Anglesey Primary Academy

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

Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) is the Admission Authority for the Academy.

Anglesey Primary Academy has a Published Admission Number (PAN) of 90 for entry into Reception. The Academy will accordingly admit 90 pupils to Reception each year if sufficient applications are received. All applicants will be admitted if 90 or fewer apply.

If there are more than 90 applications, and the Academy is oversubscribed, then after applicants with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan which names the academy have been admitted, priority for any remaining places will be given to those children who meet the oversubscription criteria set out in the priority order below.

Oversubscription Criteria

1. Looked after children and previously looked after children (please see definitions below).
2. Children with exceptional medical or social needs.
3. Children with a sibling (brother or sister) who will still be on roll at the Academy at the time of admission.
4. Children resident in the catchment area of the Academy.
5. Distance - children resident closest to the Academy.

Tie-breaker : Where two or more applicants have equal priority for the last available place (except for twins and children from multiple births) the final tie-breaker will be random allocation, which will be independently verified. N.B. Should the PAN be reached in any criterion before the final oversubscription criterion, then distance will be used to prioritise applicants, with those resident closest to the school receiving the higher priority.

Twins and Multiple Births

Where the parent has made the same preferences of school and, through the normal operation of the admission arrangements, the last available place has been allocated to one twin or child from a multiple birth, the other twin or other children from the multiple birth will be offered a place at the Academy. In such circumstances, both the PAN and the infant class size limit would be exceeded. The other sibling(s) would remain as exceptions to the Infant Class Size legislation for the time they are in an infant class or until the number in the year group falls back to the PAN.

Waiting list

If the Academy receives more applications than there are places available, a waiting list will be maintained by the Academy until the last school day of the summer term. Places from the waiting list will be offered in the order set out in the oversubscription criteria and not in the order that the applications were received. After each added child, the list will be ranked again in line with the published oversubscription criteria.

The Academy works in accordance with the Fair Access Protocol held by the Local Authority (Staffordshire County Council); should a vulnerable child within the protocol require a place at the Academy, they will take precedence over any child 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 applications will be considered only after those applicants who applied by the published closing date.

In-Year Admissions

In-year admissions are applications made outside the normal round of admissions. The Academy will coordinate its own in-year admissions and an application for in-year admission should be made directly to the Academy. On receipt of an in-year application, the Academy will notify the Local Authority of both the application and its outcome, to allow the Local Authority to keep up to date with the availability of school places within the authority.

Admission below compulsory school age and deferred entry

The Academy must provide for the admission of all children in the September following their fourth birthday. Where a child has been offered a place at the Academy:

1. that child is entitled to a full-time place in the September following their fourth birthday;
2. the child’s parents can defer the date their child is admitted to the Academy until later in the school year 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 it was made. Parents must notify the Academy in writing of their intention to delay their child’s start date.
3. Parents also have the right for their child to be admitted on a part-time basis during the Reception Class year, but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age.

After a place at the Academy has been allocated by the normal admissions round, parents may wish to visit the Academy if they are considering deferring their child’s entry or opting for admission to Reception part-time. Parents will have the opportunity to discuss their child’s readiness for school, and the Academy will be able to explain the provision on offer to children in Reception, and how it is tailored to meet the needs of the youngest pupils.

Admission outside the normal age group

Parents may seek a place for their child outside their normal (chronological) 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. Summer born children applies to those born from 1 April to 31 August. These children reach compulsory school age on 31 August following their fifth birthday (or on their fifth birthday if it falls on 31 August). It is likely that most requests for summer born children to be admitted out of their normal age group will come from parents of children born in the later summer months or those born prematurely.

Parents do not have the right to insist that their child is admitted to a particular year group. The Academy will admit children outside their normal age group only in exceptional circumstances. If parents wish their child to be admitted outside their normal age group they must still make their application alongside children applying at the normal age and must make their request for admission outside the normal age group clear on their Application Form to the Local Authority for a school place. At the same time, parents should also write to the Headteacher at the address below to request admission out of the normal age group. Parents should explain why it is in the child’s best interest to be admitted outside their normal age which may include information such as professional evidence as to why this is the case and why an exception should be made in the case of the child. The decision made by AET will be based on the individual circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. In making the decision, AET will consider the views of the Headteacher.

The Academy can be contacted at the following address:

The Headteacher
Anglesey Primary Academy
Clarence Street
Burton on Trent
Staffordshire
DE14 3LG

Tel: 01283 563811

Fax: 01283 564089

Appeals

Parents have a right to appeal the decision of the admission authority, AET, to refuse their child a place at the Academy. AET delegates the administration of appeal to the Academy. Parents who wish to appeal the decision of the admission authority to refuse their child a place at the Academy may apply in writing to the Academy at the address above. Parents have at least 20 school days from the date of their refusal letter to submit their written appeal and should explain clearly the reason(s) for their appeal. Appeals will be heard by an independent panel and will normally be held within 40 school days of the closing date for receiving the notice of appeal.

Some Definitions

Looked after children

The highest priority in the oversubscription criteria must be given to looked after children and previously looked after children. 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 previously looked after child is a child who was looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted or became subject to a child arrangement order (formerly known as a residence order) or a special guardianship order immediately following having been looked after, including those who appear to the Academy to have been in state care outside England (i.e. in the care of or accommodated by a public authority, religious organisation or any other provider whose sole/main purpose is to benefit society) and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. The admission authority may request a copy of the adoption order, child arrangement order or special guardianship order and a letter from the local authority/care provider that last looked after the child confirming that he or she was looked after immediately prior to that order being made.

An adoption order is an order under Section 46 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002.

A child arrangement order settles the arrangements as to the person with whom the child is to live under Section 8 of the Children Act 1989 as amended by Section 12 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Child arrangements orders replace residence orders and any residence order in force prior to 22 April 2014 is deemed to be a child arrangement order.

Section 14A of the Children Act 1989 defines a special guardianship order as an order which appoints one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian(s).

Exceptional Medical or Social Needs

For an applicant to be considered under the exceptional medical or social needs criterion the parent must indicate strong reasons for the child needing to attend this particular Academy. Applications will only be considered under this category if they are supported by a written statement from an independent professional person such as a doctor, health visitor, social worker, or Education Welfare Officer who knows about the child and supports their application to the Academy

The information provided must show clearly why Anglesey Primary Academy is the only school that can meet the needs of the child and any difficulties if alternative schools were offered. The information must confirm the exceptional medical or social need and demonstrate how this particular academy is the only school that can meet the defined needs of the child. Evidence relating to the social or medical circumstances of the parent or other family member may be considered, but only if this impacts on the child and their need to attend this specific Academy. In addition to making it known on the Local Authority’s Common Application Form when requesting priority for a place under this category, parents must also submit all relevant information, including professional evidence, directly to the Academy at the address above by on or before the published closing date for primary school applications.

Sibling (brother or sister)

Sibling is a brother or sister, half brother or sister, adopted brother or sister, step-brother or sister, foster brother or sister or the child of the parent/carer’s partner living in the same family unit in the same family household and address who attends the Academy in any year group excluding Year 6. Children residing in the same household as part of an extended family, such as cousins, will not be treated as siblings.

Catchment area 

To find out about the Academy’s catchment area please check the Local Authority’s website using the link Catchment areas

Resident

The normal family home is taken as the address where the child is resident and at which the person or persons with parental responsibility for the child resides. Where parents live at separate addresses and have joint custody, the address used will be the one where the child spends the main part of the school week (e.g. Sunday night to Thursday night inclusive). Where responsibility for a child is shared evenly, the academy will follow the process used by the Local Authority (see Staffordshire- Admissions to Primary School). Childcare arrangements involving relatives’ addresses do not qualify as normal family addresses for this purpose unless there is a Child Arrangement Order in place.

For children of UK service personnel and crown servants, the Academy will not refuse to process an application or refuse a place solely because the family do not yet have an intended address, or do not yet live in the area. The Academy will use the address at which the child will live when applying oversubscription criteria, as long as some evidence of their intended address is provided. The Academy will use a Unit or quartering address as the home address where requested.

Distance

The distance measure between the applicant’s home and the Academy is provided by the Local Authority and is calculated on the basis of a straight-line measurement between the applicant’s home address and the academy. 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 Academy. The coordinates of an applicant's home address are determined and provided by the Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and OS address point data.