The Wilnecote School

Admission arrangements 2025/2026, 2024/2025, 2023/2024

The Planned Admission Number (PAN) for the Year 7 entry is 192. This level has been agreed by the Governing Body. This number may be exceeded at the discretion of the Governing Body but they are not obliged to accept students in excess of this number unless parents have successfully challenged the initial decision as part of the Independent Appeal Panel procedure. The Appeals Process is arranged by the Local Authority. 

Admission Criteria 

A student who has an Education, Health and Care Plan that names The Wilnecote School must be admitted. This will reduce the number of places available.

If the total number of preferences exceeds the PAN, the following order of criteria will be used to allocate places:

1. Looked after and previously looked after children who have left care under adoption, special guardianship or child arrangements order or were adopted from ‘state care’ outside England and Wales. 
2. Children who, at the time of the application, have an elder sibling in attendance at the School, who will still be attending 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).
3. Children residing within the traditional priority area (broadly Dosthill, Hockley and Wilnecote) 
4. Children who attend the major partner primary schools of Dosthill Primary School or Wilnecote Junior School. 
5. Children of staff employed by the school (Please see additional note) 
6. Other children outside the priority area 

NB: Within each criterion priority is given in order of distance between the child’s home and school. (shortest distance = highest priority) 

Distance will be calculated by straight line measurement from the address point location coordinate of the applicant’s home address (as set by Ordnance survey) to the main gate of The Wilnecote School. (All distances are subject to changes which may occur with update of mapping data). 

Procedure

Admissions are administered through Staffordshire Local Authority’s coordinated admissions scheme.

Parents whose request for a place for their child is not accepted will have the right of appeal.

The appeals process is arranged by the Local Authority. 

Additional Notes

• There is no charge or cost related to the admission of a child to a school.
• Children in Care means children who are in the care of, or provided with accommodation by a local authority in accordance with section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989 at the time of making the application. 
• It is the applicant’s responsibility to provide any supportive information required in order for the application to be assessed against the published admissions criteria, the Academy will not seek to obtain this information on behalf of the applicant.
• 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.
• The home address is considered to be the child’s along with their parent’s 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 Local Authority deadlines.
• 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 there are a limited number of spaces available and 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. 
• Children of staff are those where:  

a) The member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission is made

and/or

b) The member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skills shortage. 

• 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 Governing Body who will take into account the circumstances of the case and views of the Headteacher. Parents do not have the right to insist that their child is admitted to a particular year group.’ 
• Children of UK service personnel (UK armed forces) - For families of service personnel with a confirmed posting to their area, a place will be allocated in advance if accompanied by an official government letter which declares a relocation date and a Unit postal address or quartering area address which can be used for the application against the relevant oversubscription criteria.