Rugeley John Taylor School - opens September 2025
Consultation 2026/20272025/2026
This is a new all through school. It is due to open for Year 7 only in September 2025 followed by reception in September 2026.
Consultation on 2026/2027 admission arrangements
The John Taylor Multi Academy Trust wishes to formally consult with you regarding the Rugeley John Taylor admissions arrangements for 2026/2027.
As we will be opening the primary phase of our all through school in September 2026, we are consulting on adding the arrangements for nursery and reception admissions as well as the addition of priority for siblings in the oversubscription criteria.
Your opinions are important to us, and we are keen to receive your comments on the arrangements before they are formally approved. Please see attached a copy of the proposed arrangements which can also be viewed on our website.
The consultation will close at 16:00 on Friday 10 January 2025.
Please send your comments to: Mike Donoghue at rug-office@rug.jtmat.co.uk or via our online form
Best Wishes
The Rugeley John Taylor Team
Proposed admission arrangements 2026/2027
Introductory statement
Rugeley John Taylor is a new, all-through school, founded by John Taylor MAT providing a curriculum that will be broad and balanced, with an emphasis on STEM subjects. It will be an inclusive school, open to children of all abilities and aptitudes.
Admission number(s)
Nursery
The school has an admission number of 26 full time equivalent places for entry in year Nursery.***Applications for Nursery places are made directly to the school, which are recorded when they are received. The 26 places available are allocated on a first come first served basis and confirmation of a place will be within 5 working days of receipt of application. Applications to Nursery can be made to the school up to a year before your child is eligible for a place.
Reception
The school has an admission number of 30 for entry in year Reception.
The school will accordingly admit this number of pupils if there are sufficient applications. Where fewer applicants than the published admission number(s) for the relevant year group are received, the Academy Trust will offer places at the school to all those who have applied.
There is no priority afforded to children who attend the nursery for Reception places and a separate application must be made at the appropriate time.
The applications will be processed through the normal Staffordshire local authority process for co-ordinating school offers. You will need to complete your local authority common application form for all your school preferences
The closing date for applications is 15 January 2026. Offers will be made on 16 April 2026.
Secondary
The school has an admission number of 150 for entry in Year 7.
The school will accordingly admit this number of pupils if there are sufficient applications. Where fewer applicants than the published admission number(s) for the relevant year group are received, the Academy Trust will offer places at the school to all those who have applied.
Applications for Secondary places will be processed through the normal Staffordshire local authority process for co-ordinating school offers. You will need to complete your local authority common application form for all your school preferences. The closing date for applications is 31 October 2025 but applications will be accepted after this point as per the late applications process detailed below. Offers will be made on 2 March 2026.
Oversubscription criteria
When the school is oversubscribed, after the admission of pupils with an Education, Health and Care plan naming the school, priority for admission will be given to those children who meet the criteria set out below, in priority order.
- 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.
- Children who have a sibling**** living at the same permanent home address, attending the Rugeley John Taylor School (excluding nursery) at the time of application, or whose sibling has been allocated a place to join the school though the coordinated admissions process for the year of entry or the in-year admissions process.
- 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**.
Tie-Break
If in categories 1- 2 above a tie-break is necessary to determine which child is admitted, the child living closest to the school will be given priority for admission. Distance is measured from the child’s home to the front gates of the school in a straight line.
If it is not possible to distinguish between two applicants because their distance is the same, random allocation will be undertaken by the local authority to allocate the final place.
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 preferences will be considered only after those that were made before this point.
A late application does not affect the right of appeal or the right to be placed on the waiting list.
Admission of children outside their normal age group
Parents may request that their child is admitted outside their normal age group. To do so parents should include a request with their application, specifying why admission out of normal year group is being requested and the year group in which they wish their child to be allocated a place. When such a request is made, the academy trust will make a decision on the basis of the circumstances of the case and in the best interests of the child concerned, taking into account the views of the headteacher and any supporting evidence provided by the parent.
Deferred entry for infants
Parents offered a place in reception for their child have a right to defer the date their child is admitted, or to take the place up part-time, until the child reaches compulsory school age. Places cannot be deferred beyond the beginning of the final term of the school year for which the offer was made. Children reach compulsory school age on the prescribed day following their 5th birthday (or on their fifth birthday if it falls on a prescribed day). The prescribed days are 31 August, 31 December and 31 March.
Infant Class Size Legislation
The requirement for the Academy Trust to meet the infant class size legislation may result in the refusal of sibling applications where a class has already reached its limit of 30 pupils. However, as an exception, the Academy Trust will give careful consideration to offering places above the published admission number to applications from children whose twin or sibling from a multiple birth is admitted even when there are no vacant places
Waiting lists
The school will operate a waiting list. Where the school receives more applications for places than there are places available, a waiting list will operate until the 31st December 2026. This will be maintained by the Academy Trust, following an unsuccessful application.
Children’s position on the waiting list will be determined solely in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. Where places become vacant, they will be allocated to children on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. The waiting list will be reordered in accordance with the oversubscription criteria whenever anyone is added to or leaves the waiting list.
Repeat applications
Parents do not have the right to a second appeal for the same academic year unless, in exceptional circumstances, the Academy Trust has 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.
In-Year Admission Arrangements
Parents or carers seeking to transfer to the school in-year may make an application using the appropriate application form available from Education - Staffordshire County Council. This application will be processed in line with the procedure outlined in the determined admission arrangements and parents and carers need to be aware that any date set for joining the 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
All applicants refused a place have a right of appeal to an independent appeal panel constituted and operated in accordance with the School Admission Appeals Code. Information regarding how to appeal will be provided to unsuccessful applicants.
Notes
* The home address is where a child normally lives. Where a child lives with parents with shared parental responsibility, each for part of a week, the address where the child lives is determined using a joint declaration from the parents stating the pattern of residence. If a child’s residence is split equally between both parents, then parents will be asked to determine which residential address should be used for the purpose of admission to school. If no joint declaration is received where the residence is split equally by the closing date for applications, the home address will be taken as the address where the child is registered with the doctor. If the residence is not split equally between both parents, then the address used will be the address where the child spends the majority of the school week.
Any applications found to be deliberately misleading or containing fraudulent information may result in a school place offer being withdrawn.
** The Local Authority uses a Geographical Information System (GIS) to calculate home to school distance in miles. The measurement is calculated using Ordnance Survey (OS) data from an applicant’s home address to the main gate of the school. The co-ordinates of an applicant’s home address are determined and provided by the Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and OS Address Point data.
*** Attending the Rugeley John Taylor nursery will not automatically guarantee a child’s a place into Reception. Applicants will be expected to follow the normal Staffordshire local authority application process.
**** A sibling can be defined as those children who live at the same address and either: have one or both natural parents in common; or are related by a parent’s marriage; or are adopted or fostered by a common parent or are unrelated children who live at the same address, whose parents live as partners.
Admission arrangements 2025-2026
Introductory statement
Rugeley John Taylor is a new school, working out of John Taylor MAT providing a curriculum that will be broad and balanced, with an emphasis on STEM subjects. It will be an inclusive school, open to children of all abilities and aptitudes.
Admission number(s)
The school has an admission number of 150 for entry in year 7.
The school will accordingly admit this number of pupils if there are sufficient applications. Where fewer applicants than the published admission number(s) for the relevant year group are received, the Academy Trust will offer places at the school to all those who have applied.
Application process
Applications will be processed through the normal Staffordshire local authority process for co-ordinating school offers. Parents need to complete their local authority common application form for all your school choices. The closing date for applications is 31 October 2024 but applications will be accepted after this point as per the late applications process detailed below. Offers will be made on 1 March 2025. If we have not entered into a funding agreement with the Secretary of State opening the school by that date, they will be conditional offers and will be confirmed once we have a signed funding agreement.
Offers will be made on 01/03/2025. If we have not entered into a funding agreement with the Secretary of State opening the school by that date, they will be conditional offers and will be confirmed once we have a signed funding agreement.
The application form can be obtained from our admissions pages.
Oversubscription criteria
When the school is oversubscribed, after the admission of pupils with an Education, Health and Care plan naming the school, priority for admission will be given to those children who meet the criteria set out below, in priority order.
- 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.
- 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**.
Tie-Break
If in categories 1-2 above a tie-break is necessary to determine which child is admitted, the child living closest to the school will be given priority for admission. Distance is measured from the child’s home to the front gates of the school in a straight line.
Random allocation undertaken by the local authority will be used as a tie-break in categories 1-2 above to decide who has the highest priority for admission if the distance between a child’s home and the academy/free school is equidistant in any two or more cases.
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 preferences will be considered only after those that were made before this point.
A late application does not affect the right of appeal or the right to be placed on the waiting list.
Admission of children outside their normal age group
Parents may request that their child is admitted outside their normal age group. To do so parents should include a request with their application, specifying why admission out of normal year group is being requested and the year group in which they wish their child to be allocated a place.
When such a request is made, the academy trust will make a decision on the basis of the circumstances of the case and in the best interests of the child concerned, taking into account the views of the headteacher and any supporting evidence provided by the parent.
Waiting lists
The school will operate a waiting list. Where the school receives more applications for places than there are places available, a waiting list will operate until the 31st December 2025. This will be maintained by the Academy Trust, and it will be open to any parent to ask for his or her child’s name to be placed on the waiting list, following an unsuccessful application.
Children’s position on the waiting list will be determined solely in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. Where places become vacant, they will be allocated to children on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. The waiting list will be reordered in accordance with the oversubscription criteria whenever anyone is added to or leaves the waiting list.
Appeals
All applicants refused a place have a right of appeal to an independent appeal panel constituted and operated in accordance with the School Admission Appeals Code.
Information regarding how to appeal will be provided to unsuccessful applicants.
In-Year Transfer Arrangements
Parents or carers seeking to transfer to the school in-year may make an application using the appropriate application form. This application will be processed in line with the procedure outlined in the determined admission arrangements and parents and carers need to be aware that any date set for joining the 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.
Notes
* The home address is where a child normally lives. Where a child lives with parents with shared parental responsibility, each for part of a week, the address where the child lives is determined using a joint declaration from the parents stating the pattern of residence. If a child’s residence is split equally between both parents, then parents will be asked to determine which residential address should be used for the purpose of admission to school. If no joint declaration is received where the residence is split equally by the closing date for applications, the home address will be taken as the address where the child is registered with the doctor. If the residence is not split equally between both parents, then the address used will be the address where the child spends the majority of the school week.
** The Local Authority uses a Geographical Information System (GIS) to calculate home to school distance 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 co-ordinates of an applicant’s home address is determined and provided by the Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and OS Address Point data.