The de Ferrers Academy

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

The Published Admission Number (PAN) for the Year 7 entry is 410. This number may be exceeded at the discretion of the Academy Trust, 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 Local Authority Appeal procedure.

A student who has a statement of special educational needs or Education, Health and Care Plan that names The de Ferrers Academy will be admitted to the Academy. This will reduce the number of places available.

If the total number of preferences exceeds the PAN, the following order of priority is used to allocate the available places:

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

b) Children of staff in either of the following circumstances:-

i) where the member of staff has been employed at the Academy for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the Academy is made, and/or

ii) the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.

c) Students who attend certain primary schools which are defined as major contributory primary schools (i.e. Outwoods Primary School, William Shrewsbury Primary School, John of Rolleston Primary School, Richard Wakefield Primary School, Horninglow Primary School, Eton Park Junior School and The Mosley Academy) or are part of The de Ferrers Trust.

d) Students who at the time of the application have an elder sibling in attendance at the Academy, 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)

e) Students residing within the catchment area (broadly Outwoods, Horninglow, Eton Park, Stretton, Rolleston, Tutbury). A copy of the catchment area can be obtained from the Academy or the School Admissions and Transport Service. The Academy does not operate a catchment area guarantee.

f) Students who satisfy both of the following tests:

• They are distinguished from the great majority of applicants either on medical grounds or by other exceptional circumstances. Medical grounds must be supported by a medical report, (obtained by the parents). It must clearly justify, for health reasons only, why it is better for the child to attend the academy rather than any other school. Exceptional circumstances must relate to the choice of academy, i.e. the circumstances of the child, not the economic or social circumstances of the parent. They should be supported by a professional report (obtained by the parents), e.g. social worker, justifying why it is better for the child to attend the academy rather than any other school.
• They 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. Parents must provide detailed information about both the type and severity of any likely hardship at the time of application.

g) Other students arranged in order of priority according to how near their home addresses are to the main gate of The de Ferrers Academy, Trent Campus, St.l Mary’s Drive, Burton on Trent DE13 0LL, determined by a straight-line measurement as calculated by the Local Authority’s School Admissions and Transport Services Geographical Information System.

Where it is not possible to accommodate all students applying for places within a particular category then the academy will allocate the available places in accordance with the remaining criteria. If for instance, all the catchment area children cannot be accommodated at a school, children who are catchment area children and satisfy category e) will receive offers of a place, followed by children who live in the catchment area and satisfy category f).

Parents may seek to apply for their child’s admission to the Academy 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 Local Authority 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.

Additional Notes

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

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

Looked after and previously looked after 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. 

Please note that the feeder schools that have been named in criteria c) are those that are either part of The de Ferrers Trust or we work closely with through the Central Co-operative Learning Trust and therefore all of our transition activity work takes place with these schools.

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 the 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 de Ferrers Academy, Trent Campus, St. Mary’s Drive, Burton upon Trent DE13 0LL. The co-ordinates of an applicant’s home address is determined and provided by the Local Lane 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.

Where parents have shared responsibility for a child, and the children 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 place is offered on the basis of an address that is subsequently found to be different from a child’s normal and permanent home address 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 offered the available spaces will be randomly selected. This process will be independently verified.

Parents whose request for a place for their child is not accepted may appeal to the Academy via Staffordshire County Council, stating their grounds for appeal. All appeal forms are available on the Staffordshire County Council website.

It is governing body policy at The de Ferrers Trust to avoid any form of selection or discrimination on the grounds of a child’s ability, religion or race. 

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. There will be a period of two weeks after the national offer date whereby available places will not be reallocated. 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.

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

A student’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 listed above.

Children who are subject of a direction by a local authority to admit or who are allocated to The de Ferrers Academy; A de Ferrers Trust Academy in accordance with the Fair Access Protocol will take precedence over those on the waiting list.

Late Applications

Preferences 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 the Academy’s waiting list.

Repeat Applications

Parents do not have the right to a second appeal in respect of the Academy for the same academic year unless, in exceptional circumstances, the Academy accepted a second application from the appellant because of a significant and material change in the circumstances of the parent, child or school but still refused admission.

Closing Date for Return of Applications

All applications for a normal age of entry place in Year 7 at the Academy should be submitted to the Local Authority by the national closing date of 31st October 2021.

Decisions

On 1st March 2022, the Local Authority will notify all parents who have applied for a normal age of entry school place.

"In-Year Transfer" Arrangements

Parents or carers seeking to transfer to the Academy may make an application using the appropriate application form. This application will be processed in the normal way but parents and carers need to be aware that any date set for joining the new school may be after the next term or half term holiday and those parents/carers are responsible for ensuring that their child continues to receive appropriate education in the interim.

Appeals

Any parent has a right to appeal against a decision not to admit. The appeal will be heard by an independent appeal panel.

Relevant Area

Staffordshire County Council’s relevant area for consultation is contained within the administrative area of Staffordshire County Council.