The admissions process for Maryvale Catholic Primary School is part of the Birmingham Local Authority co- ordinated admissions scheme. To apply for a place at Maryvale Catholic Primary School 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 Maryvale Catholic Primary School on the application form. Applications need to be made by 15th January 2024. 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 16th April 2024, 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 30 pupils to be admitted to the Reception class in the school year which begins in September 2024. (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 to children living closest to the school determined by the shortest distance (see Note 5).
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 2024/2025. A copy of the parish boundary map will also be available on the school website.
Oversubscription Criteria
School Entry
Parents must, by law, ensure that their child is receiving suitable full time education from the beginning of
the term following the child’s fifth birthday, when they will have begun to be of compulsory school age.
Where a place is offered in the school, the pupil will be entitled to take up that place, on a full-time basis in the September following their fourth birthday.
A child’s parents may defer the date at which their child, below compulsory school age, is admitted to the school, until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age and not beyond the first day of the summer term 2025.
A child may take up a part-time place until later in the school year, but not beyond the point at which the child reached compulsory school age.
Upon receipt of the offer of a place a parent should notify the school, as soon as possible, that they wish
to either defer their child’s entry to the school or take up a part-time place.
The parent of a child whose fifth birthday falls during the summer term who wishes to defer their child’s admission until the beginning of the following academic year (when the child will have begun to be of compulsory school age) will therefore need to make a separate in-year application for a place in Year 1 at the school. Any reception class place offered following an application made for the 2024/2025 admission round will be withdrawn if the child does not take up that place by the first day of the summer term 2025.
Applications for Children to Be Admitted Into a Class Outside of Their Normal Age Group
Parents have the right to request, but not insist, that their child be considered for admission to a class outside of 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 that the child is summer born, ie a child born between 1st April and 31st August. Parents who wish for their child to be considered for admission to a class outside of 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 of 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 of 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 Reception in September 2025, then the original application is withdrawn and the parents must submit a fresh application for Reception 2025 when applications open in the autumn term of 2024. Please note that parents only have the right to re-apply for a place. Where the Governing Body agrees to consider an application for Reception 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 of 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
Applications from Children Currently Attending Maryvale Catholic School’s Nursery
Attendance at Maryvale Catholic School’s Nursery does not automatically guarantee that a place will be offered in the Reception class of Maryvale Catholic Primary School. Parents must apply for a Reception place in exactly the same way as parents of children not attending the Nursery. All applications will be considered against the oversubscription criteria by the Governing Body in the same way regardless of whether the child does or does not attend the Nursery at the time of application.
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 of 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 of 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 in exceptional circumstances applications submitted to Birmingham local authority after the final closing date, but before the date that Birmingham local authority forwards the applications to the appropriate admission authority for consideration, may be considered at the same time as those which were received by the final closing date. Discretion will be used when considering the individual circumstances. For example where:
All late applications received after the date that Birmingham local authority forwards the applications to the appropriate admission authority for consideration, but before the offer of places, will only be considered after those applications which were received on time have been considered. Such applications may therefore be less likely to be offered a place. All late applications received after the offer of places will be considered. In the event that Maryvale Catholic Primary School is undersubscribed, a place will be offered. Applications made on or after the start of the Autumn Term 2024 will need to be submitted directly to the school and will be treated as an in-year application.
You are encouraged to ensure that your application is received on time.
Change in Preference
Parents can submit changes of preferences from 1st October 2023 up until the closing date 15th January 2024 and the family’s latest change in preferences up until the closing date will be the application that is processed. Any late changes of preferences received after 15th January 2024 no matter the family’s circumstances, will not be processed until after the offer of places on 16th April 2024 (or next working day).
Parents in Birmingham are restricted to a maximum of three live preferences at a time, it is therefore important that parents visit www.birmingham.gov.uk/schooladmissions for further information of the implications of making late changes of preferences.
Waiting List
In addition to their right to appeal, children who have not been offered a place at Maryvale Catholic Primary 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 2024 and will then be discarded. Parents may apply to Maryvale Catholic Primary School for their child’s name to remain on the waiting list until the end of the summer term 2025 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.
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 Maryvale Catholic Primary 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 (subject to the infant class size exceptions).
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 www.maryvaleprimary.org.uk
To apply for a place at Maryvale Catholic Primary School in-year, parents will be required to complete Birmingham Local Authority’s In-Year Application Form and return it directly to the school, ensuring that any required supplementary information is also attached.
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 Governor’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.
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