Needwood CE (VA) Primary

Consultation 2026/2027

2025/2026 & 2024/2025

Consultation on admission arrangements 2026/2027

The John Taylor Multi Academy Trust wishes to formally consult with you regarding All Saints Rangemore, Needwood and Yoxall St. Peter's (The Forest Family schools) admissions arrangements for 2026/2027. 

We are not proposing to make any material changes to the arrangements. However, your opinions are important to us and we are keen to receive your comments on the arrangements before they are formally approved.

The proposed admission arrangements are attached to this email. 

The consultation will close on Monday 13th January. 

Please send your comments to:

asr-admin@asr.jtmat.co.uk 

Best wishes, 

Mr Matthew Baxter

Proposed admission arrangements 2026/2027

Our Admissions criteria ensures compliance with the new School Admissions Code September 2021.

If the number of applications for admission to the school exceeds the Planned Admission Number (PAN) of: 15 All Saints, 12 Needwood.

The following order of priority will be used to allocate the available places.

Special Educational Needs – in accordance with s.324 Education Act 1996, All Saints and Needwood Primary Schools will automatically admit a child with a statement of Special Educational Needs / Education, Healthcare Plan that names the school. This is not an over-subscription criterion.

1)Relevant ‘looked after children’ and ‘previously looked after children’ (That is, children who were looked after but ceased to be so because they were adopted or became subject to a residence order or special guardianship order).

2)Children who have a sibling in attendance at the school at the time of application; (For admission purposes, a sibling is a child who lives at the same address and either: have one or both natural parents in common; are related by a parent’s marriage; are adopted or fostered by a common parent or are unrelated children who live at the same address, whose parents live as partners).

3)Pupils living within the catchment area of the school and Staffordshire’s School Search and Compare Facility.

4)Pupils who demonstrate a commitment to a Christian Church (supporting letter from clergy).

5)Other children arranged in order of priority according to how near their home addresses are to the main gate of the school, determined by a straight-line measurement, as calculated by the local authority’s Geographical Information System.

Admission of children below compulsory school age

a. a child is entitled to a full-time place in the September following their fourth birthday;

b. a child’s parents can defer the date their child 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 beginning of the final term of the school year for which it was made; and

c. where the parents wish, children may attend part-time until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age.

Admission outside the Normal Age Group - please see JTMAT policy.

Distance Measurements

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.

Copies of school catchment area maps are available from the local authority or individual schools

Tie-breaker

If there are a limited number of spaces available and we cannot distinguish between applicants using the criteria, then the child/ren who will be offered the spaces will be randomly selected. This process will be independently verified.

Repeat Applications

The governing body will not consider repeat applications in the same academic year unless there have been significant and material changes in the circumstances of the applicant.

Late Applications

Application forms received after the closing date will be considered alongside those applicants who applied on time only where there are exceptional reasons which prevented the applicant from applying by the closing date, e.g. a family changes address and was unable to apply within the deadline or needs to make new school preferences. A late application does not affect the right of appeal or to be placed on the school’s waiting list.

Applications other than the normal intake year - An application should be made directly to the school.

Operation of a waiting list

A waiting list will be operated in admission criteria order and will remain open until at least the end of the Autumn term the following year and will then be discarded. Parents may apply to remain on the waiting list if they so wish.

Closing Date

For Primary admissions there will now be a National closing date published by Staffordshire County Council (usually 15 January).

Admission arrangements 2024/2025, 2023/2024

Our Admissions criterion ensures compliance with the ‘The School Admissions Code,’ which came into force on 19 December 2014 issued under Section 84 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (‘SSFA 1998’)1. made in consultation under Section 85(2) of the SSFA 1998 and after being laid before Parliament for forty days.

If the number of applications for admission to the school exceeds the Planned Admission Number (PAN) of:

12 Needwood

15 All Saints

The following order of priority will be used to allocate the available places.

Special Educational Needs – in accordance with s.324 Education Act 1996, All Saints and Needwood Primary Schools will automatically admit a child with a statement of Special Educational Needs / Education, Healthcare Plan that names the school. This is not an over-subscription criterion.

1. Internationally adopted previously looked after children (IAPLAC), other relevant children in care, including those previously determined as Looked After Children. (That is, children who were looked after but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a residence order or special guardianship order).

2. Children who have a sibling in attendance at the school at the time of application; (For admission purposes, a sibling is a child who lives at the same address and either: have one or both natural parents in common; are related by a parent’s marriage; are adopted or fostered by a common parent or are unrelated children who live at the same address, whose parents live as partners.) 
3. Pupils living within the catchment area of the school
4. Pupils who demonstrate a commitment to a Christian Church (supporting letter from clergy)
5. Other children arranged in order of priority according to how near their home addresses are to the main gate of the school, determined by a straight-line measurement, as calculated by the local authority’s Geographical Information System.

Admission of children below compulsory school age

1. a child is entitled to a full-time place in the September following their fourth birthday;
2. a child’s parents can defer the date their child 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 beginning of the final term of the school year for which it was made; and
3. where the parents wish, children may attend part-time until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age.

Admission Outside the Normal Age Group (JTMAT policy)

Parents may request that their child be admitted to the Reception Class later in the same academic year in which the child reaches compulsory school age (i.e. beginning of the term after the child’s fifth birthday). 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 their preferred school(s) 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 child will move to year one at the same time as their peers.

Parents may seek to apply to defer their child’s admission to reception for a whole academic year if their child has identified and significant Special Education Needs or Disability. 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 should include information evidence as to why this is the case and why an exception should be made in the case of the child.

Parents do not have the right to insist their child is placed in a specific year group. The Education Endowment Foundation research indicates that, nationally, holding children back a year is to the significant detriment to their progress. The placing of children outside their chronological age can have significant detrimental effects on their academic, social and emotional development and as such we are mindful to only consider applications in which the evidence is compelling, specific and independent.

Schools will consider these requests on an individual basis based on a range evidence from professionals such as, but not exclusive; educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, doctors and pediatric consultants.

In successful applications schools will look to ensure the child is moved back into their chronological year group as soon as whenever this is in the best interests of the child.

Parents may wish to apply for their child to enter school into a year group above their chronological age. This may relate to children due to join reception or at any other time in their primary school education. Schools will request evidence from parents (and other schools if appropriate) which demonstrates the child is working at a significantly higher level than is expected for a child of that age.

Distance Measurements

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.

Tie-breaker

If there are a limited number of spaces available and we cannot distinguish between applicants using the criteria listed, then the child or children who will be offered the available spaces will be randomly selected. This process will be independently verified

Repeat Applications

The governing body will not consider repeat applications in the same academic year unless there have been significant and material changes in the circumstances of the applicant.

Late Applications

Application forms received after the closing date will be considered alongside those applicants who applied on time only where there are exceptional reasons which prevented the applicant from applying by the closing date, e.g. a family changes address and was unable to apply within the deadline or needs to make new school preferences.

A late application does not affect the right of appeal or to be placed on the school’s waiting list.

Applications other than the normal intake year

An application should be made directly to the school.

Operation of a waiting list

A waiting list will be operated in admission criteria order and will remain open until at least the end of the Autumn term the following year and will then be discarded. Parents may apply to remain on the waiting list if they so wish.

Closing Date

For Primary admissions there will now be a National closing date published by Staffordshire County Council.

Your opinions are important and we are keen to receive comment on the proposals before a decision is taken.

This consultation will run from 01 October 2019 to 31 January 2020.

Please send your views no later than 31 January 2020.

Distribution

A copy of this document which includes the proposed school admissions arrangements and the rationale providing previous admissions arrangements and this alignment are available on our school website as well as the Staffordshire County Council School Admissions website as detailed below:

A notice will be sent to local primary schools and other local centres for the community to advise that the consultation is being carried out and to invite comments from interested parties. Staffordshire County Council is also being consulted.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, we look forward to hearing your views on this proposal.

Kind Regards,

Mrs Charlene Gethin

(Executive Headteacher)