Hazel Slade Primary

Admission Arrangements 2025/2026, 2024/2025, 2023/2024

Introduction

Parents wishing to apply for a place at Hazel Slade Academy must apply through Staffordshire admissions by the published closing date, as shown on the Staffordshire County Council Authority Co-ordinated Scheme 2023 / 2024.

The maximum number of new children we can accept each year is 30 (Published Admission Number - PAN). If there are any more applications than places available, the Governors, who are the Admissions Authority for the Academy, will operate the following oversubscription policy to determine the order of priority for admission:

1. ‘Cared for Children’ and Children who were previously ‘Cared for’.

• A ‘cared for child’ is a child who is in the care of a local authority or provided with accommodation by that local authority (as defined in section 22 of the Children Act 1989).

• Children previously ‘cared for’ are children who were ‘cared for’ as defined above, but immediately after being ‘cared for’ became subject to an adoption, child arrangements order or special guardianship order. A child arrangements order is an order settling the arrangements to be made as to the person with whom the child is to live under section 8 of the Children Act 1989. Section 14A of the Children Act 1989 defines a ‘special guardianship order’ as an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian (or special guardians). This includes children who appear to have been in state care outside England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.

2. Siblings - pupils with brothers or sisters, step-brothers or step-sisters, foster brothers or sisters, half-brothers or half-sisters, adopted brothers or adopted sisters living together as part of one household, already attending the preferred school (in years Reception through to Year 5) and expected to continue at the school in the following school year. (i.e. at the time of admission).

3. Children who have attended the governor run Hazel Slade Nursery which is based at the school and who are in receipt of the Early Years Pupil Premium.

4. Children resident within the designated catchment area of the school. Children will be classed within this criterion if they and their parents/carers are resident within the area served by the school.

5. Pupils living nearest to the school measured using the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) which measures straight line distances in miles from the school’s co-ordinate point to the point of the residence’s co-ordinate point.

We recognise that some children will have only just reached their fourth birthday when they are due to start school. These Reception class children will be offered a full-time place to start in the September of the academic year in which they will be five. Parents may request that their child be admitted to Reception Class on a part-time basis, or that their child be admitted to school later in the same academic year until the child reaches compulsory school age (i.e. beginning of the term after the child’s fifth birthday). The effect is that the place will be held for the child in Reception and is not available to be offered to any other child within the same academic year in which it has been offered.

Before deciding whether to defer their child’s entry to school, parents should visit the school to clarify how they cater for the youngest children in Reception and how the needs of these children are met as they move up through the school.

The admission of pupils with a statement of Special Educational Needs or Education Health Care Plan is dealt with by completely separate procedure. Such children will be admitted to the Academy if this school is named on the statement or plan. This is a statutory entitlement under Section 324 of the Education Act 1996.

Applications received after the closing date will be considered in line with the Local Authority Admissions Co-ordinated Scheme.

Notes:

(a) Where a school cannot accommodate all pupils qualifying under one of the criteria stated above, the next criteria will also be applied to determine priority for admission. For example, if a school cannot accommodate all siblings for whom an application has been received, all sibling applicants will be prioritised in the order of:

(b) Siblings (criterion 2) who live within the school’s designated catchment area (criterion 3)

(c) Siblings (criterion 2) who do not live within the school’s designated catchment area (criterion 3).

(d) All applicants within each criterion will be put into a distance order with priority being given to those that live nearest to the school, as stated in criterion 4 above.

(e) Where it is identified that there are a limited number of places available and the school cannot differentiate between the applications using the nearest school criterion (criterion 4) a random allocation tiebreaker will be applied. This may be required for example, where applicants reside in the same block of flats or are children of a multiple birth living at the same address

Additional Notes:

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

Admissions are administered through a co-ordinated admission scheme and preferences will be processed centrally by the Local Authority’s School Admissions and Transport Service on behalf of the school. Each pupil will receive only one offer of a place at a Staffordshire school.

In accordance with legislation, children who have a statutory statement of special educational need or Education, Health and Care Plan that names the school as being the most appropriate to meet the child’s needs will be admitted to the school. This may reduce the amount of places available to other applicants.

Relevant Children in Care means children who are in the care of a Local Authority in accordance with section 22 of the Children’s Act 1989(b) and who (a) are looked after at the time an application is made and (b) in relation to whom the Local Authority has confirmed that the children will still be looked after at the time when the child will be admitted to 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 co-ordinates of an applicant’s home address are determined using the Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and OS Address Point data.

The home address is considered to be the child’s along with their parent’s main and genuine principle place if 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 relative’s address will not be considered for allocation purposes.

If there are a limited number of spaces available and it is not possible to distinguish between applicants using the criteria listed, such as in the case of children who live in the same block of flats or are the result of a multiple birth, then the child or children who will be offered the available spaces will be randomly selected, and this process will be independently verified.

Right of Appeal

Parents, who wish to appeal against the Governors decision not to offer a place to their child, must do so by completing an Appeal form available from the school and returning this to Hazel Slade Academy, within 20 school days from the date of notification that the application for admission was unsuccessful. This will then be heard by an independent appeals panel. Repeat applications will not be considered within the same school year, unless the circumstances for the parent or school have changed significantly since the original application was made.

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 a school’s waiting list.

Waiting List

Waiting Lists will only be held for the normal admission round (September admissions into the reception class) and only until the end of the autumn term. They will be held in criteria order and not on a “first come, first served” basis. Placing a child’s name on a waiting list does not affect the statutory right of appeal.

For cases where the infant class size regulations apply, the waiting list will operate until the cohort concerned leaves Year 2.

Inclusion on a school’s waiting list does not mean that a place will eventually become available at the preferred school.

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

In Year Applications

Admissions into year groups other than Reception will be on an in year transfer application basis and the allocation of places will be in line with the above order of priority. Applications can be made on the Local Authority online form, but they will be directed to the school for processing.

Admission Outside the Normal Age Group

Parents may seek to apply for their child’s admission to school outside their normal age group, for example if the child is exceptionally gifted and talented or has experienced problems such as ill health. In addition, the parents of summer born children may choose not to send their child to school until the September following their fifth birthday and may request that they are admitted outside their normal age group to Reception rather than Year 1.

These parents will need to make an application alongside children applying at the normal age which 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. A decision as to whether this is an appropriate course of action will be made by the Governing Board of the school who will take into account the circumstances of the case and views of the principal. Parents do not have the right to insist that their child is admitted to a particular year group