Loreto High School - Chorlton

Admissions Policy

Oversubscription criteria

The Governing Body will aim to ensure that oversubscription criteria is reasonable, clear, objective, procedurally fair, and compliant with all relevant legislation, including equalities legislation. This means that the oversubscription criteria will not unfairly disadvantage,

whether directly or indirectly, any child based on a protected characteristic or economic disadvantage.

In the event that there are more applicants than available places, the Governing Body will apply the following oversubscription criteria, in order of priority given:

• Looked After Children and previously Looked After Children.
• Baptised Roman Catholic children who attend one of the associated partner primary schools and have a sibling attending school at the time of admission
  • St John’s RC (Chorlton) Primary School
  • St. Kentigern’s RC Primary School
  • Our Lady’s RC Primary School
  • Holy Name RC Primary School
  • St Wilfrid’s RC Primary School
  • The Divine Mercy RC Primary School
• Baptised Roman Catholic children who attend one of the associated partner primary schools.
• Baptised Roman Catholic children who have a sibling in the school at the time of admission.
• Other baptised Roman Catholic children who are resident in one of the parishes named below:
  • Our Lady & St. John’s (Chorlton)
  • St. Kentigern’s
  • Our Lady’s
  • English Martyrs
  • Inner-City Team Parish.
• Other children who have a sibling in the school at the time of admission.
• Non Catholic children attending schools names in ‘2’ above.
• Non Catholic children from other Catholic primary schools
• Children with exceptional medical/social needs
• All other children seeking a Catholic education.

All pupils who have named the school in their EHC plan will be admitted. Children with SEND who do not have an EHC plan will be treated equally to all other applicants in the admissions process. This includes children who may need extra support or reasonable adjustments to be made. The details of the school’s SEND provision can be found in our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Policy and SEN Information Report.

If it is not possible to offer places for all applications within any criterion above, priority will be given to those children living nearest the school. Distance is to be measured in a straight line from the centre point of the child’s permanent home address to the centre point of the school as defined by the Ordnance Survey, the national mapping agency, using the local

authority’s computerised measuring system, with those living closer to the school receiving the higher priority. In the event of distances being the same for 2 or more applicants, places will be allocated by method 1-10 above.

 Notes for Applicants: 

• All applications will be considered at the same time and after the closing date for admissions which is 31st October.
  • A Looked After Child is a child who is:
  • in the care of a Local Authority, or
• being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their Social Services functions (under section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989)
• A previously Looked After Child is one who immediately moved on from that status after becoming subject to an adoption, residence or special guardianship order.
• For a child to be considered as a Catholic evidence of a Catholic Baptism or reception into the Catholic Church is required. The governing body will require written evidence in the form of a certificate of reception before applications for school places can be considered for categories of ‘Baptised Catholics’.
• Home address is considered to be the address where the child normally lives. Where care is split and a child moves between two addresses, the household in receipt of the child benefit would normally be the address used but the admission authority body reserves the right to request other evidence as fit the individual circumstance. Applicants should not state the address of another relative or person who has daily care of the child.
• ‘Sibling’ is defined in these arrangements as full, half or step brothers and sisters, adopted and foster brothers and sisters who are living at the same address and are part of the same family unit. This does not include cousins or other family relationships.
• The admission of a non-Catholic child in a year when there are vacancies remaining after the demand from Catholics is met does not guarantee a place for a sibling in a year where the Catholic demand is greater.
• A waiting list for children who have not been offered a place will be kept and will be ranked according to the admission criteria. The waiting list does not consider the date the application was received or the length of time a child's name has been on the waiting list. This means that a child's position on the list may change if another applicant is refused a place and their child has higher priority in the admissions criteria.
• For ‘in year’ applications received outside the normal admissions round, if places are available they will be offered to those who apply. If there are places available but more applicants than places then the published oversubscription criteria will be applied.
• The Governing Body reserves the right to admit children with proven and exceptional medical and social needs where admission to the school might best help satisfy those exceptional needs. Children with exceptional medical or social needs are required to provide appropriate supporting evidence, supplied by a doctor or a social worker.
• If an application for admission has been turned down by the Governing Board, parents may appeal to an Independent Appeals Panel. Parents must be allowed at least twenty school days from the date of notification that their application was unsuccessful to submit that appeal. Parents must give reasons for appealing in writing and the decision of the Appeals Panel is binding on the Governors.
• The Governing Body reserve the right to withdraw the offer of a school place where false evidence is received in relation to the application.

Applications and offers

In the event that parents of a child wish for their child to be admitted outside their normal age group, the school’s headteacher will assist the Governing Body in deciding on which year group the child will enter. Once a decision has been reached, the child’s parents will be informed in writing along with an explanation of how the decision was reached and any reasons why. The LA will also be informed

All offers will be made on National Offer Day, i.e. 1 March or the next working day where this date falls on a weekend or bank holiday.

Where the school is oversubscribed, the Governing Body will rank applications in accordance with the determined arrangements, and will ensure that only one offer will be made per child by the LA.

In-year admissions

The school will follow the same process for in-year admissions as for admissions at the start of the academic year. Where the school has places available in-year, it will offer a place to every child who has applied for one without condition or use of oversubscription criteria, unless to do so would be to prejudice the efficient provision of education or use of resources.

The school will consider all such applications and if the year group applied for has space available, then a place will be offered. If a place is not available, then the child’s parent can ask for their child’s name to be added to the appropriate waiting list. As with admissions at the start of the academic year, parents whose applications are turned down are entitled to appeal through the process outlined below. Where an offer is accepted, the school will make arrangements for the pupil to start as soon as possible.

Waiting list

For admissions at the start of the academic year, the school will operate a waiting list which sets out the priority for places in the same order set out in the oversubscription criteria. When additional children are placed on the waiting list, the list will be re-ordered in line with the oversubscription criteria – no pupil will be prioritised based on when their name was added to the list.

The Governing Body will make clear in the admissions arrangements the process for requesting admission outside of the normal age group for the admissions round.

Parents may request that their child is placed on the waiting list if they are not successful in receiving a place. Where a place becomes available, it will be offered to the parents of the child at the top of the list.

For in-year admissions, if there is a waiting list for that year, the child will be placed on a waiting list until a space becomes available, or the child finds a new school setting. The list will set out the priority for places in the same order as admissions at the start of the year – when a place becomes available, it will be offered to the parents of the child at the top of the list.

If a child on the waiting list is offered a position at the school, the parents will be notified and will have the option of accepting or rejecting the place within 28 days.

Admissions appeals

In accordance with the provisions of the Education Act 1998 amended by the 2002 Act, parents have the right to appeal against the refusal of the Governors to admit the child. An independent appeals panel will hear the appeal.