The School uses Wirral Local Authority as Admissions Authority for pupils in Years Reception through to Year 6. The school manages its own admissions in Nursery and for Two Year-Olds.

Information about Local Authority admissions can be found on the Wirral Admissions Site

Entitlement

All three and four year olds are entitled to a free early education place before they reach statutory school age (the beginning of the school term immediately following the child’s fifth birthday). Some two year olds are also entitled to free education if they meet the entitlement criteria.

Children are admitted into Reception in the September following their fourth birthday. Parents can request that the date their child is admitted to the school is deferred until later in the school year or until the term in which the child reaches compulsory school age. Parents can request that their child takes up the place part-time until the child reaches compulsory school age. The admission criteria will apply to all children seeking a school place, whatever their term of entry. The place offered will be reserved on condition that it is taken up within the same school year.

Admissions of summer born children may be deferred to the following September but in those cases children may be offered a place to enter Year 1 unless an application has been made and agreed by the LA or the admitting authority in advance. The Local Authority will consider any application for a deferred entry into Reception of summer born children for the September following their fifth birthday. Such requests will be considered in accordance with the Local Authority’s ‘Guidance on the admission of summer born children’ and DfE Advice.

Children attending a school’s nursery are not guaranteed a place in the reception class and a separate application must be made.

How to Apply

For applications in the normal admissions round you should use the application form provided by Wirral Local Authority. You can use this form to express your preference for a minimum of 3 state-funded schools, in rank order.

You will receive an offer for a school place directly from the Local Authority.

Please note, pupils already attending our nursery will not transfer automatically into the main school. A separate application must be made for a place in reception.

Requests for Admission Outside the Normal Age Group

Parents are entitled to request a place for their child outside of their normal age group.

We ask that where parents are considering this, they speak to the Headteacher, before applying. Following a meeting, should parents feel that they would like to request admission outside the normal age group, they must confirm in writing to the Headteacher the reason for the request, and then follow the normal local authority admissions process. The school will then liaise with the Local Authority closely in progressing the application.

Decisions on requests for admission outside the normal age group will be made on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. In accordance 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 headteacher’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 of the admission arrangements laid out in this policy, including the oversubscription criteria listed in section 6.

Applications will not be treated as a lower priority if parents have made a request for a child to be admitted outside the normal age group.

Parents will always be informed of the reasons for any decision on the year group a child should be admitted to. Parents do not have a right to appeal if they are offered a place at the school but it is not in their preferred age group.

Allocation of Place

The school has an agreed admission number in Reception of 30 places.

In September 2024, the school will have an admission number of 210. This is broken down by Year Group:

Reception - 30 Places

Year 1 - 30 Places

Year 2 - 30 Places

Year 3 - 30 Places

Year 4 - 30 Places

Year 5 - 30 Places

Year 6 - 30 Places

Pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan

The admission of pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is dealt with by a separate procedure. Such children are dealt with through a separate legislative process and without reference to the oversubscription criteria below. Children who have an EHCP which names a specific school, will be admitted to that school.

Tie Break

When demand exceeds places in any of the following policies, the distance between the child’s home and school, measured by a straight line distance from the Ordnance Survey address point of the home to the main entrance to the school building, will be used to decide who is given a place; those living nearest being given the available places. Where the offer of places to applicants with equi-distant addresses would lead to oversubscription, the decision of who will be offered the place will be made by random selection.

Multiple Births

Where a parents of multiple births (twins, triplets etc) request admission and only one of the siblings can be offered a place, the remaining siblings will also be offered places above the admission number.

Admission Policy

Where the number of preferences for a school exceeds the number of places available, priority will be given to children in the following categories (also referred to as ‘Oversubscription Criteria’):

Looked after children or children who were previously looked after but ceased to be so because they were adopted or became subject to a child arrangements or special guardianship order (see Note 1), including Children who were Previously Looked After Children outside of England and Wales who were adopted (see Note 2)
Children who have exceptional social or medical needs, supported by a written recommendation from the child’s paediatrician/consultant or professional from Children’s Services. The letter must explain why the school is the only suitable school to meet the child’s needs and why no other school could provide the appropriate support for the child.
Sisters and brothers of children living at the same address, who are at present on roll at the school, and will still be attending the school at the time of admission (see Note 3).
All other children.

Notes

A ‘looked after child’ is a child who is in the care of the local authority, or being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions. A previously ‘looked after child’ who is no longer looked after, in England and Wales, because he/she is the subject of an adoption, special guardianship or child arrangements order which includes arrangements relating to with whom the child is to live.
A ‘previously looked after child’ who has been in ‘state care’ outside of England and Wales, accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation or any other organisation the sole or main purpose of which is to benefit society and legally adopted.
The terms “siblings” refers to children who live with the same family at the same address. Children living with the same family e.g. foster children and step-sisters and brothers are also included. Cousins are not siblings.
‘Home address’ refers to the child’s permanent home at the date of admission. Where the child lives with split parents who have shared responsibility, it is for the parents to determine which address to use when applying for a primary school. Proof of residency may be required at any time during or after the allocation process.

In-Year Admissions

You can apply for a place for your child at any time outside the normal admissions round. As is the case in the normal admissions round, all children whose statement of SEN or EHC plan names the school will be admitted.

Likewise, if there are spaces available in the year group you are applying for, your child will always 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 Admissions Policy (above). Priority will not be given to children on the basis that they have been on the waiting list the longest.

In-Year Application forms are available from the Local Authority, or the School Office.

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 should speak to the Local Authority, and they will provide details of the Appeals Process. Details can also be found online, via the Wirral Admissions Website

Nursery (including Two year-olds) Admissions

Our Nursery caters for children in the Foundation Stage, between the ages of 2 and 5 years. We have 10 full time equivalent places for two year-olds, and 26 full time equivalent places for three year-olds. Places are generally part-time or part-week, and we aim to give all parents their preferred sessions.

Parents/Carers can put their child's name on the waiting list as soon as the child is born.

It is our aim to offer all children at least 3 terms Nursery provision prior to them starting in Reception. The majority of admissions to Nursery take place over the first few weeks of the Autumn term.

Children are offered places according to their position on the waiting list. The list is divided into months to ensure that summer birthdays have equal access. The same number of children from each month’s list are offered places. (This number varies according to the number of vacancies).

Where we have excess sessions available, we make these available to parents for a nominal charge, reflective of the proportional cost, per-pupil unit, of operating the session.

Monitoring Arrangements

This policy will be reviewed and approved by the Local Governing Body every year.

Whenever changes to admission arrangements are proposed (except where the change is an increase to the agreed admission number), the governing board will publicly consult on these changes.

Admissions Policy