apply using the School Transfer Request Form. The School Transfer Request Form can be obtained from the Headteacher of the school the child currently attends, if in Tameside or it can be downloaded from the Tameside Council website: www.tameside.gov.uk/admissions

Forms should be fully completed and submitted with any additional/supplementary documentation/evidence to the School Admissions Team to enable their application to be considered as quickly as possible.

If you want to transfer your child to St Stephen’s C of E Primary School, 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

Annex A Admissions 2027/28 – Supplementary Information Form – Church Attendance Part A

Childs Details -

Surname: ________________________ First name(s):___________________________

Date of birth: ______________________

Name of parent(s)/guardian(s):_________________________________________________

Address: __________________________________________________________________

Postcode:_________ Daytime contact telephone number:_______________________

Name and address of the church attended by at least one parent/carer and/or the child (For applications under criterion 2, this must be St Stephen’s Audenshaw. *For eligible churches for criterion 4, a list of churches in membership of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland can be viewed at www.ctbi.org.uk):

Name of church:_____________________________________________________________

Address of church:_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Postcode:_____________________ Telephone:___________________________________

Name of vicar/priest/minister: ________________________________________

Worship attendance by parent/carer

Have you attended public worship at the church named above (and/or has the child named above attended Sunday School or Sunday children’s activities at the church named above) at least twice a month for the last six months?

Yes

For applications under criterion 2 you must ask the incumbent of St Stephen’s to sign part B of this form to confirm this information.

For applications under criterion 4 you must ask a member of the clergy or designated church officer to sign part B of this form to confirm this information.

Signed (Parent/Guardian): ____________________________________________

Print name: ________________________________________________________

Date: _________________________________________

Admissions 2027/28 – Supplementary Information Form – Church Attendance

Part B – Verification of attendance

I confirm that the parent/carer named in Part A has attended public worship at least twice a month for the last six months at the Church named in Part A, and/or the child named above has attended Sunday School or Sunday children’s activities at least twice a month for the last six months at the Church named in part A.

Name of incumbent/vicar/priest/minister/designated church officer:

………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………

SIGNED ………………………………………………… (incumbent/vicar/priest/minister/designated church officer)

DATE …………………………………………….

For an application to be considered under criteria 2 or 4 the parent must return the completed form directly to the school by the closing date for applications, and must also complete the Common Application Form and return it to their local authority.