Chesterton Community Sports College

Admission Arrangements 2026/2027, 2025/2026, 2024/2025

Chesterton Community Sports College is part of Collective Vision Trust

The planned admission number (PAN) is 170.

Parents have the right to express a preference for the school that they wish their child to attend. However, if the total number of preferences exceeds the Academy’s Planned Admission Number, the following order of priority is used to allocate the available places.  In accordance with legislation, children who have a statutory statement of special educational need or Education, Health and Care Plan that names Chesterton Community Sports College, must be admitted.  This may reduce the amount of places available to other applicants:

1.  Children in care and children who ceased to be in care because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order),including those children who appear (to the admission authority) to have been in state care outside England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted

2.  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 Academy rather than any other school.

Exceptional circumstances must relate to the choice of 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 preferred school rather than any other school.

Test 2: The child would suffer hardship if they were unable to attend the Academy.

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.

3.  Children who have an elder sibling in attendance at the Academy and who will still be attending the Academy at the proposed admission date; (For admission purposes a brother or sister is a child who lives at the same address and either: have one or both natural parents in common; are related by a parents marriage; are adopted or fostered by a common parent or are unrelated children who live at the same address, whose parents live as partners).

4.  Children who attend one of the school’s feeder schools. The feeder schools are the schools that have a close working relationship with Chesterton Community Sports College and who over recent years have had a significant proportion of pupils applying and receiving places

• Chesterton Primary School
• Churchfields Primary School
• Crackley Bank Primary School
• St. Chad’s (C of E)
• Bursley Academy

5. Children living within the catchment area.

6. 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 School.  The School 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 are determined using the Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and OS Address Point data.

Looked-after children means children who are looked after by a local authority with section 22 (1) of the Children Act 1989 and who is (a) in care of a Local Authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a Local Authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see definition 22 (1) of the Children Act 1989) at the time of making an application to a school.  This includes children who were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 (see section 12 adoption orders) and children who were adopted under Adoption and Children Act 2002 (see section 46 adoption orders). 

Child arrangements orders are defined in s.8 of the Children Act 1989, as amended by 2.12 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 arrangements order.

The home address is considered to be the child’s along with their parent/carers main and 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 legal guardianship) the friends 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, parents will be required to provide documentary evidence to support the address they wish to be considered for allocation purposes.  

If a child’s home address changes during the admissions process it is the responsibility of the parent/carer to inform the local authority immediately. Where there is a proposed house move taking place during the admissions process the local authority will only accept the revised address for purposes of allocation where parents/carers can provide documentary evidence of the move by 24 January. It will be necessary for sufficient evidence of a permanent move to be provided by the applicant by this date before it will be taken into account for allocation purposes at the national offer date. 

If a place is offered on the basis of an address that is subsequently found to be different from the child’s normal and permanent home address at the time of allocation of places then that place is likely to be withdrawn. 

If we cannot distinguish between applicants using the criteria listed, such as in the case of children who live in the same block of flats, then the child or children who will be offered the available spaces will be randomly selected. This process will be independently verified. 

Waiting lists for admission will remain open until the 31 December of the year of admission and then will be discarded. The waiting list will be kept in admission criteria order. This means that a child’s position on the waiting list could go up or down.

Inclusion of a child’s name on the waiting list does not mean that a place will eventually become available.

Admissions outside the normal admission round for secondary transfer at 11 years old should be made directly to the Academy.

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.

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 school Directors who will take into account the circumstances of the case and views of the CEO and Headteacher. Parents do not have the right to insist that their child is admitted to a particular year group.

If an applicant is refused, there is a statutory right to appeal to the Academy Trust.  An independent appeal panel will hear the appeal. Further details of the appeal procedure are available upon request.