Cofton Primary School

Aims

• Explain how to apply for a place at the school.
• Set out the school’s arrangements for allocating places to the pupils who apply.
• Explain how to appeal against a decision not to offer your child a place.

Looked after children:

• In the care of a local authority, or
• Being provided with accommodation by a local authority in exercise of its social services
• functions.

Previously looked after children:

• Were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 or the Adoption and Children Act 2002, or
• Became subject to a child arrangements order, or
• Became subject to a special guardianship order
• This includes children who appear to have been in state care outside of England and
• have ceased to be in state care due to being adopted.

How to Apply:

• For applications in the normal admissions round (joining in Reception Class for September) you should use the application form provided by Birmingham local authority. You can
• use this form to express your preference for a minimum of 3 state-funded schools, in rank
• order.

Requests for admission outside the normal age group:

Parents are entitled to request a place for their child outside of their normal age group.Decisions on requests for admission outside the normal age group will be made on thebasis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. Inaccordance with the School Admissions Code, this will include taking account of:

• Parents’ views
• Information about the child’s academic, social and emotional development
• Where relevant, their medical history and the views of a medical professional
• Whether they have previously been educated out of their normal age group
• Whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely
• The Head Teacher’s views
• Wherever possible, requests for admission outside a child’s normal age group will be
• processed as part of the main admissions round. They will be considered on the basis ofthe admission arrangements laid out in this policy, including the oversubscription criterialisted below in ‘Oversubscription Criteria’ below. Applications will not be treated as a lowerpriority if parents have made a request for a child to be admitted outside the normal age group.

Tie Break:
In the case of two or more applications that cannot be separated by the oversubscription
criteria outlined above, the school will use the distance between the school and a child’s
home as a tie breaker to decide between applicants. Priority will be given to children who
live closest to the school. Distance will be measured in a straight line from the child’s home
address to the school’s front gates on Wootton Road A child’s home address will be
considered to be where he/she is resident for the majority of nights in a normal school
week.
Where the distance between two children’s homes and the school is the same, random
allocation will be used to decide between them. This process will be independently verified.

In-year Admissions:
As a Foundation School, Cofton is its own Admission Authority.
Parents can apply for a place for their child at any time outside the normal admissions
round. As is the case in the normal admissions round, all children whose EHC plans name
the school will be admitted. Likewise, if there are spaces available in the year group you
are applying for, your child will be offered a place. If there are no spaces available at the
time of your application, your child’s name will be added to a waiting list for the relevant
year group. When a space becomes available, it will be filled by one of the pupils on the
waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria listed in this policy. Priority will
not be given to children on the basis that they have been on the waiting list the longest.

Appeals:
If your child’s application for a place at the school is unsuccessful, you will be informed why
admission was refused and given information about the process for hearing appeals. If you
wish to appeal, you must set out the grounds for your appeal in writing and send it to the
following address: