Manchester Communication Academy

Admission Arrangements

Purpose of The Policy

Greater Manchester Academy Trust (GMAT) is the Admission Authority for Manchester Communication Academy (MCA) and is therefore required to draft, consult on and determine their admission arrangements.

Where there are more applicants than places available the academy will apply the admission arrangements in order to decide which applicants will be offered places.

These admission arrangements apply to applicants seeking a place in Year 7 and within the school year.

Principles of The Policy

• We will welcome all students
• We will ensure that each student is provided with equality of opportunity
• We will provide schools, students, parents/carers with full information about the school
• We will provide students, parents/carers with the opportunity to look around the school and talk to staff
• We will ensure a smooth and efficient transition for students, to the school
• Students with additional needs will have individualised arrangements made for their transition

Application Procedures

Greater Manchester Academies Trust has elected to use the Local Authority’s admission process. Therefore, the co-ordination and administration of admissions is undertaken by Manchester LA’s Admissions Service.

All parents/carers are required to apply to their home Local Authority (LA) regardless of where the school/academy they are applying is situated. Manchester residents will apply to Manchester LA. The LA will liaise with other Admission Authorities where required. Manchester LA will inform parent/carers in writing of the outcome of their application.

Admission Procedure for Year 7 Students for September Intake

Information about the school will be provided in the first instance by:

• The LA to all parents/carers
• The school through its website
• The school through brochures on request
• The school through policies on request
• The school through Open Evenings, Transition Days and other events

Oversubscription Criteria

The oversubscription criteria will be applied to all applicants where there are more applicants than places available. All applicants will be placed in a priority order determined by the oversubscription criteria. Places will be offered to the applicants with the highest priority until all places at the academy have been offered. There are different oversubscription criteria for entry into:

• Year 7 in September (Secondary Admissions Round),
• Year 7 to year 11 during the academic year (In Year Admissions).

Secondary Admissions Round – Oversubscription Criteria

All children whose statement of special educational needs or Education, Health and Care plan names the school must be admitted subject to appropriate, statutory meetings and agreed plans.

Category 1 – children who are looked after by a local authority and children who were previously looked after by a local authority. Previously looked after children are children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a residence order or special guardianship order). This policy takes account of the updated version of the School Admissions Code of previously looked after children which has been expanded to include children who were in state care outside of England but were then adopted. All

reference of previously looked after children (PLAC) includes this internationally adopted PLAC. Further guidance can be accessed Admissions priority for children adopted from state care outside of England

Category 2 – children with exceptional medical/social needs. All children whose Education, Health and Care Plan names the school will be admitted. If the school is not oversubscribed, all applicants must be offered a place

Category 3 – children with a sibling at the academy

Category 4 – all other children

Within each category, applicants will be prioritised according to the distance between the child’s permanent address and the academy. Distance will be measured in a straight line from the centre point of the child’s permanent home address to the centre point of the academy as defined by Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG), and using the Local Authority’s computerised measuring system, with those living closer to the academy receiving higher priority.

Proximity to the academy is used as a tie-breaker, those living closest being given priority. On the rare occasion where the offer of places to applicants with equidistant addresses would lead to oversubscription, the decision of who will be offered the place will be made by random selection.

For parents who have shared responsibility for a child, the place of residency will be determined as the address where the child lives for the majority of the week. Where this cannot be easily determined full details must be provided in writing at the time of application to enable the Local Authority to determine which address will be used for the purpose of admission. Should the Local Authority be unable to reach a decision based on the information received, the address provided for claiming Child Benefit and where appropriate, Child Tax Credits will be used. In such circumstances, documentary evidence must be provided.

Notes:

Category 2 – Exceptional medical/social needs

• A panel of Local Authority officers will consider Category 2 applications on behalf of the academy
• If a parent has chosen Manchester Communication Academy because the child has exceptional social or medical circumstances or the parent is disabled, this should be indicated with the reasons for choosing the academy. Parents must also provide a letter from a doctor or social worker as supporting evidence. The LA will then send a category 2 application form allowing the parent to state in full the exceptional social/medical reasons why the child should attend this academy.
• If supporting evidence is not supplied with a category 2 application the application will be refused.

Category 3 – Sibling

• A sibling is defined as an older brother or sister attending Manchester Communication Academy when the applicant will take up the place and living at the same address. This includes adopted siblings, stepsiblings and foster children.

Waiting Lists

Waiting lists will be held in criteria order according to the oversubscription criteria. Waiting lists will not be operated on a “first served come, first” basis. The amount of time an applicant is on a waiting list will not affect their position on it.

For the Secondary Admissions Round a waiting list will be held up to the end of the autumn term. At this point applicants will be required to re-apply for the academy should they wish to stay on the waiting list.

For In Year applications, waiting lists will be held for the term in which the application was made. At the end of the term all applicants will be removed from all waiting lists. The only exception to this will be if the applicant has not been offered a place. In this circumstance the applicant will be kept on the waiting list for the next term. Details of the waiting list process will be on the application forms and on the offer letters sent to applicants.

Late Applications

Waiting lists will be held in criteria order using the academy’s oversubscription criteria. Waiting lists are not operated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. The amount of time an applicant is on a waiting list will not affect their position on it.

The following excerpt taken from the LA’s Admissions Scheme describes how late applications will be dealt with.

Secondary Admission Round – Late Applications

• Any [Standard Application Form] SAFs received after the closing date will be processed as late. This means an offer of a school/academy place will be made after all on time applicants have been processed. Late applications for Manchester school/academies may result in parents/carers not being offered a place at their preferred school/academy.
• The LA will only process applications received after the deadline date as on time applications if there is a good reason for late submission. Such applications are valid late applications. A valid late application will include situations where children move into Manchester after the closing date…This is the date when application information is exchanged with other LAs.
• Where possible late applicants will be sent an offer letter on 01 March
• Applications received after the 01 March will be notified of the outcome of their application as soon as possible.