Silverdale Primary Academy
2024/2025
2022/2023 & 2023/2024
Full time places in reception classes will be available in September of the academic year within which the child becomes five years old.
Although parents have the right to express a preference for Silverdale Primary Academy there is no guarantee of a place being offered.
It is Silverdale Primary Academy policy to try and meet parents’ wishes where possible, however in some cases there may be more applications than there are places available. Admission when oversubscribed is determined by the oversubscription criteria detailed below.
Oversubscription Criteria
If the total number of preferences for admission to Silverdale Primary Academy exceeds the school’s Published Admission Number (PAN), the following order of priority is used to allocate the available places. (N.B., after applying the oversubscription criteria, where an applicant can be offered a place at more than one preferred school then they will be offered a place at the school ranked highest on their application.)
- Children in care and children who ceased to be in care because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order), 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
- Children who satisfy the following tests:
Test 1: the child is distinguished from the great majority of other applicants either on their own individual medical grounds or by other exceptional circumstances.
Medical grounds must be supported by a medical report (obtained by the applicant and provided at the point of application). This report must clearly justify, for health reasons only, why it is better for the child’s health to attend Silverdale Primary Academy rather than any other school.
Exceptional circumstances must relate to the Academy and the individual child, i.e. the circumstances of the child, not the specific economic or social circumstances of the parent/carer, and be supported by a professional report (obtained by the applicant and provided at the point of application), e.g. social worker, justifying why it is better for the child to attend Silverdale Primary Academy rather than any other school.
Test 2: the child would suffer hardship if they were unable to attend Silverdale Primary Academy.
Hardship means severe suffering of any kind, not merely difficulty or inconvenience, which is likely to be experienced as a result of the child attending a different school. Applicants must provide detailed information about both the type and severity of any likely hardship at the time of application.
- Children who have an elder brother or sister in attendance at Silverdale Primary Academy and who will still be attending the school at the time of the proposed admission date. (For admission purposes, a brother or sister is a child who lives, at the same address and either: have one or both natural parents in common; are related by a parents marriage; are adopted or fostered by a common parent or are unrelated children who live at the same address, whose parents live as partners.)
- Children living within the defined catchment of the Academy.
- Other children arranged in order of priority according to how near their home addresses are to the main gate of the nursery setting, determined by a straight-line measurement as calculated using the Local Authority Geographical Information System.
Where it is not possible to accommodate all children applying for places within a particular category then Silverdale Primary Academy will allocate the available places in accordance with the remaining criteria. If for instance, all the catchment area children cannot be accommodated, children who are catchment area children and satisfy category (3) will receive offers of a place, followed by children who are catchment area children and satisfy category (4), etc.
Additional Notes
Copies of school catchment area maps are available from the Local Authority or Silverdale Primary Academy individual schools.
There is no charge or cost related to the admission of a child to a school.
Admissions are administered through a coordinated admission scheme and preferences for community, controlled, aided and foundation schools will be processed centrally by the School Admissions and Transport Service. Each child will receive only one offer of a place at a Staffordshire school.
Attendance at a particular infant school will not guarantee admission to any particular junior school. Parents must make a separate application for admission to junior school at the appropriate time.
In accordance with legislation, children who have a statutory statement of special educational need that names a particular school as being the most appropriate to meet the child’s needs must be admitted to that school. This will reduce the number of places available to other applicants.
Children in Care means children who are in the care of, or provided with accommodation by a local authority in accordance with section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989 at the time of making the application.
It is the applicant’s responsibility to provide any supporting information required in order for the application to be assessed against the published admissions criteria. Silverdale Primary Academy will not seek to obtain this information on behalf of the applicant.
The Local Authority uses a Geographical Information System (GIS) to calculate home to school distances in miles. The measurement is calculated using Ordnance Survey (OS) data from an applicant's home address to the main front gate of the school. The coordinates of an applicant's home address are determined using the Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and OS Address Point data.
The requirement for Silverdale Primary Academy to meet the Infant Class Size legislation may result in the refusal of catchment area or sibling applications where a class has already reached its limit of 30 pupils. However, there are permitted exceptions to this legislation which Silverdale Primary Academy will observe when considering applications.
The home address is considered to be the child’s along with their parent/carer’s main and genuine principal place of residence at the time of the allocation of places i.e. where they are normally and regularly living. If a child is resident with friends or relatives (for reasons other than legal guardianship), the friends or relatives address will not be considered for allocation purposes.
Where parents have shared responsibility for a child and the child lives with both parents for part of the school week, parents will be required to provide documentary evidence to support the address they wish to be considered for allocation purposes.
If a place is offered on the basis of an address that is subsequently found to be different from a child’s normal and permanent home address then that place is likely to be withdrawn.
If there are a limited number of spaces available and we cannot distinguish between applicants using the criteria listed, such as in the case of children who live in the same block of flats, then the child or children who will be offered the available spaces will be randomly selected. This process will be independently verified.
Any Staffordshire child not obtaining a place at any of their 1 or 2 parents preferred schools will be allocated a place at their catchment area school (if places remain available) or the next nearest school with a space available and advised about the independent appeals process.
Deferred Entry to Reception Class
Silverdale Primary Academy will consider requests from parents to retain a place in the preferred school where the parents wish to defer their child’s entry to a Reception Class until later in the same academic year, or until the term in which the child reaches compulsory school age. The effect is that the place will be held for the child and is not available to be offered to any other child. Where it is possible to offer a place, deferral will be supported if the request is made at the normal time of application. A parent may not defer entry beyond the beginning of the term after the child’s fifth birthday, nor beyond the academic year for which the application was accepted.
Silverdale Primary Academy will also consider requests from parents who wish their child to attend Reception Class on a part-time basis until the child reaches compulsory school age.
Waiting lists
Unsuccessful applicants will be placed on a waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria stated above and not based on the date their application was received. If places become available after the offer date, they will be offered to the child at the top of the waiting list.
For cases where the infant class size regulations apply, the waiting list will operate until the cohort concerned leaves Year 2.
Inclusion on a Silverdale Primary Academy waiting list does not mean that a place will eventually become available.
A child’s position on a waiting list is not fixed and is subject to change during the year, i.e. they can go up or down the list, since each added child will require the list to be ranked again in line with the oversubscription criteria listed above.
Children who are the subject of a direction by a local authority to admit or who are allocated to Silverdale Primary Academy in accordance with the Fair Access Protocol will take precedence over those on the waiting list.
Late Applications
Application forms received after the closing date will be considered alongside those applicants who applied on time wherever possible. Where it is not practicable because places have already been allocated, or are shortly to be allocated, then late applicants will be considered only after those applicants who applied by the published closing date.
A late application does not affect the right of appeal or the right to be placed on Silverdale Primary Academy waiting list.
Repeat Applications
Parents do not have the right to a second appeal in respect of Silverdale Primary Academy for the same academic year unless, in exceptional circumstances, Silverdale Primary Academy has accepted a second application from the appellant because of a significant and material change in the circumstances of the parent, child, or school but still refused admission.
“In-Year Transfer” Arrangements
Parents or carers seeking to transfer to Silverdale Primary Academy may make an application using the appropriate application form. This application will be processed in the normal way but parents and carers need to be aware that any date set for joining may be after the next term or half term holiday and those parents/carers are responsible for ensuring that their child continues to receive appropriate education in the interim.
Allocating Places
The decision to offer or refuse in year transfers is made in conjunction with the LGB. A clear record of any decisions on applications, including in year applications, will be maintained.
Reasons for refusal of an in-year admission
United Learning schools fully recognise the need to meet parental preference where possible, and in-year admissions will be accepted wherever possible. However, where the relevant year group within the school is full, there are 2 clear reasons why an in-year admission would need to be refused:
1. Infant Group Sizes: the law states that children in infant classes (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2) cannot be taught in classes of more than 30 pupils to one fully qualified teacher (see below). For this reason, a place in-year cannot be offered if doing so would breach the duty to comply with the infant class size limit, unless one of the legally permitted exceptions applies.
2. Ordinary prejudice grounds: if the relevant year group within the school is currently full and the point has been reached where considerations of parental preference have become outweighed by the adverse financial and accommodation consequences of admitting further pupils, then an in-year admission can be refused. This would be on the basis that It would place pressure on staff and existing pupils and have an impact on successful teaching and learning and risks prejudicing the provision of efficient education and the efficient use of resources in terms of Section 86(3) of the School Standards & Framework Act 1998. In years of entry (e.g., Year R or 7) the school must admit up to its Published Admission Number (PAN) throughout that year and can only refuse on prejudice grounds once that number has been reached. The PAN does not apply in other year groups although it is often used as an indicator of the year group’s capacity.
NB: Independent Appeal Panel: However, schools should note that parents can appeal, and must be told how to appeal, when their request has been refused. Decisions of the independent appeal panel are binding on Admission Authorities. Therefore, any successful appellants must be admitted to the School.
Fair Access Protocol: It is also possible that a place may be allocated under Fair Access Protocols in due course.
Direction: Under an Academy’s funding agreement the Secretary of State can direct an Academy to admit any child. The Local Authority can only ask an Academy to admit a pupil but has no power to direct it to do so. However, where an agreement cannot be reached, the Local Authority can ask the Secretary of State to intervene.
Infant Class Sizes
Infant classes must not contain more than 30 pupils with a single school teacher. Additional children can only be admitted under limited and tightly defined exceptional circumstances. These children will remain ‘an excepted pupil’ for the time they are in an infant class or until the class numbers fall back to the current infant class size limit. ‘Exceptional circumstances’ include children with an Education and Health Care Plan that names the school; Looked After Children and previously Looked After Children who do not have a school place as part of the normal admissions round; and children admitted after a procedural error in the original application process. Further information about exceptional circumstances are detailed in paragraph 2.16 of the Code.
Service Children
For families of service personnel with a confirmed posting, or crown servants returning from overseas, admission authorities must:
a) allocate a place in advance of the family arriving in the area (as long as one is available), provided the application is accompanied by an official letter that declares a relocation date. Admission authorities must not refuse to process an application and must not refuse a place solely because the family do not yet have an intended address, or do not yet live in the area.
b) use the address at which the child will live when applying their oversubscription criteria, as long as the parents provide some evidence of their intended address. Admission authorities must use a Unit or quartering address as the child’s home address when considering the application against their oversubscription criteria, where a parent requests this.
c) not reserve blocks of places for these children.
d) ensure that arrangements in their area support the Government’s commitment to removing disadvantage for service children. Arrangements must be appropriate for the area and be described in the local authority’s composite prospectus.
This Policy is to be read in conjunction with:
- Human Rights Act
- Equal Opportunities Policy
Full time places in reception classes will be available in September of the academic year within which the child becomes five years old.
Although parents have the right to express a preference for Silverdale Primary Academy there is no guarantee of a place being offered.
It is Silverdale Primary Academy policy to try and meet parents’ wishes where possible, however in some cases there may be more applications than there are places available. Admission when oversubscribed is determined by the oversubscription criteria detailed below.
Oversubscription Criteria
If the total number of preferences for admission to Silverdale Primary Academy exceeds the school’s Published Admission Number (PAN), the following order of priority is used to allocate the available places. (N.B., after applying the oversubscription criteria, where an applicant can be offered a place at more than one preferred school then they will be offered a place at the school ranked highest on their application.)
- Children in care and children who ceased to be in care because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order), 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
- Children who satisfy the following tests:
Test 1: the child is distinguished from the great majority of other applicants either on their own individual medical grounds or by other exceptional circumstances.
Medical grounds must be supported by a medical report (obtained by the applicant and provided at the point of application). This report must clearly justify, for health reasons only, why it is better for the child’s health to attend Silverdale Primary Academy rather than any other school.
Exceptional circumstances must relate to the Academy and the individual child, i.e. the circumstances of the child, not the specific economic or social circumstances of the parent/carer, and be supported by a professional report (obtained by the applicant and provided at the point of application), e.g. social worker, justifying why it is better for the child to attend Silverdale Primary Academy rather than any other school.
Test 2: the child would suffer hardship if they were unable to attend Silverdale Primary Academy.
Hardship means severe suffering of any kind, not merely difficulty or inconvenience, which is likely to be experienced as a result of the child attending a different school. Applicants must provide detailed information about both the type and severity of any likely hardship at the time of application.
- Children who have an elder brother or sister in attendance at Silverdale Primary Academy and who will still be attending the school at the time of the proposed admission date. (For admission purposes, a brother or sister is a child who lives, at the same address and either: have one or both natural parents in common; are related by a parents marriage; are adopted or fostered by a common parent or are unrelated children who live at the same address, whose parents live as partners.)
- Children living within the defined catchment of the Academy.
- Other children arranged in order of priority according to how near their home addresses are to the main gate of the nursery setting, determined by a straight-line measurement as calculated using the Local Authority Geographical Information System.
Where it is not possible to accommodate all children applying for places within a particular category then Silverdale Primary Academy will allocate the available places in accordance with the remaining criteria. If for instance, all the catchment area children cannot be accommodated, children who are catchment area children and satisfy category (3) will receive offers of a place, followed by children who are catchment area children and satisfy category (4), etc.
Additional Notes
Copies of school catchment area maps are available from the Local Authority or Silverdale Primary Academy individual schools.
There is no charge or cost related to the admission of a child to a school.
Admissions are administered through a coordinated admission scheme and preferences for community, controlled, aided and foundation schools will be processed centrally by the School Admissions and Transport Service. Each child will receive only one offer of a place at a Staffordshire school.
Attendance at a particular infant school will not guarantee admission to any particular junior school. Parents must make a separate application for admission to junior school at the appropriate time.
In accordance with legislation, children who have a statutory statement of special educational need that names a particular school as being the most appropriate to meet the child’s needs must be admitted to that school. This will reduce the number of places available to other applicants.
Children in Care means children who are in the care of, or provided with accommodation by a local authority in accordance with section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989 at the time of making the application.
It is the applicant’s responsibility to provide any supporting information required in order for the application to be assessed against the published admissions criteria. Silverdale Primary Academy will not seek to obtain this information on behalf of the applicant.
The Local Authority uses a Geographical Information System (GIS) to calculate home to school distances in miles. The measurement is calculated using Ordnance Survey (OS) data from an applicant's home address to the main front gate of the school. The coordinates of an applicant's home address are determined using the Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and OS Address Point data.
The requirement for Silverdale Primary Academy to meet the Infant Class Size legislation may result in the refusal of catchment area or sibling applications where a class has already reached its limit of 30 pupils. However, there are permitted exceptions to this legislation which Silverdale Primary Academy will observe when considering applications.
The home address is considered to be the child’s along with their parent/carer’s main and genuine principal place of residence at the time of the allocation of places i.e. where they are normally and regularly living. If a child is resident with friends or relatives (for reasons other than legal guardianship), the friends or relatives address will not be considered for allocation purposes.
Where parents have shared responsibility for a child and the child lives with both parents for part of the school week, parents will be required to provide documentary evidence to support the address they wish to be considered for allocation purposes.
If a place is offered on the basis of an address that is subsequently found to be different from a child’s normal and permanent home address then that place is likely to be withdrawn.
If there are a limited number of spaces available and we cannot distinguish between applicants using the criteria listed, such as in the case of children who live in the same block of flats, then the child or children who will be offered the available spaces will be randomly selected. This process will be independently verified.
Any Staffordshire child not obtaining a place at any of their 1 or 2 parents preferred schools will be allocated a place at their catchment area school (if places remain available) or the next nearest school with a space available and advised about the independent appeals process.
Deferred Entry to Reception Class
Silverdale Primary Academy will consider requests from parents to retain a place in the preferred school where the parents wish to defer their child’s entry to a Reception Class until later in the same academic year, or until the term in which the child reaches compulsory school age. The effect is that the place will be held for the child and is not available to be offered to any other child. Where it is possible to offer a place, deferral will be supported if the request is made at the normal time of application. A parent may not defer entry beyond the beginning of the term after the child’s fifth birthday, nor beyond the academic year for which the application was accepted.
Silverdale Primary Academy will also consider requests from parents who wish their child to attend Reception Class on a part-time basis until the child reaches compulsory school age.
Waiting lists
Unsuccessful applicants will be placed on a waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria stated above and not based on the date their application was received. If places become available after the offer date, they will be offered to the child at the top of the waiting list.
For cases where the infant class size regulations apply, the waiting list will operate until the cohort concerned leaves Year 2.
Inclusion on a Silverdale Primary Academy waiting list does not mean that a place will eventually become available.
A child’s position on a waiting list is not fixed and is subject to change during the year, i.e. they can go up or down the list, since each added child will require the list to be ranked again in line with the oversubscription criteria listed above.
Children who are the subject of a direction by a local authority to admit or who are allocated to Silverdale Primary Academy in accordance with the Fair Access Protocol will take precedence over those on the waiting list.
Late Applications
Application forms received after the closing date will be considered alongside those applicants who applied on time wherever possible. Where it is not practicable because places have already been allocated, or are shortly to be allocated, then late applicants will be considered only after those applicants who applied by the published closing date.
A late application does not affect the right of appeal or the right to be placed on Silverdale Primary Academy waiting list.
Repeat Applications
Parents do not have the right to a second appeal in respect of Silverdale Primary Academy for the same academic year unless, in exceptional circumstances, Silverdale Primary Academy has accepted a second application from the appellant because of a significant and material change in the circumstances of the parent, child, or school but still refused admission.
“In-Year Transfer” Arrangements
Parents or carers seeking to transfer to Silverdale Primary Academy may make an application using the appropriate application form. This application will be processed in the normal way but parents and carers need to be aware that any date set for joining may be after the next term or half term holiday and those parents/carers are responsible for ensuring that their child continues to receive appropriate education in the interim.
This Policy is to be read in conjunction with:
- Human Rights Act
- Equal Opportunities Policy
- Disability Discrimination Policy