Tame River Educational Trust Admission Arrangements

The Admission of Students to Droylsden Academy, Hyde High School and Mossley Hollins High School for the Academic Year 2027 to 2028

This is a Tame River Educational Trust policy. As an employer, the Trust will ensure that at every level, in all our work and throughout all aspects of the Trust communities, all will be treated equally, with respect and dignity, free from discrimination and harassment. Each person will be given fair and equal opportunities to develop their full potential regardless of their age, disability, gender, gender-identity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, socio-economic background and special educational needs. Our Trust will tackle the barriers which could lead to unequal outcomes for these protected groups, ensuring there is equality of access and that we celebrate and value the diversity within our Trust communities. The Trust will work actively to promote equality and foster positive attitudes and commitment to an education for equality.

1. Purpose of the Policy

Tame River Educational Trust is the admissions authority and is therefore required to draft, consult on and determine Trust admission arrangements. These arrangements apply to applicants seeking a place in Year 7 at the start of an academic year and to in-year admissions for those applicants seeking a place in any year group part way through an academic year.

Where there are more applicants than places available for a school/academy in the Trust, then the criteria detailed in the admission arrangements will be applied in order to decide which applicants will be offered places.

The co-ordination and administration of student admission for entry is undertaken by Tameside Local Authority.

2. Principles of the Policy

The following principles apply to our admission arrangements:

We will welcome students of every race, colour, national or ethnic origin, sex and sexual orientation, religion or religious belief, disability, or any other legally protected status.
We will ensure that each student is provided with equality of opportunity.
We will provide schools/academies, students, parents/carers with full information about the school/academy.
We will provide students, parents/carers with the opportunity to look around the school/academy and talk to staff.
We will ensure a smooth and efficient transition for students to the school/academy.
Students with additional needs will have individualised arrangements made for their transition.

3. Legislation and Statutory Requirements

This policy is based on the following advice from the Department for Education (DfE):

The Trust and each school is required to comply with these codes, and with the law relating to admissions as set out in the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.

Each 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 our funding agreement and articles of association.

4. Applying for a place in Year 7 at the start of an academic year

The application process is detailed in the ‘Moving On’ document provided by Tameside LA, this is available to download online www.tameside.gov.uk/movingon.

All parents who live in Tameside wishing to apply for a place at one of the Trust schools should use the online facility as outlined in the ‘Moving On’ booklet as above. If you live outside of Tameside, you should complete the appropriate form from your local authority, and this will be forwarded to Tameside Council.

The Process

a) The online application form will invite parents to name 6 schools/academies in order of preference; these can be in or out of Tameside. In allocating places Trust schools and academies will be part of the equal preference scheme co-ordinated by Tameside Council, details of which can be found in the ‘Moving On’ booklet.

b) The online application form will give parents the opportunity to include information to support an application to your chosen school/academy.

c) A common timetable for all is applicable including a single notification date. The closing date for applications is the 31st October 2026. Applications received after this date will be considered after all applications received on time have been processed, this rule applies even if your child has exceptional medical or social needs or has a sibling at your chosen school/academy. If your application is late, you may not receive an offer of a school/academy place on National Offer Day.

d) Changes to preferences, ranking order or student details, will not be allowed after the closing date of 31^st October except in exceptional circumstances. The closing date for submission if there are exceptional circumstances is 5^th November. Exceptional circumstances are applied in limited situations, for example, 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. No changes can be considered even where there are exceptional circumstances once information has been exchanged with the other admission bodies by the Council, because the allocations process has commenced. In the case of secondary schools/academies this date is the 14^th November.

e) The online system will reopen two weeks after the closing date to accept late applications. Late applications will only be dealt with after all of those that have been received on time. This applies even if your child has exceptional medical or social needs or has a sibling at the school. If your application is late, you may not receive an offer of a school place on National Offer Day.

f) Notification letters containing offers of a single school place will be sent out to parents in accordance with the coordinated admissions scheme. This is common with all other Local Authorities nationally. These letters will also inform parents of their right of appeal, and who to contact, if an application to your chosen school/academy has not been successful.

g) Parents will not receive multiple offers.

h) If the school is oversubscribed, the Local Authority will maintain a waiting list should any places become available in Year 7. The waiting list will operate until the end of the Autumn Term 2027. 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 students on the waiting list will be ranked according to the oversubscription criteria. 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 Local Authority immediately and provide appropriate supporting evidence). Please note that neither the Local Authority nor any of the Trust schools/academies maintain a waiting list for available spaces in any other year groups.

5 Published Admission Numbers and Over Subscription Criteria

Our schools/academies have the following published admission number (PAN) for entry in Year 7.

Droylsden Academy: PAN 187
Hyde High School: PAN 210
Mossley Hollins High School: PAN 180

Where the number of applications for admission is greater than the published admission number for each school, applications will be considered against the Trust’s over subscription criteria.

The over subscription criteria the Trust’s schools/academies for the academic year 2027 to 2028, are detailed below.

Should any of the three schools be over-subscribed, the criteria detailed below will be applied in conjunction with explanatory notes 1 - 5 which form part of the admission arrangements and which can be found at the end of this document.

Over Subscription Criteria for Droylsden Academy for the Academic Year 2027 to 2028

After the admission of students with Education, Health and Care Plans, where the Academy is named in the Plan, the criteria will be applied in the following order:

1. Looked After Children (Note 1).

2. Children and families with exceptional medical or social needs (Note 2).

3. Sibling: This will apply where there are brothers or sisters attending the school at the time of application, who will still be attending at the time of admission, i.e. in the September when the student is admitted to Year 7. Preference will be given to students living nearest to the school/academy.

Sibling criteria may apply where, at the time of application, an older sibling is expected to be on roll when a younger child starts at the school/academy. If the older sibling unexpectedly leaves the school/academy after an offer has been made to a younger child, the offer of a place would not be withdrawn on these grounds (Note 3).

4. Children of staff – this will apply where:

a) A member of staff has been employed for 2 consecutive years at the time at which the application for admission to the school/academy is made, and/or

b) The member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.

5. Children attending named partner primary schools at the time of application. Preference will be given to students attending named partner primary schools who live nearest to the school (Note 4).

6. All other applications on distance (Note 5). 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 student that is nearer using walking distance as measured using the Local Authority’s school admission 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. This will be completed by someone independent to the Local Authority and the school/academy.

6. Appeals

Parents who are unhappy with their child’s school allocation have the right to appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel.

The members of the Appeal Panel are totally independent and will not have any connection with either the Council or the school/academy you have applied for. If they decide you have a good case, in certain circumstances, they can give you a place.

The Appeal Panel will look at the impact on your child and family that comes from not being admitted to the school/academy and compare it to the impact on the school/academy and the children already attending if more children are admitted.

You can only appeal for a place at a school/academy you have applied for and been refused a place at in writing.

You can also only appeal for a place that was a higher preference on your original application than the place you have been given.

You can only appeal for admission of your child to a particular school/academy once a school year, unless there’s a major change in your circumstances, such as moving house.

If your child has been excluded from two or more schools, you cannot appeal for two years from the date of the last exclusion.

The appeals process is as follows:

a) To appeal for a place at a Tame River Trust High School or Academy, or any Community High School, Academy or Voluntary Aided School in Tameside, please complete and submit the online form which can be found at:

https://www.tameside.gov.uk/schools/admissions/appeals

by 29th March 2027 stating your grounds for appeal. Any forms received after this date may be heard after others for that particular school. If you are appealing for a voluntary aided school or academy your appeal will be forwarded to the relevant school.

b) All appeals will be heard separately. Every effort will be made to hear appeals before the start of the Autumn Term, but no guarantee can be made that appeals submitted after the deadline will be heard by September.

c) You will be given 10 school days’ notice of your appeal hearing date, and you will be sent a copy of the school’s case. You can attend the hearing to present the case for your child. You may bring a friend or representative along. At the meeting, a representative from the school or the council will present the school’s case.

d) The Clerk to the Panel will inform you in writing of the Panel’s decision. The decision is binding, and parents have no further right of appeal for the same school in the same school year, unless there has been a significant change in circumstances.

e) Please note that no places are ‘held back’ for appeals.

f) Parents of students with an Education, Health and Care Plan have the right to appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

g) Whilst you are awaiting your appeal it is important that you consider alternative schools (including the one that has been allocated for your child) in case your appeal is unsuccessful.

h) If you wish to appeal for a school in another Local Authority area, you should contact the Admissions Team in that LA for advice.

Full details about the appeals process can be found online at:

https://www.tameside.gov.uk/schools/admissions/appeals

This is the preferred method for appealing a decision, however, there is also a dedicated School Appeals email address which is:

SchoolAppeals@tameside.gov.uk

7. Requests for admission outside the normal age range

Parents are entitled to request a place for their child outside of their normal age group.

Parents considering requesting a place for their child outside of their normal year group should contact the school/academy in the first instance.

Decisions on requests for admission outside the normal age group will be made on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. In accordance with the School Admissions Code, this will include taking account of:

Parents’ views
Information 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
Whether they may have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely
The headteacher’s views

Wherever possible, requests for admission outside a child’s normal age group will be processed as part of the main admissions round. They will be considered on the basis of the admission arrangements laid out in this policy, including the oversubscription criteria listed in section 2. Applications will not be treated as a lower priority if parents have made a request for a child to be admitted outside the normal age group.

Parents will always be informed of the reasons for any decision on the year group a child should be admitted to. Parents do not have a right to appeal if they are offered a place at the school, but it is not in their preferred age group.

8. In Year Admissions

You can apply for a place for your child at any time outside the normal admissions round. As is the case in the normal admissions round, all children whose EHCP names the school will be admitted. Likewise, if there are spaces available in the year group you are applying for, your child will be offered a place. For applications for in-year admissions you should use the application form provided by your home Local Authority (regardless of which Local Authority the schools are in). Please note that neither the Local Authority nor any of the Trust’s schools/academies maintain waiting lists for available spaces for in-year admission applications.

9. Monitoring Arrangements

This policy will be reviewed and approved by the Board of Trustees every year.

Whenever changes to the admission arrangements are proposed (except where the change is an increase to the PAN), the Board of Trustees will publicly consult on these changes.

The Board of Trustees will consult on the admission arrangements at least once every 7 years, even if there have been no changes during that period. Consultation will be for a minimum of 6 weeks.

Explanatory notes to be read in conjunction with the Over Subscription Criteria listed in Section 2

Note 1

Looked after children or children who have previously been looked after but immediately after being looked after become the subject of an adoption, residence or special guardianship order. This includes 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 (See Section 1.7 of the Admission Code).

Note 2

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 - that he/she has exceptional needs, which means that admission to a particular school is essential. A panel of governors from the school/academy 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.

Note 3

Sibling includes: natural sisters/brothers; half-sisters/brothers; stepsisters/brothers; adopted sisters/brothers; sisters/ brothers of fostered children, 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.

Where the last place to be allocated would mean that a sibling group i.e. twins, triplets or other multiple birth sibling groups would be split, the sibling group will be given priority over other children.

Note 4

Droylsden Academy’s Partner Primary Schools are:

Aldwyn
Audenshaw
Fairfield Road
Greenside
Manchester Road
Moorside
Poplar Street
St Anne’s RC Audenshaw
St Mary’s C of E Droylsden
St Stephen’s C of E
St Stephen’s RC Droylsden

Hyde High School’s Partner Primary Schools are:

Arundale
Bradley Green
Broadbent Fold
Discovery Academy
Dowson
Endeavour
Flowery Field
Gee Cross Holy Trinity
Godley
Greenfield
Linden Road
Oakfield
Pinfold
St George’s CE Hyde
St Paul’s RC Hyde

Mossley Hollins High School’s Partner Primary Schools are:

Buckton Vale
Livingstone
Micklehurst All Saints
Millbrook
Milton St John’s
St George’s
St Joseph’s
St Raphael’s

Note 5

Preference will be given to students living nearest to the school/academy. The address from which distances are measured will be the permanent principal residential address, at the time of application, of the parent (as defined in the introduction to the TMBC Moving On booklet, "We're Here to Help"). The school/academy will not take into account an intention to move to another address without a solicitor's letter confirming an exchange of contract for purchase of a property, or a long-term agreement for renting a residential property.

When a child lives with parents who share responsibility, each for part of a week, the home address, for the purpose of distance measurements and travel considerations, 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.

Tame River Educational Trust Admission Arrangements

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