Admissions Criteria
WESTLEIGH ST PAUL’S ADMISSIONS CRITERIA
22/23
23/24
24/25
Applications for admission must be made on the LA application form and the school’s Supplementary Information Form should also be completed, signed and returned. Without the Supplementary Information Form, governors will not be able to consider applications under criteria 3, 4 and 5.
THE SCHOOL HAS AN ADMISSION NUMBER OF 30
CRITERIA IN ORDER OF PRIORITY
1. Looked after children, previously looked after children and children who appear to the Local Authority to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care because they were 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). Applications for previously looked after children must be supported with appropriate evidence i.e. a copy of the adoption order, child arrangements order or special guardianship order.
A child is regarded as having been in state care in a place outside of England if they were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation or any other provider of care whose sole purpose is to benefit society. Applications must be supported with appropriate evidence that the child has been adopted from state care.
2. Children who already have brothers and sisters in the school at the time of admission. This includes full half brothers/sisters, step brothers/sisters and foster
brothers/sisters living at the same address as part of the same family unit.
3. The child plus a parent/guardian that attend public worship at either St Peter’s or St Paul’s Church Westleigh at least four times in any calendar year from January to December, previous to application.
4. Baptised members of the Church of England living in the Parish.
5. Baptised members of the Church of England living outside the Parish.
Parish Boundary Map available to view:
https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap
6. Proximity to school premises measured in a straight line distance as measured by the LA from the child’s home address to the rear entrance point.
TIE BREAKER
Where there are more applicants in one category than there are places left to offer, the governing body will offer places to those pupils who live nearest to the school. The distance will be measured in a straight line from the child’s home address to the rear entrance point at school.
In cases where there are two or more children with the same distance measurement (for example if more than one child lives in a block of flats), where to admit another child would breach the infant class size regulations, a system will be used to randomly pick who will be offered a place. The random allocation process will be supervised by someone independent of the school.
Please contact the school if you would like more information about this.
If we offer the last place available to one of twins (or triplets and so on) we will admit the other twin/triplets too.
Carers who are unsuccessful at gaining a place for their child may appeal against the decision. Appeals should be sent to school in writing within fifteen days from the date of the letter refusing admission. Appeals will be dealt with by an independent panel.
Please click the link to see the school admission appeal timetable. School admission appeals timetable (wigan.gov.uk)
Waiting Lists
Places may become available at a school after the offer date. To decide which children have these places, we will:
put all children who we refused a place at one of their preferences on the waiting list for the school;
keep the list in priority order, decided by the oversubscription criteria for the school only;
offer places that become available to the next child on the waiting list; and
keep the waiting list until the end of the autumn term.
Important information about the waiting list: We cannot take into account the length of time a child’s name has been on the waiting list, only the admission criteria for the school. This means that your child’s position on the list may change if another parent asks to be put on the list and their child has higher priority in the admission criteria.
Residence
When considering your child’s application, we will use the permanent home address we have for you at the closing date for applications.
If parents are separated and the child spends time at each parent’s address, the address we use for admission to school is that of the main carer. We use the address of the parent who gets the Child Benefit for this.
Brothers and Sisters
We will include:
half-brothers and half-sisters;
stepbrothers and stepsisters; and
foster brothers and foster sisters;
who live at the same address as part of the same family unit.
Deferred Entry
Parents can request that the date their child is admitted to the school is deferred until later in the school year or until the child reaches compulsory school age in that school year. Where entry is deferred, the place will be held open and not offered to another child. Parents cannot defer entry beyond the beginning of the term after the child’s fifth birthday, nor beyond the academic year for which the original application was accepted.
Part-time Attendance
Parents can request that their child attends part-time until the child reaches compulsory school age.
Admission of children outside their normal age group
Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group, for example, to a higher year group if the child is gifted and talented or to a lower year group if the child has experienced problems such as ill health.
The parents of a summer born child (born between 1 April and 30 August) may choose not to send their 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.
A decision is made on the basis of the circumstances of each case.
The process is as follows:
Stage 1 – request
Parents make a formal request to the Local Authority School Organisation Team in writing with any supporting evidence they wish to be considered.
A request for early entry into Year 7 should be made before 31 October in the previous academic year in order to give sufficient time for the case to be considered prior to the offer of school places on 1 March.
A request for delayed entry to reception class should be made at the same time as applying for a place for normal entry (i.e. by the closing date of 15 January) in order to give sufficient time for the case to be considered prior to the offer of school places on 16 April.
A request for in year admission outside of the normal age group should be made on the normal in year transfer form.
We do not accept requests for early entry to reception class for children who will not be of statutory school age.
Stage 2 – decision
Requests for voluntary-aided, foundation and academy schools will be referred to the school to be considered.
Requests for community and voluntary controlled schools will be considered by the local authority. We will look at the following factors but these are not exhaustive:
Parent’s views
The needs of the child and the possible impact on them of being educated out of year group
The child’s medical history and views of medical professionals if appropriate
In the case of children born prematurely the fact that they may have naturally fallen into the lower age group if they had been born on their expected date of birth
Whether delayed academic, social, emotional or physical development is adversely affecting their readiness for school;