Wombourne High School
2025/2026 and 2024/2025
2023/2024
1. Aims
Our admissions policies aim to:
- Explain how to apply for a place at any of the schools in our Trust
- Set out the arrangements at each school for allocating places to the pupils who apply
- Explain how to appeal against a decision not to offer your child a place
2. Legislation and statutory requirements
Our admissions policies are based on the following advice from the Department for Education (DfE):
- School Admissions Code 2021
- School Admission Appeals Code
All schools within the Trust are required to comply with these codes, and with the law relating to admissions as set out in the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.
As an academy trust, our schools are required by our funding agreements to comply with these codes, and with the law relating to admissions as set out in the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. Our policies also comply with our funding agreements and articles of association.
Children will not be discriminated against as laid down by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, The Race Relations Act 1976 as amended by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, The Human Rights Act 1998, The Special Educational Needs and Disability Discrimination Act 2005 and The Equality Act 2010.
3. Definitions
Normal admissions round: The normal admissions round is the period during which parents can apply for state-funded school places at the school’s normal point of entry, using the common application form provided by their home local authority.
Looked after children: Looked after children are children who, at the time of making an application to a school, are:
- In the care of a local authority, or
- Being provided with accommodation by a local authority in exercise of its social services functions
Previously looked after children: Previously looked after children are children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they:
- Were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 or the Adoption and Children Act 2002, or
- Became subject to a child arrangements order, or
- Became subject to a special guardianship order
This includes children who appear to have been in state care outside England and have ceased to be in state care due to being adopted.
Compulsory school age: A child reaches compulsory school age on the prescribed day following his or her fifth birthday (or on his or her fifth birthday if it falls on a prescribed day). The prescribed days are 31 December, 31 March and 31 August.
Siblings: A sibling is defined as a brother/sister, half-brother/sister (where the children share one common parent), step-brother/step-sister living at the same address and adopted or fostered children living at the same home address.
Home address: The home address is considered to be the child’s (along with their parent(s)) 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 guardianship), the friend or relative’s 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, then the home address will be determined as the address where the child lives for the majority of the school week. Parents will be required to provide documentary evidence to support the address they wish to be considered for allocation purposes. At least one item of proof must demonstrate where the child lives.
4. How to apply
For applications in the normal admissions round you should use the application form provided by your home local authority (regardless of which local authority the schools are in). You can use this form to express your preference for a minimum of three state-funded schools, in rank order.
If applicants are required to fill in a supplementary information form for any of our schools, this will be specified. Supplementary information forms can be found within this policy.
You will receive an offer for a school place directly from your local authority.
5. Allocation of places
Within the admissions arrangements for each of our schools the following information is specified:
- Admission number
- Entry requirements for selective places or banding, where applicable
- Oversubscription criteria
- Tie break
- Waiting lists
- Children below compulsory school age, where applicable
6. Late applications
Preferences that are received after the closing date will only be considered after applications that were received within the deadline have been dealt with.
There will, however, be exceptional circumstances in which a late application will be considered alongside those applications that were made within the deadline.
In each circumstance supportive documentary evidence must be provided by the parent/carer at the time of application.
7. Requests for admission outside the normal age group
Parents are entitled to request a place for their child outside their normal age group.
Decisions on requests for admission outside the normal age group will be made on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. In accordance with the School Admissions Code, this will include taking account of:
- Parents’ views
- Information about the child’s academic, social and emotional development
- Where relevant, their medical history and the views of a medical professional
- Whether they have previously been educated out of their normal age group
- Whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely
- The headteacher’s views
Wherever possible, requests for admission outside a child’s normal age group will be processed as part of the main admissions round. They will be considered on the basis of the admission arrangements laid out in this policy, including the oversubscription criteria. Applications will not be treated as a lower priority if parents have made a request for a child to be admitted outside the normal age group.
Parents will always be informed of the reasons for any decision on the year group a child should be admitted to. Parents do not have a right to appeal if they are offered a place at the school but it is not in their preferred age group.
8. Appeals
If your child’s application for a place is unsuccessful, you will be informed why admission was refused and given information about the process for hearing appeals. The letter you will receive will advise how to appeal against the decision.
Further information on how to appeal and the appeals timetable will be published by 28 February 2024 on each school website.
9. In-year admissions
Parents can apply for a place for their child at any time outside the normal admissions round. As is the case in the normal admissions round, all children whose Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) plans name the school will be admitted. Likewise, if there are spaces available in the year group you are applying for, your child will be offered a place.
If there are no spaces available at the time of your application, your child’s name will be added to a waiting list for the relevant year group. When a space becomes available, it will be filled by one of the pupils on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. Priority will not be given to children on the basis that they have been on the waiting list the longest.
Applications for in-year admissions are co-ordinated by the local authority in all of our schools.
10. Repeat applications
It is not the Trust’s policy to consider repeat applications in the same academic year unless there have been significant and material changes in the circumstances of the applicant.
11. Challenging behaviour
We will not refuse to admit a child to any of our schools on behavioural grounds in the normal admissions round or at any point in the normal year of entry. We may refuse admission in certain cases where the specific criteria listed in the School Admissions Code (paragraph 3.8) apply, i.e. where section 87 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 is engaged.
We may refuse admission for an in-year applicant for a year group that isn’t the normal point of entry, only in such a case that we have good reason to believe that the child may display challenging behaviour that may adversely affect the provision we can offer. In this case, we will refer these pupils to the Fair Access Protocol. We will not refuse admission on these grounds to looked after children, previously looked after children and children with EHC plans listing the school.
12. Fair Access Protocol
Each school within the Trust participates in the relevant local authority Fair Access Protocol. This helps ensure that all children, including those who are unplaced and vulnerable, or having difficulty in securing a school place in-year, get access to a school place as quickly as possible.
13. Monitoring arrangements
This policy will be reviewed and approved by the Board of Trustees every year.
Whenever changes to admission arrangements are proposed (except where the change is an increase to the agreed admission number or to give effect to a mandatory change), the Trust Board will publicly consult on these changes. If nothing changes, it will publicly consult on the school’s admission arrangements at least once every 7 years.
Admission number
The published admission number (PAN) for Year 7 at Wombourne High School is 192.
In addition, Wombourne High School has sixth form places (Years 12 and 13) allocated at Invictus Sixth. Further information on PAN, oversubscription criteria and application can be found on pages 23 to 24.
Entry requirements for selective places or banding
Kinver High School does not use a selective policy based on aptitude or academic achievement.
Oversubscription criteria
The following criteria will be used to allocate Year 7 places at Wombourne High School when oversubscribed, i.e. we receive more applications than spaces available:
a. First priority for admission shall be given to relevant looked after children or children who were previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, residence, or special guardianship order;
b. Second priority for admission shall be given to children who satisfy both of the following tests:
Test 1: the child is distinguished from the great majority of applicants either on their own 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 the School rather than any other school.
Exceptional circumstances must relate to the School and the individual child, i.e. the circumstances of the child, not the economic or social circumstances of the parent/carer. It should be supported by a professional report (obtained by the applicant and provided at the point of application), e.g. social worker. This report must clearly justify why it is better for the child to attend the School rather than any other school.
Test 2: the child would suffer hardship if they were unable to attend the School.
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.
c. Third priority for admission shall be given to children who have a sibling who will still be attending Wombourne High School in September 2023;
d. Fourth priority for admission shall be given children living with catchment area of the school.
e. Fifth priority for admission shall be given to children of any member of staff in either or both of the following circumstances:
i. where the member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made; and/or
ii. the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post at the school for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.
This priority will be applied to all members of staff of Wombourne High School, employed by Invictus Education Trust on a permanent contract of employment.
Any places that remain available once the above applicants have been admitted will be filled according to how near the child’s home address is to the main gate of the School, determined by a straight-line measurement as calculated by the Local Authority’s Geographical Information System.
Where it is not possible to accommodate all children applying for places within a particular category then the School will allocate the available places in accordance with the remaining criteria. If for instance, all the catchment area children cannot be accommodated at the school, children who are resident within the catchment area will be arranged in order of priority according to distance i.e. category D.
In accordance with legislation, a child with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) will be offered a place at the school named in the EHCP as the most appropriate to meet the child’s individual needs. This may reduce the number of places available for children who do not have an EHCP.
Special conditions will apply in the event that one child from a set of twins or triplets does not gain admission to the preferred school through the admissions criteria. The school will exceed the admission number to prevent separation of twins/triplets.
Tie break
Random allocation will be used as a tie break, to decide who has the highest priority for admission if the distance between two children’s homes and the school is the same.
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 according to the child at the top of the waiting list.
Waiting Lists will be kept until the end of the autumn term of admission. No other waiting lists will be maintained.
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 the list since each added child will require the list to be ranked again in line with the oversubscription criteria.
Children who are subject of a direction by a local authority to admit or who are allocated to a school in accordance with the Fair Access Protocol will take precedence over those on the waiting list.
Admission Number
The overall published admission number (PAN) for Year 12 at Invictus Sixth is 322 (including internal and external). If spaces remain available on some courses, this number may be increased.
Applications for Invictus Sixth should be made directly to the trust by visiting our website https://www.invictussixth.co.uk/joinus. The closing date for the first round of applications for admission in September 2024 is Friday 15 December 2023. A second round of applications will be accepted if spaces remain, the closing date for the second round of applications will be Wednesday 28 February 2024.
Entry requirements
All students are expected to demonstrate their suitability for the courses they have chosen and must meet standard entry requirements as shown below. Students must also ensure that they check the individual entry requirements for their chosen courses in the course guide booklet.
• A-Level or Combined A-Level / BTEC Pathway
For those students wishing to study a full A-Level or combined A Level/BTEC programme, the expectation is that you will achieve five grade 5s or above including English Language and Mathematics.
• Full BTEC Pathway
For those students wishing to study a BTEC only programme, the expectation is that you will achieve five grade 4s or above including English Language and Mathematics.
• English Language and Mathematics requirements
The majority of students joining Invictus Sixth Form will have gained at least a Grade 4 in GCSE Mathematics and English Language. In exceptional circumstances, you may be granted entry on a course without having gained a Grade 4 in English and / or Mathematics when it’s deemed not to be detrimental to your success.
Entry without Grade 4 in English Language and Mathematics, will be at the discretion of the Director of Invictus Sixth Form. Students without Grade 4 in English Language and/or Mathematics will be required to take the GCSE resit course alongside their other subjects. These lessons will form part of the enrichment programme.
Learners with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) will be offered a place, where the Sixth Form – after consultation with the Local Authority – has been named on the statement as the appropriate post-16 provision. He/she will still need to meet the minimum entry and subject specific academic requirements.
Internal Applications: Learners in Year 11 at any Invictus Education Trust school are entitled to a place provided they meet the minimum entry and subject specific academic requirements. All applicants, both internal and external, must complete a Sixth Form application form. This will determine the number of spaces available on each course for external applicants.
External Applications: All external applicants meeting the minimum entry and subject specific academic requirements and completing a Sixth Form application form will be offered a place unless the number applying is more than the admissions number. In the event of oversubscription, criteria will be used for course allocation to determine how places are offered.
Oversubscription criteria
The following criteria will be used to allocate Year 12 places at Invictus Sixth when oversubscribed, i.e. we receive more applications than spaces available:
a. First priority for admission shall be given to relevant looked after children or children who were previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, residence, or special guardianship order. He/she will still need to meet the minimum entry and subject specific requirements.
After places have been allocated under the first priority criteria, remaining places will be offered to other learners who meet the minimum entry and subject specific academic requirements. If the admission number is exceeded within this criteria, a process of random allocation will be used.
Random allocation
This is done by allocating places in a statistically random order generated by computer. In accordance with the Admissions Code, the selection process will be supervised by an independent person.
Offer of a place
All offers are conditional upon GCSE results, full details can be found within the conditional offer letter. If an applicant fails to meet the minimum course requirements, they may be given the option of pursuing alternative courses for which they do meet the minimum academic requirements
1. Aims
Our admissions policies aim to:
- Explain how to apply for a place at any of the schools in our Trust
- Set out the arrangements at each school for allocating places to the pupils who apply
- Explain how to appeal against a decision not to offer your child a place
2. Legislation and statutory requirements
Our admissions policies are based on the following advice from the Department for Education (DfE):
- School Admissions Code 2021
- School Admission Appeals Code
All schools within the Trust are required to comply with these codes, and with the law relating to admissions as set out in the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.
As an academy trust, our schools are required by our funding agreements to comply with these codes, and with the law relating to admissions as set out in the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. Our policies also comply with our funding agreements and articles of association.
Children will not be discriminated against as laid down by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, The Race Relations Act 1976 as amended by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, The Human Rights Act 1998, The Special Educational Needs and Disability Discrimination Act 2005 and The Equality Act 2010.
3. Definitions
Normal admissions round:Thenormal admissions round is the period during which parents can apply for state-funded school places at the school’s normal point of entry, using the common application form provided by their home local authority.
Looked after children: Looked after children are children who, at the time of making an application to a school, are:
- In the care of a local authority, or
- Being provided with accommodation by a local authority in exercise of its social services functions
Previously looked after children:Previously looked after children are children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they:
- Were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 or the Adoption and Children Act 2002, or
- Became subject to a child arrangements order, or
- Became subject to a special guardianship order
This includes children who appear to have been in state care outside England and have ceased to be in state care due to being adopted.
Compulsory school age: A child reaches compulsory school age on the prescribed day following his or her fifth birthday (or on his or her fifth birthday if it falls on a prescribed day). The prescribed days are 31 December, 31 March and 31 August.
Siblings: A sibling is defined as a brother/sister, half-brother/sister (where the children share one common parent), step-brother/step-sister living at the same address and adopted or fostered children living at the same home address.
Home address: The home address is considered to be the child’s (along with their parent(s)) 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 guardianship), the friend or relative’s 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, then the home address will be determined as the address where the child lives for the majority of the school week. Parents will be required to provide documentary evidence to support the address they wish to be considered for allocation purposes. At least one item of proof must demonstrate where the child lives.
4. How to apply
For applications in the normal admissions round you should use the application form provided by your home local authority (regardless of which local authority the schools are in). You can use this form to express your preference for a minimum of three state-funded schools, in rank order.
If applicants are required to fill in a supplementary information form for any of our schools, this will be specified. Supplementary information forms can be found within this policy.
You will receive an offer for a school place directly from your local authority.
5. Allocation of places
Within the admissions arrangements for each of our schools the following information is specified:
- Admission number
- Entry requirements for selective places or banding, where applicable
- Oversubscription criteria
- Tie break
- Waiting lists
- Children below compulsory school age, where applicable
6. Late applications
Preferences that are received after the closing date will only be considered after applications that were received within the deadline have been dealt with.
There will, however, be exceptional circumstances in which a late application will be considered alongside those applications that were made within the deadline.
In each circumstance supportive documentary evidence must be provided by the parent/carer at the time of application.
7. Requests for admission outside the normal age group
Parents are entitled to request a place for their child outside their normal age group.
Decisions on requests for admission outside the normal age group will be made on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. In accordance with the School Admissions Code, this will include taking account of:
- Parents’ views
- Information about the child’s academic, social and emotional development
- Where relevant, their medical history and the views of a medical professional
- Whether they have previously been educated out of their normal age group
- Whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely
- The headteacher’s views
Wherever possible, requests for admission outside a child’s normal age group will be processed as part of the main admissions round. They will be considered on the basis of the admission arrangements laid out in this policy, including the oversubscription criteria. Applications will not be treated as a lower priority if parents have made a request for a child to be admitted outside the normal age group.
Parents will always be informed of the reasons for any decision on the year group a child should be admitted to. Parents do not have a right to appeal if they are offered a place at the school but it is not in their preferred age group.
8. Appeals
If your child’s application for a place is unsuccessful, you will be informed why admission was refused and given information about the process for hearing appeals. The letter you will receive will advise how to appeal against the decision.
Further information on how to appeal and the appeals timetable will be published by 28 February 2023 on each school website.
9. In-year admissions
Parents can apply for a place for their child at any time outside the normal admissions round. As is the case in the normal admissions round, all children whose Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) plans name the school will be admitted. Likewise, if there are spaces available in the year group you are applying for, your child will be offered a place.
If there are no spaces available at the time of your application, your child’s name will be added to a waiting list for the relevant year group. When a space becomes available, it will be filled by one of the pupils on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. Priority will not be given to children on the basis that they have been on the waiting list the longest.
Applications for in-year admissions are co-ordinated by the local authority in all of our schools.
10. Repeat applications
It is not the Trust’s policy to consider repeat applications in the same academic year unless there have been significant and material changes in the circumstances of the applicant.
11. Challenging behaviour
We will not refuse to admit a child to any of our schools on behavioural grounds in the normal admissions round or at any point in the normal year of entry. We may refuse admission in certain cases where the specific criteria listed in the School Admissions Code (paragraph 3.8) apply, i.e. where section 87 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 is engaged.
We may refuse admission for an in-year applicant for a year group that isn’t the normal point of entry, only in such a case that we have good reason to believe that the child may display challenging behaviour that may adversely affect the provision we can offer. In this case, we will refer these pupils to the Fair Access Protocol. We will not refuse admission on these grounds to looked after children, previously looked after children and children with EHC plans listing the school.
12. Fair Access Protocol
Each school within the Trust participates in the relevant local authority Fair Access Protocol. This helps ensure that all children, including those who are unplaced and vulnerable, or having difficulty in securing a school place in-year, get access to a school place as quickly as possible.
13. Monitoring arrangements
This policy will be reviewed and approved by the Board of Trustees every year.
Whenever changes to admission arrangements are proposed (except where the change is an increase to the agreed admission number or to give effect to a mandatory change), the Trust Board will publicly consult on these changes. If nothing changes, it will publicly consult on the school’s admission arrangements at least once every 7 years.
Admission number
The published admission number (PAN) for Year 7 at Wombourne High School is 192.
In addition, Wombourne High School has sixth form places (Years 12 and 13) allocated at Invictus Sixth. Further information on PAN, oversubscription criteria and application can be found on pages 21 to 22.
Entry requirements for selective places or banding
Wombourne High School does not use a selective policy based on aptitude or academic achievement.
Oversubscription criteria
The following criteria will be used to allocate Year 7 places at Wombourne High School when oversubscribed, i.e. we receive more applications than spaces available:
a. First priority for admission shall be given to relevant looked after children or children who were previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, residence, or special guardianship order;
b. Second priority for admission shall be given to children who satisfy both of the following tests:
Test 1: the child is distinguished from the great majority of applicants either on their own 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 the School rather than any other school.
Exceptional circumstances must relate to the School and the individual child, i.e. the circumstances of the child, not the economic or social circumstances of the parent/carer. It should be supported by a professional report (obtained by the applicant and provided at the point of application), e.g. social worker. This report must clearly justify why it is better for the child to attend the School rather than any other school.
Test 2: the child would suffer hardship if they were unable to attend the School.
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.
c. Third priority for admission shall be given to children who have a sibling who will still be attending Wombourne High School in September 2023;
d. Fourth priority for admission shall be given children living with catchment area of the school. Any places that remain available once the above applicants have been admitted will be filled according to how near the child’s home address is to the main gate of the School, determined by a straight-line measurement as calculated by the Local Authority’s Geographical Information System.
Where it is not possible to accommodate all children applying for places within a particular category then the School will allocate the available places in accordance with the remaining criteria. If for instance, all the catchment area children cannot be accommodated at the school, children who are resident within the catchment area will be arranged in order of priority according to distance i.e. category D.
In accordance with legislation, a child with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) will be offered a place at the school named in the EHCP as the most appropriate to meet the child’s individual needs. This may reduce the number of places available for children who do not have an EHCP.
Special conditions will apply in the event that one child from a set of twins or triplets does not gain admission to the preferred school through the admissions criteria. The school will exceed the admission number to prevent separation of twins/triplets.
Tie break
Random allocation will be used as a tie break, to decide who has the highest priority for admission if the distance between two children’s homes and the school is the same.
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 according to the child at the top of the waiting list.
Waiting Lists will be kept until the end of the autumn term of admission. No other waiting lists will be maintained.
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 the list since each added child will require the list to be ranked again in line with the oversubscription criteria.
Children who are subject of a direction by a local authority to admit or who are allocated to a school in accordance with the Fair Access Protocol will take precedence over those on the waiting list.