Cardinal Griffin Catholic College
2026/2027 and 2025/2026
2024/2025 & 2023/2024
Cardinal Griffin Catholic College is part of the Painsley Multi-Academy Company. The admissions authority for the school is the Board of Directors of the Painsley Multi-Academy Company who has responsibility for admissions to this school. The Board of Directors has delegated responsibility for the administration of the admissions process to the Local Governing Body of Cardinal Griffin Catholic College.
The admissions process for Cardinal Griffin Catholic College is part of the Staffordshire Local Authority co-ordinated admissions scheme. To apply for a place at Cardinal Griffin Catholic College in the normal admissions round, an application must be made using the school admission application process of the local authority in which you live naming Cardinal Griffin Catholic College on the application form. Applications need to be made by 31st October. A Supplementary Information Form (SIF) must also be completed and returned directly to the school by the same date (see Note 2).
All applications which are submitted on time will be considered at the same time, after the closing date.
You will be advised of the outcome of your application on 1st March, or the next working day, by the local authority on behalf of the school.
Please note that throughout this policy, the term parent means all natural parents, any person who is not a parent but has parental responsibility for a child and any person who has care of a child.
The ethos of this school is Catholic. The school was founded by the Catholic Church to provide education for children of Catholic families. Whenever there are more applications than places available, priority will be given to Catholic children in accordance with the oversubscription criteria listed below. The school is conducted by its Board of Directors as part of the Catholic Church in accordance with its Articles of Association and seeks at all times to be a witness to Our Lord Jesus Christ.
As a Catholic school, we aim to provide a Catholic education for all our pupils. At a Catholic school, Catholic doctrine and practice permeate every aspect of the school’s activity. It is essential that the Catholic character of the school’s education be fully supported by all families in the school. We therefore hope that all parents will give their full, unreserved and positive support for the aims and ethos of the school. This does not affect the right of an applicant who is not Catholic to apply for and be admitted to a place at the school in accordance with the admission arrangements.
The Local Governing Body acts for the Board of Directors who is the admissions authority and has responsibility for admissions to this school. The Local Governing Body has set its admission number at 150 pupils to be admitted to Year 7 in the school year which begins in September. (See Note 1 below)
Where there are more applications for places than the number of places available, places will be offered according to the following order of priority. If there is oversubscription within a category, the Local Governing Body will give priority firstly to children who will have a brother or sister (see Note 4 below) attending Cardinal Griffin Catholic College at the time of admission and then secondly to children of staff who have been employed at Cardinal Griffin Catholic College for at least 2-years or less than 2-years where they were employed to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage (this applies to teaching and non-teaching staff) and then thirdly children living closest to the school determined by the shortest distance (see Note 6 below).
For the purposes of this policy, parish boundaries are as shown on the Archdiocese of Birmingham parish boundary map which can be accessed at https://www.birminghamdiocese.org.uk/boundary-map and will be applied to the admission arrangements for the academic year.
OVERSUBSCRIPTION FOR YEARS 7 TO 11
1. Baptised Catholic children (See Note 2 below) who are looked after or previously looked after (see Note 3 below).
2. Baptised Catholic children (see Note 2 below) currently attending a named feeder school (see Note 5 below).
3. Baptised Catholic children (see Note 2 below) who live in a feeder school parish area, who are not currently attending a Catholic feeder school (see Note 5 below).
4. Other Baptised Catholic children (see note 2 below).
5. Non-Catholic children who are looked after or previously looked after (see note 3 below).
6. Non-Catholic children currently attending a named feeder school (see note 5 below).
7. Other Non-Catholic children.
Note 1
The admission of pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan is dealt with by a completely separate procedure. Children with an Education, Health and Care Plant that names the school must be admitted. Where this takes place before the allocation of places under these arrangements this will reduce the number of places available to other children.
An Education, Health and Care Plan is a plan made by the local authority under section 37 of the Children and Families Act 2014, specifying the special educational provision required for a child.
Note 2
In all categories, for a child to be considered as Catholic, evidence of Catholic Baptism or Reception into the Church will be required. For a definition of a Baptised Catholic, see the Appendix. Those who face difficulties in producing written evidence of Catholic Baptism or Reception into the Church should contact their Parish Priest.
Parents making an application for a Catholic child should also complete a Supplementary Information Form (SIF) which should be returned directly to the school. If you do not provide the information required in the Supplementary Information Form and return it by the closing date, together with all supporting documentation, this may affect the criteria that your child is placed into, which may affect your child’s chance of being offered a place at this school.
For the purposes of this policy, a looked after child living with a family where at least one of the carers is Catholic will be considered as Catholic. The carer must forward a copy of their own Catholic Baptismal or Reception certificate directly to the school in order for this priority to be given to the child as failure to do so will result in the looked after child being ranked as a non-Catholic.
Note 3
A “looked after child” has the same meaning as in section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989, and means any child who is (a) in the care of the local authority or (b) being provided with accommodation by them in the exercise of their social services functions (eg children with foster parents) at the time of making the application to the school. A “previously looked after child” is a child was looked after, but ceased to be so because he or she was adopted or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order and includes those children who appear (to the Local Governing Body) to have been in state care outside England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.
For the purposes of this policy, a looked after child living with a family where at least one of the carers is Catholic will be considered as Catholic. The carer must forward a copy of their own Catholic Baptismal or Reception certificate directly to the school in order for this priority to be given to the child as failure to do so will result in the looked after child being ranked as a non-Catholic.
Note 4
For all applicants the definition of a brother or sister is:
• A brother or sister sharing the same parents.
• A half-brother or half-sister, where two children share one common parent.
• A step-brother or step-sister, where two children are related by a parents’ marriage or civil partnership, or where they are unrelated but their parents are living as partners.
• Adopted or fostered children.
Note 5
The named feeder schools for Cardinal Griffin Catholic College are:
St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Cannock
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Hednesford
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Rugeley
St Thomas More Catholic Primary School, Great Wyrley
St Joseph’s and St Theresa’s Catholic Primary School, Burntwood
Note 6
Distances are measured by the Local Authority on behalf of the school. 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.
In a very small number of cases, where the school is oversubscribed, it may not be possible to decide between the applications of those pupils who are the final qualifiers for a place when applying the published admission criteria.
For example, this may occur when children in the same year group live at the same address, or if the distance between the home and the school is exactly the same, for example, blocks of flats. If there is no other way of separating the application according to the admissions criteria and to admit both, or all, of the children would cause the Published Admission Number for the child’s year group to be exceeded, the Local Authority, on behalf of the Local Governing Body, will use a computerised system to randomly select the child to be offered the final place.
The Local Governing Body will, where possible, admit twins and all siblings from multiple births where one of the children is the last child ranked within the school’s published admission number.
A child’s home address refers to the address where the child usually lives with a parent or carer and will be the address provided in the Local Authority’s Common Application Form.
Where parents have shared responsibility for a child, and the child lives for part of the week with each parent, the home address will be the address provided in the Local Authority’s Common Application Form, provided that the child resides at that address for any part of the school week.
Parents may be requested to supply documentary evidence to satisfy the Local Governing Body that the child lives at the address put forward by the parents.
The Local Governing Body reserves the right to withdraw the offer of a place or, where a child is already attending the school the place itself, where it is satisfied that the offer or place was obtained by deception.
APPLICATIONS FOR CHILDREN TO BE ADMITTED INTO A CLASS outside THEIR NORMAL AGE GROUP
Parents have the right to request, but not insist, that their child be considered for admission to a class outside their normal age group. This could be the case, for example, if a child is gifted and talented, has experienced problems such as ill health, or is already being educated in a class outside their normal age group at their current Primary school. Parents who wish for their child to be considered for admission to a class outside their normal age group must make an application for the normal age group in the first instance. Parents must then submit a formal request to the Local Governing Body for the child to be considered for a different age group class instead. This request should be in the form of a written letter of application outlining the reasons why they wish for their child to be considered to be admitted into a class outside their normal age group and enclosing any supportive evidence and documentation that they wish to be taken into account as part of that request.
The Local Governing Body will consider requests submitted for a child to be admitted into a class outside their normal age group and advise parents of the outcome of that request before national offer day, having taken into account the information provided by the parents, the child’s best interests and the views of the Principal.
If the request is refused, the original application for the normal age group class will progress through the Local Authority co-ordinated admissions scheme, be considered by the Local Governing Body and the parents advised of the outcome.
If the request is agreed and the year group for which the parents have requested a place is a current year group in the school, then the application will be considered by the Local Governing Body and the parents advised of the outcome.
If the request is agreed and the year group for which the parents have requested a place is for a future year group, ie Year 7 in September 2026, then the original application is withdrawn and the parents must submit a fresh application for Year 7 2026 when applications open in the autumn term of 2025. Please note that parents only have the right to re-apply for a place. Where the Local Governing Body agrees to consider an application for Year 7 the following year, that application is considered alongside all other applications received and parents will be advised of the outcome of that application on national offer day. No place is reserved or held for the child in advance.
If parents are considering submitting an application for their child to be admitted into a class outside their normal age group, it is strongly recommended that they also read the DFE guidance which can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-school-admission
APPEALS
Parents who wish to appeal against the decision of the Local Governing Body to refuse their child a place in the school should make that appeal request in writing to the Chair of Local Governing Body at the school address. Appeals will be heard by an independent panel.
Please note that parents do not have the right to appeal if their request for their children to be admitted to a class outside their normal year group has been refused, but the Local Governing Body have offered a place in the normal age group instead.
FURTHER APPLICATIONS AND FURTHER APPEALS
Any parent can apply for a place for their child at any time outside the normal admissions round. Parents do not have the right to a second appeal in respect of the same school for the same academic year unless, in exceptional circumstances, the Local Governing Body has accepted a second application from the parent because of a significant and material change in the circumstances of the parent, child or school, but have still refused admission.
LATE APPLICATIONS
Late applications will be dealt with in accordance with the Local Authority’s co-ordinated admissions scheme. This states that applications 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 applications will be considered only after those that were made before this point.
You are encouraged to ensure that your application is received on time.
CHANGE IN PREFERENCE
Once parents have submitted their preference, they will not be allowed to change them without an exceptional change in their circumstances, for example, if the family has recently moved address or an older sibling has changed schools. All requests to change preferences should be made in writing to the Local Authority to whom the parents submitted the original application. Where a change of preference is submitted for an oversubscribed school, without an exceptional change in circumstances, then the application will be refused.
WAITING LIST
In addition to their right to appeal, children who have not been offered a place at Cardinal Griffin Catholic College but were offered a school that was ranked as a lower preference on their application form will be added to a waiting list.
The waiting list will be maintained until 31st December and will then be discarded. Parents may apply to Cardinal Griffin Catholic College for their child’s name to remain on the waiting list until the last day of the summer term when it will be discarded.
A child’s position on a waiting list is not fixed. When a new child joins the waiting list, all applicants on that waiting list will be re-ranked to ensure that the list is always maintained in oversubscription criteria order. This means that a child’s position on the waiting list could go up or down during the time that it is on the list. Any late applications accepted will be added to the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria.
Inclusion on the waiting list does not mean that a place will eventually become available. It may be that those already offered places may accept them, thereby filling all available places.
Children on the waiting list who attend a named feeder school (see Note 5 above) who have not been offered a place in the school by the beginning of the Autumn term will be re-ranked to take into account that they will no longer be attending that feeder school from 1st September. This will affect the oversubscription criteria that your child is placed into on the waiting list from 1st September.
Children who are the subject of a direction by the Local Authority to admit or who are allocated to a school in accordance with the Fair Access Protocol take precedence over those on a waiting list.
IN YEAR FAIR ACCESS PROTOCOL
The Local Governing Body of Cardinal Griffin Catholic College is committed to taking its fair share of children who are vulnerable and/or hard to place, as set out in locally agreed protocols. Accordingly, outside the normal admission round the Local Governing Body is empowered to give absolute priority to a child where admission is requested under any locally agreed protocol. The Local Governing Body has this power, even when admitting the child would mean exceeding the published admission number.
APPLICATIONS OTHER THAN THE NORMAL INTAKE TO YEAR 7 (IN-YEAR ADMISSIONS)
An application can be made for a place for a child at any time outside the normal admission round and the child will be admitted where there are places available. Further information regarding instructions on how to apply for a place in the school at any other time other than the normal intake is available on the school’s website at https://www.cardinalgriffin.org.uk/Admissions/
Parents will be advised of the outcome of their application in writing and, where the Board of Director’s decision is to refuse their child a place, have the right to appeal to an independent appeal panel.
If there are no places available and admission is refused, the child will be added to the waiting list in line with the Waiting List section above.
There is no charge or cost related to the admission of a child to this school.
ADMISSION TO THE SIXTH FORM
The school operates a sixth form for a total of 200 pupils. 120 places overall will be available in Year 12. Whilst the admission number is 40 if fewer than 80 of the school’s existing students transfer into Year 12, additional external students will be admitted until Year 12 meets its capacity of 120.
Applications for the Sixth Form should be made directly to the school using the application form available from the school, from the College Sixth Form Administrator or from the school’s website. Completed application forms must be returned to the school by 10th January.
Both internal and external students wishing to enter the sixth form will be expected to have met the same minimum academic entry requirements for the sixth form. These are 5 GCSEs (or equivalent) at level 9 to 4, however, specific courses are subject to specific entry requirements. If GCSE Maths or English has not been achieved at grade 9-5, there is the opportunity to resit.
In addition to the sixth form’s minimum academic entry requirements students will need to satisfy minimum entrance requirements to the courses for which they are applying. If either internal or external applicants fail to meet the minimum course requirements they will be given the opportunity of pursuing any alternative courses for which they do meet the minimum academic requirements. Course requirements are published annually in the school’s prospectus and on its website.
When Year 12 is undersubscribed all applicants meeting the minimum academic entry requirements will be admitted or permitted to progress. When there are more external applicants that satisfy any academic entry requirements priority will be given in accordance with the oversubscription criteria set out below.
Where there is space in Year 13, ie where there are fewer than 80 pupils in the year group, the school will admit additional pupils up to this number using the oversubscription criteria set out below.
Where there are more applications for places than the number of places available, places will be offered according to the following order of priority. If there is oversubscription within a category, the Local Governing body will give priority firstly to children who will have a brother or sister (see Note 4 above) attending Cardinal Griffin Catholic College at the time of admission and then secondly to children of staff who have been employed at Cardinal Griffin Catholic College for at least 2-yearsor less than 2-yearswhere they were employed to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage (this applies to teaching and non-teaching staff) and then thirdly to children living closest to the school determined by the shortest distance (see Note 6 above)
The admission of students with an Education, Health and Care Plan is dealt with by a completely separate procedure. Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan that names the school must be admitted. Where this takes place before the allocation of places under these arrangements this will reduce the number of places available to other children.
An Education, Health and Care Plan is a plan made by the local authority under section 37 of the Children and Families Act 2014, specifying the special educational provision required for a child.
OVERSUBSCRIPTION CRITERIA FOR SIXTH FORM
1. Baptised Catholic children (see Note 2 above) who are looked after, or previously looked after (see Note 3 above).
2. Other Baptised Catholic children (see Note 2 above).
3. Non-Catholic children who are looked after or previously looked after (see Note 3 above).
4. Other Non-Catholic children.
The admissions process for Cardinal Griffin Catholic College is part of the Staffordshire Local Authority co-ordinated admissions scheme. To apply for a place at Cardinal Griffin Catholic College in the normal admissions round, an application must be made using the school admission application process of the local authority in which you live naming Cardinal Griffin Catholic College on the application form. Applications need to be made by 31st October. A Supplementary Information Form (SIF) must also be completed and returned directly to the school by the same date (see Note 2).
All applications which are submitted on time will be considered at the same time, after the closing date.
You will be advised of the outcome of your application on 1st March, or the next working day, by the local authority on behalf of the school.
Please note that throughout this policy, the term parent means all natural parents, any person who is not a parent but has parental responsibility for a child and any person who has care of a child.
The ethos of this school is Catholic. The school was founded by the Catholic Church to provide education for children of Catholic families. Whenever there are more applications than places available, priority will be given to Catholic children in accordance with the oversubscription criteria listed below. The school is conducted by its governing body as part of the Catholic Church in accordance with its Trust Deed and Instrument of Government and seeks at all times to be a witness to Our Lord Jesus Christ.
As a Catholic school, we aim to provide a Catholic education for all our pupils. At a Catholic school, Catholic doctrine and practice permeate every aspect of the school’s activity. It is essential that the Catholic character of the school’s education be fully supported by all families in the school. We therefore hope that all parents will give their full, unreserved and positive support for the aims and ethos of the school. This does not affect the right of an applicant who is not Catholic to apply for and be admitted to a place at the school in accordance with the admission arrangements.
The governing body is the admissions authority and has responsibility for admissions to this school. The governing body has set its admission number at 150 pupils to be admitted to Year 7 in the school year which begins in September. (See Note 1 below)
Where there are more applications for places than the number of places available, places will be offered according to the following order of priority. If there is oversubscription within a category, the governing body will give priority firstly to children who will have a brother or sister (see Note 4 below) attending Cardinal Griffin Catholic College at the time of admission and then secondly to children living closest to the school determined by the shortest distance (see Note 6 below).
For the purposes of this policy, parish boundaries are as shown on the Archdiocese of Birmingham parish boundary map which can be accessed at https://www.birminghamdiocese.org.uk/boundary-map and will be applied to the admission arrangements for the academic year.
Oversubscription Criteria for Years 7 - 11
1. Baptised Catholic children who are looked after or previously looked after
2. Baptised Catholic children currently attending a named feeder school
3. Baptised Catholic children living in a feed school parish area
4. Other Baptised Catholic children
5. Non-Catholic children who are looked after or previously looked after
6. Non-Catholic children currently attending a named feeder school
7. Children of other Christian denominations whose membership is evidenced by a minister of religion
8. Children of other faiths whose membership is evidenced by a religious leader.
9. Non-Catholic children of staff who have been employed by the school for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission is made or who have been employed for less than two years but has been recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.
10. Other Non-Catholic children
Note 1
Children with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan that names the school MUST be admitted. This will reduce the number of places available to applicants. This is not an oversubscription criteria.
Note 2
In all categories, for a child to be considered as Catholic, evidence of Catholic Baptism or Reception into the Church will be required. For a definition of a Baptised Catholic, see the Appendix. Those who face difficulties in producing written evidence of Catholic Baptism or Reception into the Church should contact their Parish Priest.
Parents making an application for a Catholic child should also complete a Supplementary Information Form (SIF) which should be returned directly to the school. If you do not provide the information required in the Supplementary Information Form and return it by the closing date, together with all supporting documentation, this is likely to affect the criteria that your child is placed into, which is likely to affect your child’s chance of being offered a place at this school.
For the purposes of this policy, a looked after child living with a family where at least one of the carers is Catholic will be considered as Catholic. The carer must forward a copy of their own Catholic Baptismal or Reception certificate directly to the school in order for this priority to be given to the child as failure to do so will result in the looked after child being ranked as a non-Catholic.
Note 3
A “looked after child” has the same meaning as in section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989, and means any child who is (a) in the care of the local authority or (b) being provided with accommodation by them in the exercise of their social services functions (eg children with foster parents) at the time of making the application to the school. A “previously looked after child” is a child was looked after, but ceased to be so because he or she was adopted or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order and includes those children who appear (to the governing body) to have been in state care outside England and ceased to be in state case as a result of being adopted. For the purposes of this policy, a looked after child living with a family where at least one of the carers is Catholic will be considered as Catholic. The carer must forward a copy of their own Catholic Baptismal or Reception certificate directly to the school in order for this priority to be given to the child as failure to do so will result in the looked after child being ranked as a non-Catholic
Note 4
For all applicants the definition of a brother or sister is:
- A brother or sister sharing the same parents
- A half-brother or half-sister, where two children share one common parent
- A step-brother or step-sister, where two children are related by a parents’ marriage or where they are unrelated but their parents are living as partners.
- Adopted or fostered children
The children must be living permanently in the same household.
Note 5
The named feeder schools for Cardinal Griffin Catholic College are:
St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Cannock
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Hednesford
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Rugeley
St Thomas More Catholic Primary School, Great Wyrley
St Joseph’s and St Theresa’s Catholic Primary School, Burntwood
Note 6
Distances are measured by the Local Authority on behalf of the school. 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.
In a very small number of cases, where the school is oversubscribed, it may not be possible to decide between the applications of those pupils who are the final qualifiers for a place when applying the published admission criteria.
For example, this may occur when children in the same year group live at the same address, or if the distance between the home and the school is exactly the same, for example, blocks of flats. If there is no other way of separating the application according to the admissions criteria and to admit both, or all, of the children would cause the Published Admission Number for the child’s year group to be exceeded, the Local Authority, on behalf of the Governing Body, will use a computerised system to randomly select the child to be offered the final place.
The governing body will, where possible, admit twins and all siblings from multiple births where one of the children is the last child ranked within the school’s published admission number.
A child’s home address refers to the address where the child usually lives with a parent or carer and will be the address provided in the Local Authority’s Common Application Form.
Where parents have shared responsibility for a child, and the child lives for part of the week with each parent, the home address will be the address provided in the Local Authority’s Common Application Form, provided that the child resides at that address for any part of the school week.
Parents may be requested to supply documentary evidence to satisfy the Governing Body that the child lives at the address put forward by the parents.
If a place in the school 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 liable to be withdrawn.
Note 7
The criteria for other Christian denominations will be as follows:
"Children of other Christian denominations" means: children who belong to other churches and ecclesial communities which, acknowledge God’s revelation in Christ, confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the Scriptures, and, in obedience to God’s will and in the power of the Holy Spirit commit themselves: to seek a deepening of their communion with Christ and with one another in the
Church, which is his body; and to fulfil their mission to proclaim the Gospel by common witness and service in the world to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
An ecclesial community which on principle has no credal statements in its tradition, is included if it manifests faith in Christ as witnessed to in the Scriptures and is committed to working in the spirit of the above.
All members of Churches Together in England and of CYTÛN are deemed to be included in the above definition, as are all other churches and ecclesial communities that are in membership of any local Churches Together Group (by whatever title) on the above basis. Churches Together in England, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.
Proof of membership to other Christian denomination will be requested. This may be in the form of a letter from the Cleric in charge or other appropriate evidence. Failure to provide appropriate proof may affect the oversubscription criterion that the child’s name is placed in.
Note 8
"children of other faiths" means children who are members of a religious community that does not fall within the definition of ‘other Christian denominations’ at 6 above and which falls within the definition of a religion for the purposes of charity law. The Charities Act 2011 defines religion to include:
• A religion which involves belief in more than one God, and
• A religion which does not involve belief in a God.
Case law has identified certain characteristics which describe the meaning of religion for the purposes of charity law, which are characterised by a belief in a supreme being and an expression of belief in that supreme being through worship."
Applications for children to be admitted into a class outside their normal age group
Parents have the right to request, but not insist, that their child be considered for admission to a class outside their normal age group. This could be the case, for example, if a child is gifted and talented, has experienced problems such as ill health, or is already being educated in a class outside their normal age group at their current Primary school. Parents who wish for their child to be considered for admission to a class outside their normal age group must make an application for the normal age group in the first instance. Parents must then submit a formal request to the Governing Body for the child to be considered for a different age group class instead. This request should be in the form of a written letter of application outlining the reasons why they wish for their child to be considered to be admitted into a class outside their normal age group and enclosing any supportive evidence and documentation that they wish to be taken into account as part of that request.
The Governing Body will consider requests submitted for a child to be admitted into a class outside their normal age group and advise parents of the outcome of that request before national offer day, having taken into account the information provided by the parents, the child’s best interests and the views of the Head Teacher.
If the request is refused, the original application for the normal age group class will progress through the Local Authority co-ordinated admissions scheme, be considered by the Governing Body and the parents advised of the outcome.
If the request is agreed and the year group for which the parents have requested a place is a current year group in the school, then the application will be considered by the Governing Body and the parents advised of the outcome.
If the request is agreed and the year group for which the parents have requested a place is for a future year group, ie Year 7 in September 2022, then the original application is withdrawn and the parents must submit a fresh application for Year 7 2022 when applications open in the autumn term of 2021. Please note that parents only have the right to re-apply for a place. Where the Governing Body agrees to consider an application for Year 7 the following year, that application is considered alongside all other applications received and parents will be advised of the outcome of that application on national offer day. No place is reserved or held for the child in advance.
If parents are considering submitting an application for their child to be admitted into a class outside their normal age group, it is strongly recommended that they also read the DFE guidance which can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-school-admission
Appeals
Parents who wish to appeal against the decision of the Governing Body to refuse their child a place in the school should make that appeal request in writing to the Chair of Governors at the school address. Appeals will be heard by an independent panel.
Please note that parents do not have the right to appeal if their request for their children to be admitted to a class outside their normal year group has been refused, but the Governing Body have offered a place in the normal age group instead.
Repeat applications
Any parent can apply for a place for their child at any time outside the normal admissions round. Parents do not have the right to a second appeal in respect of the same school for the same academic year unless, in exceptional circumstances, the Governing Body has accepted a second application from the parent because of a significant and material change in the circumstances of the parent, child or school, but have still refused admission.
Late applications
Late applications will be dealt with in accordance with the Local Authority’s co-ordinated admissions scheme. This states that applications received after the closing date will be considered alongside those applicants who applied on time wherever possible. Where it is not practicable because places have3 already been allocated, or are shortly to be allocated, then late applications will be considered only after those that were made before this point.
You are encouraged to ensure that your application is received on time.
Change in preference
Once parents have submitted their preference, they will not be allowed to change them without an exceptional change in their circumstances, for example, if the family has recently moved address or an older sibling has changed schools. All requests to change preferences should be made in writing to the Local Authority to whom the parents submitted the original application. Where a change of preference is submitted for an oversubscribed school, without an exceptional change in circumstances, then the application will be refused.
Waiting list
In addition to their right to appeal, children who have not been offered a place at [Insert name of school] but were offered a school that was ranked as a lower preference on their application form will be added to a waiting list.
The waiting list will be maintained until 31st December 2021 and will then be discarded. Parents may apply to Cardinal Griffin Catholic College for their child’s name to remain on the waiting list until the end of the summer term 2022 when it will be discarded.
A child’s position on a waiting list is not fixed. When a new child joins the waiting list, all applicants on that waiting list will be re-ranked to ensure that the list is always maintained in oversubscription criteria order. This means that a child’s position on the waiting list could go up or down during the time that it is on the list. Any late applications accepted will be added to the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria.
Inclusion on the waiting list does not mean that a place will eventually become available. It may be that those already offered places may accept them, thereby filling all available places.
Children who are the subject of a direction by the Local Authority to admit or who are allocated to a school in accordance with the Fair Access Protocol take precedence over those on a waiting list.
In year fair access protocol
The Governing Body of [Insert name of school] is committed to taking its fair share of children who are vulnerable and/or hard to place, as set out in locally agreed protocols. Accordingly, outside the normal admission round the governing body is empowered to give absolute priority to a child where admission is requested under any locally agreed protocol. The Governing Body has this power, even when admitting the child would mean exceeding the published admission number.
Applications other than the normal intake to Year 7 (In-year admissions)
An application can be made for a place for a child at any time outside the normal admission round and the child will be admitted where there are places available. Applications should be made to the school by contacting [Insert name and contact details] and all families approaching the school will be given an application form. Where there are places available but more applications than places, the published oversubscription criteria, as set out for the normal round of admissions, will be applied.
If there are no places available, the child will be added to the waiting list (see above).
Parents will be advised of the outcome of their application in writing and, where the Governing Body’s decision is to refuse their child a place, have the right to appeal to an independent appeal panel.
There is no charge or cost related to the admission of a child to this school.