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St. Mary's Catholic Primary, Leek

Admissions arrangements 2023/2024, 2024/2025 & 2025/2026

St Mary’s Catholic Academy is part of the Painsley Catholic Academy. The admissions authority for the school is the Board of Directors of the Painsley Catholic Academy who has responsibility for admissions to this school. The Board of Directors has delegated responsibility for the administration of the admissions process to the Local Governing Body of St Mary’s Catholic Academy.

The admissions process for St Mary’s Catholic Academy is part of the Staffordshire Local Authority coordinated admissions scheme. To apply for a place at St Mary’s Catholic Academy in the normal admissions round, an application must be made using the school admission application process of the local authority in which you live naming St Mary’s Catholic Academy on the application form. Applications need to be made by 15th January. A Supplementary Information Form (SIF) must also be completed and returned directly to the school by the same date (see Note 2).

All applications which are submitted on time will be considered at the same time, after the closing date.

You will be advised of the outcome of your application on 16th April, or the next working day, by the local authority on behalf of the school.

Please note that throughout this policy, the term parent relates to any individual with responsibility for a child for whom an application is being made.

The ethos of this school is Catholic. The 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 Board of Directors as part of the Catholic Church in accordance with its 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. As 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. All parents are therefore expected to give their full, unreserved and positive support for the aims and ethos of the school. This does not affect the right of a parent who is not of the faith to apply for a place for their child at the school.

The Local Governing Body is the admissions authority and has responsibility for admissions to this school. The Board of Directors has set its admission number at 30 (PAN) pupils to be admitted to the Reception class in the school year which begins in September. (See Note 1 below)

Where there are more applications for places than the number of places available, places will be offered according to the following order of priority. If there is oversubscription within a category, the Board of Directors will give priority firstly to those who have a brother or sister (see note 4) attending St Mary’s Catholic Academy at the time of admission and then secondly to children of staff who have been employed at St Mary’s Catholic Academy for two or more years or less than two years where they were employed to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage (this applies to teaching and non-teaching staff) and then thirdly by distance from the home address to the school. (See note 5 below).

For the purposes of this policy, parish boundaries are as shown on the Archdiocese of Birmingham parish boundary map and will be applied to the admission arrangements for the academic year 2019/2020 & 2020/2021. A copy of the parish boundary map can be obtained on request from the school office and is available on the school website under the admissions tab.

Oversubscription Criteria

  1. Baptised Catholic children (see Note 2 below) who are looked after or previously looked after (See Note 3).
       
  2. Baptised Catholic children (see Note 2) living within the parish of St Mary’s, Leek.
       
  3. Other Baptised Catholic children.
       
  4. Non-Catholic children who are looked after or previously looked after (See Note 3).
       
  5. Non-Catholic children.

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. 

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.

Note 2

In all categories, for a child to be considered as Catholic, evidence of Catholic Baptism or Reception into the Church will be required. For a definition of a Baptised Catholic, see the Appendix. Those who face difficulties in producing written evidence of Catholic Baptism or Reception into the Church should contact their Parish Priest.

Parents making an application for a Catholic child should also complete a Supplementary Information Form (SIF) which should be returned directly to the school. If you do not provide the information required in the Supplementary Information Form and return it by the closing date, together with all supporting documentation, this is likely to affect your child’s chance of being offered a place at this school.

For the purposes of this policy, a looked after child living with a family where at least one of the carers is Catholic will be considered as Catholic.  The carer must forward a copy of their own Catholic Baptismal or Reception certificate directly to the school in order for this priority to be given to the child as failure to do so will result in the looked after child being ranked as a non-Catholic.

Note 3

“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 the local authority or (b) being provided with accommodation by them in the exercise of their social services functions (eg children with foster parents) at the time of making the application to the school. A “previously looked after child” is a child who immediately moved on from that status after becoming subject to an adoption, child arrangement order or special guardianship order and includes those children who appear to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state case as a result of being adopted.

For the purposes of this policy, a looked after child living with a family where at least one of the carers is Catholic will be considered as Catholic. The carer must forward a copy of their own Catholic Baptismal or Reception certificate directly to the school in order for this priority to be given to the child as failure to do so will result in the looked after child being ranked as a non-Catholic.”

Note 4

For all applicants the definition of a brother or sister is:

  • A brother or sister sharing the same parents
  • A half-brother or half-sister, where two children share one common parent
  • A step-brother or step-sister, where two children are related by a parents’ marriage or where they are unrelated but their parents are living as partners.
  • Adopted or fostered children

Note 5

Distances are measured by the Local Authority on behalf of the school. 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 is determined and provided by the local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and OS address point data.

In a very small number of cases, where the school is oversubscribed, it may not be possible to decide between the applications of those pupils who are the final qualifiers for a place when applying the published admission criteria. 

For example, this may occur when children in the same year group live at the same address, or if the distance between the home and the school is exactly the same, for example, blocks of flats. If there is no other way of separating the application according to the admissions criteria and to admit both, or all, of the children would cause the Published Admission Number for the child’s year group to be exceeded, the Local Authority, on behalf of the Local Governing Body, will use a computerised system to randomly select the child to be offered the final place.

The Local Governing Body will, where possible, admit twins and all siblings from multiple births where one of the children is the last child ranked within the school’s published admission number.

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 Local Authority’s Common Application Form.

Where parents have shared responsibility for a child, and the child lives with both parents for part of the week, then the main residence will be determined as the address where the child lives for the majority of the week.

Parents may be requested to supply documentary evidence to satisfy the Local Governing Body that the child lives at the address put forward by the parents.

The Local Governing Body 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.

School entry

Parents must, by law, ensure that their child is receiving suitable full time education from the beginning of the term following the child’s fifth birthday, when they will have begun to be of compulsory school age.

Where a place is offered in the school, the pupil will be entitled to take up that place, on a full-time basis 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 and not beyond the first day of the summer term.

A child may take up a part-time place until later in the school year, but not beyond the point at which the child reached 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.

The parent of a child whose fifth birthday falls during the summer term who wishes to defer their child’s admission until the beginning of the following academic year (when the child will have begun to be of compulsory school age) will therefore need to make a separate in-year application for a place in Year 1 at the school. Any reception class place offered following an application made for the admission round will be withdrawn if the child does not take up that place by the first day of the summer term.

 

Applications for children to be admitted into a class outside of their normal age group

Parents have the right to request, but not insist, that their child be considered for admission to a class outside of their normal age group. This could be the case, for example, if a child is gifted and talented, has experienced problems such as ill health, or that the child is summer born, i.e. a child born between 1st April and 31st August. Parents who wish for their child to be considered for admission to a class outside of their normal age group must make an application for the normal age group in the first instance. Parents must then submit a formal request to the Local Governing Body for the child to be considered for a different age group class instead. This request should be in the form of a written letter of application outlining the reasons why they wish for their child to be considered to be admitted into a class outside of their normal age group and enclosing any supportive evidence and documentation that they wish to be taken into account as part of that request.

The Local Governing Body will consider requests submitted for a child to be admitted into a class outside of their normal age group and advise parents of the outcome of that request before national offer day, having taken into account the information provided by the parents, the child’s best interests and the views of the Head Teacher.

If the request is refused, the original application for the normal age group class will progress through the Local Authority co-ordinated admissions scheme, be considered by the Local Governing Body and the parents advised of the outcome.

If the request is agreed and the year group for which the parents have requested a place is a current year group in the school, then the application will be considered by the Local Governing Body and the parents advised of the outcome.

If the request is agreed and the year group for which the parents have requested a place is for a future year group, i.e. Reception in September 2025, then the original application is withdrawn and the parents must submit a fresh application for Reception 2025 when applications open in the autumn term of 2024. Please note that parents only have the right to re-apply for a place. Where the Local Governing Body agrees to consider an application for Reception the following year, that application is considered alongside all other applications received and parents will be advised of the outcome of that application on national offer day. No place is reserved or held for the child in advance.

If parents are considering submitting an application for their child to be admitted into a class outside of their normal age group, it is strongly recommended that they also read the DFE guidance.

Applications from children currently attending St. Mary's Nursery

Attendance at St Mary’sNursery does not automatically guarantee that a place will be offered in the Reception class of St Mary’s Catholic Academy. Parents must apply for a Reception place in exactly the same way as parents of children not attending the Nursery. All applications will be considered against the oversubscription criteria by the Local Governing Body in the same way regardless of whether the child does or does not attend the Nursery at the time of application.

Appeals

Parents who wish to appeal against the decision of the Local Governing Bdy to refuse their child a place in the school should make that appeal request in writing to the Chair of the Local Governing Body at the school address. Appeals will be heard by an independent panel.

Please note that parents do not have the right to appeal if their request for their children to be admitted to a class outside of their normal year group has been refused, but the Local Governing Body have offered a place in the normal age group instead.

Repeat applications

Any parent can apply for a place for their child at any time outside of the normal admissions round. Parents do not have the right to a second appeal in respect of the same school for the same academic year unless, in exceptional circumstances, the Local Governing Body has accepted a second application from the parent because of a significant and material change in the circumstances of the parent, child or school, but have still refused admission.

Late applications

Late applications will be dealt with in accordance with the Local Authority’s co-ordinated admissions scheme. This states that applications 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 applications will be considered only after those that were made before this point.

You are encouraged to ensure that your application is received on time.

Change in preference

Once parents have submitted their preference, they will not be allowed to change them without an exceptional change in their circumstances, for example, if the family has recently moved address or an older sibling has changed schools. All requests to change preferences should be made in writing to the Local Authority to whom the parents submitted the original application. Where a change of preference is submitted for an oversubscribed school, without an exceptional change in circumstances, then the application will be refused.

Waiting list

In addition to their right to appeal, children who have not been offered a place at St Mary’s Catholic Academy but were offered a school that was ranked as a lower preference on their application form will be added to a waiting list. 

The waiting list will be maintained until the last day of the Summer term 2026 and will then be discarded. 

A child’s position on a waiting list is not fixed.  When a new child joins the waiting list, all applicants on that waiting list will be re-ranked to ensure that the list is always maintained in oversubscription criteria order.  This means that a child’s position on the waiting list could go up or down during the time that it is on the list.  Any late applications accepted will be added to the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. 

Inclusion on the waiting list does not mean that a place will eventually become available.  It may be that those already offered places may accept them, thereby filling all available places. 

Children who are the subject of a direction by the Local Authority to admit or who are allocated to a school in accordance with the Fair Access Protocol take precedence over those on a waiting list.

In year fair access protocol

The Local Governing Body of St Mary’s Catholic Academy 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 Local Governing Body is empowered to give absolute priority to a child where admission is requested under any locally agreed protocol. The Local Governing Body has this power, even when admitting the child would mean exceeding the published admission number subject to the infant class size exceptions.

Applications other than the normal intake to reception class (In-year admissions)

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 places available.  Further information regarding instructions on how to apply for a place in the school at any other time other than the normal intake is available on the school’s website at https://stmarys-catholic-academy.secure-primarysite.net/apply-for-a-place/ 

To apply for a place in the school in-year, parents will need to complete the school’s own application form which is available on our https://stmarys-catholic-academy.secure-primarysite.net/apply-for-a-place/ and return it directly to the school ensuring that any required supplementary information is attached. 

If there are no places available, the child will be added to the waiting list (see above). 

Parents will be advised of the outcome of their application in writing and, where the Board of Director’s decision is to refuse their child a place, have the right to appeal to an independent appeal panel. 

There is no charge or cost related to the admission of a child to this school.

.

Appendix

Definition of a "Baptised Catholic"

A “Baptised Catholic” is one who:

  • Has been baptised into full communion (Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 837) with the Catholic Church by the Rites of Baptism of one of the various ritual Churches in communion with the See of Rome. Written evidence of this baptism can be obtained by recourse to the Baptismal Registers of the church in which the baptism took place (Cf. Code of Canon Law, 877 & 878).

Or

  • Has been validly baptised in a separated ecclesial community and subsequently received into full communion with the Catholic Church by the Rite of Reception of Baptised Christians into the Full Communion of the Catholic Church. Written evidence of their baptism and reception into full communion with the Catholic

Church can be obtained by recourse to the Register of Receptions, or in some cases, a sub-section of the Baptismal Registers of the church in which the Rite of Reception took place (Cf. Rite of Christian Initiation, 399).

Written evidence of baptism

The Governing bodies of Catholic schools and Boards of Directors of Catholic Academies will require written evidence in the form of a Certificate of Baptism or Certificate of Reception before applications for school places can be considered for categories of “Baptised Catholics”. A Certificate of Baptism or Reception is to include: the full name, date of birth, date of Baptism or Reception, and parent(s) name(s). The certificate must also show that it is copied from the records kept by the place of Baptism or Reception.

Those who would have difficulty obtaining written evidence of Catholic Baptism/Reception for a good reason, may still be considered as Baptised Catholics but only after they have been referred to their parish priest who, after consulting the Vicar General, will decide how the question of Baptism/Reception is to be resolved and how written evidence is to be produced in accordance with the law of the Church.

Those who would be considered to have good reason for not obtaining written evidence would include those who cannot contact the place of Baptism/Reception due to persecution or fear, the destruction of the church and the original records, or where Baptism/Reception was administered validly but not in the Parish church where records are kept.

Governors and Boards of Directors may request extra supporting evidence when the written documents that are produced do not clarify the fact that a person was baptised or received into the Catholic Church, (i.e. where the name and address of the Church is not on the certificate or where the name of the Church does not state whether it is a Catholic Church or not.)

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