Dixons Brooklands Academy

Admissions

Year 7 intake in September

Applications to our academy should be made via the local authority/council common application form (CAF), which is available on the Manchester City Council’s website. You will need to name the academy as one of your school preferences on that form.

Further information about the admissions process and the oversubscription criteria which are used to rank applications, can be found in the Admissions and Appeals Policy (available from the Downloads section below).

More information about the secondary school application process is available from September.

Further information about the academy can be found on this website or by contacting our academy via our contact form or telephone: 0151 524 4530

Open event

An open event will take place in September and details will be publicised on the academy website .

In-year admissions (Years 7 to 11)

There are 210 places in each of Years 7 to 11.

Where vacancies occur, places are not offered based on the length of time children have been on the list but are filled in coordination with the local authorities and in line with the oversubscription criteria. It is, therefore, possible that a child may be added to the list who qualifies more highly within the criteria than children already on the list because each time a child is added, the list will be ranked again in line with the published oversubscription criteria. Looked after children, previously looked after children, and those allocated a place at the academy in accordance with a Fair Access Protocol (explained below) take precedence over those on a waiting list.

Where a place is available, we will look at the waiting list and children will be prioritised in accordance with the oversubscription criteria stated in the Admissions and Appeals Policy (available from the Downloads section below).

If you wish to apply for a place, you will need to complete the application form available on Manchester City Council’s website. The form needs to be returned directly to the Council. On receipt of the Application Form a copy will be sent to the Academy. If a place is available, the Academy will contact you to arrange admission. If there is no place available, then your children will be placed onto a waiting list for that term. Parents will need to re-apply each term to keep their children on the waiting list.

Statement of Policy The Academy is committed to:

• admitting an intake reflective of the local community
• resolving a situation where there are many more applications than places available
• providing a consistency of approach in a potentially emotive area
• demonstrating that we are applying our oversubscription criteria equally and fairly
• ensuring that children with special educational needs and disabilities, and vulnerable children are not treated less favourably than other applicants
• working collaboratively with all schools within the local authority to improve behaviour and reduce exclusions by participating in the writing of and adhering to the Fair Access Protocol

The aims are:

• to ensure that places are awarded fairly and openly
• to ensure that parents are aware of the admissions procedures
• to guarantee that all legitimate applications will be processed efficiently and within an agreed time span
• to demonstrate that our procedures comply with the School Admissions Code
• to provide an appropriate appeal procedure for those who are dissatisfied with the outcome of their applications which complies with the School Admission Appeals Code

Procedures for Year 7 entry

The admission arrangements are:

• There are 210 places in Year 7.
• Applications for places at the Academy will be made in accordance with the local authorities Coordinated Admission Scheme, as published on Manchester local authority’s website. Where the Academy receives more applications than places available, the oversubscription criteria will apply.
• Applications must be made on the Standard or Common Application (SAF / CAF) provided by the local authorities by the stated deadline.

Oversubscription criteria

The Academy has an agreed admissions number of 210 children for entry in Year 7. The Academy will accordingly admit up to 210 children in the relevant age group each year if sufficient applications are received. All children will be admitted if 210 or fewer apply.

If the Academy is oversubscribed, after the admission of children with an Education, Health and Care Plan, where the Academy is named, priority for admission will be given to those children who meet the criteria in the order set out below:

• Looked-after children or children who were previously looked after. See note 1 for a definition of these terms.
• Children who have exceptional social or medical need, supported by a written recommendation from the child’s paediatrician / consultant or a professional from Children’s Services. The recommendation must explain why the Academy is the only suitable school to meet the child’s needs and why no other school could provide the appropriate support for the child. See note 2 for how to apply.
• Children whose siblings live at the same address, currently attend the Academy, and will continue to do so on the date of admission (see note 3 for a definition of sibling). If demand exceeds places at this point, places will be decided based upon proximity to the Academy (as detailed at point d).
• Admission of children based on proximity to the Academy using straight line measurement from the Academy to the home address (see note 4).

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 using a computerised random number generator programme (see note 5).

Notes

• A looked after child is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989). A previously looked-after child is a child who, immediately after being looked-after, became subject to adoption, a child arrangements order or special guardianship order and includes those who appear (to the Governing Body) to have been in state care outside of England[1] and ceased to be so because of being adopted.
• Exceptional need applications must be indicated in the Reasons for choosing the school section found on the Standard or Common Application Form (SAF / CAF) and accompanied by the supporting information described above. The LA will then send a category 2 application to the parent / carer to allow them to state in full the exceptional social or medical need reasons. If supporting evidence is not supplied with the category 2 application, the application will be refused.
• In addition to brothers and sisters, the term sibling includes half, adopted, step, or foster brothers or sisters living at the same address. It does not include cousins or other family members sharing a house.
• Manchester local authority measure the distance in a straight line (not along roads or paths) from the home address to the centre of the school using the points defined by the Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG). The address used as the home address must be the child’s main and permanent home. If responsibility is shared, you should use the address where the child mostly wakes up on school days. If responsibility is shared equally, the address used must be the address of the parent or carer who claims Child Benefit.
• The applications will be allocated a random number of between 1 and 8 that contains up to 7 decimal places. The numbers will be allocated by a computer programme and ranked from the smallest number at the top of the list to the biggest number at the bottom.

The randomisation process will be supervised by an independent clerk of an independent appeals panel.

A child is regarded as having been in state care outside of England if they were in the care of or were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation, or any other provider of care whose sole or main purpose is to benefit society.

Waiting lists

If your child is not offered a place at the Academy for Year 7, your child’s details will automatically remain on the waiting list until the end of December i.e., one term after the start of the year. You will need to make a fresh application in January for your child’s details to remain on the waiting list (see In-Year Admissions for how to apply).

For in-year applications, the details will remain on the waiting list until the end of the term for which you applied. You will need to make a new application each term if you wish to apply for a place and be placed onto the waiting list again.

Where places become available, they will be filled in accordance with the oversubscription criteria.

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. This is a legal process and places are not ‘reserved’ for appeal panels to offer.

Further information about the appeals process and the appeal form can be found on Manchester local authority’s website.