Co-op Academy Friarswood (the academy) is part of The Co-op Academies Trust (the Trust). The Trust is the admissions authority for the Academy, and is therefore responsible for ensuring that these arrangements are compliant with the Admissions Code 2021.

This document aims to provide information on how to apply for a place at the academy, how places are allocated, and how to appeal against a decision not to offer your child a place.

This document is based on the following documents from the Department for Education:

→ School Admissions Code 2021

→ School Admission Appeals Code

As an academy, the school is required by its funding agreement to comply with these codes, and with the law relating to admissions as set out in the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.

Consultation

These arrangements were consulted on between 17th December 2021 and 31st January 2022. During this consultation, we asked for feedback from governors, parents, staff, the local authority, neighbouring local authorities and other key stakeholders.

In-line with the requirements set out in the Admissions Code, unless any changes are made in the interim, these arrangements will next be consulted on in December 2028.

Education, Health and Care Plan

All children whose Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) names the school must be admitted. These children will be admitted ahead of any oversubscription criteria being applied.

How to Apply for a Place

The next section of the document is separated into the following sections:

Nursery admissions
Reception admissions
In-year admissions

Nursery Admissions

General Information

Our nursery has 26 part time places available each year for children in the term following their third birthday.

Applications to our nursery are processed by the academy directly.

Children aged three years on or before 31 August are able to attend our nursery in September. Attendance at school is not a requirement at this age but we fully encourage attendance to every morning session to support consistency of learning.

To apply for a place in our nursery, please visit our website and select “Apply for a Nursery Place” from the admissions page. This will take you to an online application form which will automatically be sent through to the academy.

Applications open in September each year. The deadline for applications to our nursery is Friday 22nd March each year. You will be notified by 8th April if your child has been given a place in the nursery.

You must apply for a place if you wish for your child to transfer from our nursery to the reception class. A place in our nursery does not guarantee a place in our school as there is no priority for nursery attendance.

Oversubscription

If we receive more applications than there are places available, places will be allocated according to the following criteria:

Children in care and children who ceased to be in care because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order), including those children who appear (to the admission authority) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.

Children in care means children who are looked after by a local authority in accordance with section 22 (1) of the Children Act 1989 and who is (a) in care of a local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a Local Authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see definition in Section 22 (1) of the Children Act 1989) at the time of making an application to a school. This includes children who were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 (see section 12 adoption orders) and children who were adopted under Adoption and Children Act 2002 (see section 46 adoption orders).

Child arrangements orders are defined in s.8 of the Children Act 1989, as amended by s.12 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Child arrangements orders replace residence orders and any residence order in force prior to 22 April 2014 is deemed to be a child arrangements order.

Section 14A of the Children Act 1989 defines a special guardianship order as an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian (or special guardians).

Children who satisfy both of the following tests:

The child is distinguished from the great majority of other applicants either on their own medical grounds or by other exceptional circumstances.

Medical grounds must be supported by a medical report (obtained by the applicant and provided at the point of application). This report must clearly justify, for health reasons only, why it is better for the child’s health to attend the academy rather than any other school.

Exceptional circumstances must relate to the choice of school and the individual child, i.e. the circumstances of the child, not the economic or social circumstances of the parent/carer. They should be supported by a professional report (obtained by the applicant and provided at the point of application), e.g. social worker. This report must clearly justify why it is better for the child to attend the preferred school rather than any other school.

and

The child would suffer hardship if they were unable to attend the academy.

Hardship means severe suffering of any kind, not merely difficulty or inconvenience, which is likely to be experienced as a result of the child attending a different school. Applicants must provide detailed information about both the type and severity of any likely hardship at the time of application.

Children who have an elder sibling in attendance at the academy and who will still be attending the school at the proposed admission date.

For admission purposes, a brother or sister is a child who lives at the same address and either: have one or both natural parents in common; are related by a parents marriage; are adopted or fostered by a common parent or are unrelated children who live at the same address, whose parents live as partners.

Children living within the catchment area of the academy.

Below is a map of our catchment area:

Other children arranged in order of priority according to how near their home addresses are to the main gate of the school, determined by a straight-line measurement.

Tie Breaker

In any priority, if multiple children meet the same priority but there are not enough places left for all of them, the places will be allocated based on distance from our school. For example, if there are 4 places remaining at our school and 5 children all live in the priority catchment area, the 4 priority catchment children living closest (by straight line distance) to the school will be allocated those places.

If two or more children live exactly the same distance from our school (i.e. in a block of flats) and there are not enough places for both, we will draw lots. This will be witnessed by an independent person.

Waiting List

As nursery education is not compulsory there is no right of appeal against the refusal of a place. However, every effort will be made to accommodate the wishes of parents.

If you are not successful in securing a place for your child, we will ask if you wish to be kept on our waiting list. The waiting list will be maintained until 1st July the following year and children will be offered places in line with the oversubscription criteria outlined above as and when places become available. After the 1st July no further children will be admitted to the nursery.

Late Applications

If an application is received after the deadline (28th February) and a place is available (and there is no waiting list), the child will be offered a place in our nursery. If no places are available, or there is a waiting list in place, the child will be added to the waiting list (unless asked not to be by the parent/carer).

Reception Admissions

General Information

If your child is in our nursery, you must still apply for a place if you wish for your child to transfer to the reception class. A place in our nursery does not guarantee a place in our school as there is no priority for nursery attendance.

Our Published Admissions Number (PAN) is 30.

This means that we admit 30 children into reception each year.

How to apply

Our academy is part of Staffordshire Council coordinated admissions process, and as such, allocation of places for reception is completed by them according to the criteria set out below.

All parent/carers are required to apply to their home Local Authority (LA) regardless of where the academy they are applying for is situated.

For example Staffordshire residents will apply to Staffordshire County Council, whilst Stoke residents will apply to Stoke-on-Trent City Council. Staffordshire County Council will liaise with other Admissions Authorities where required. Your home local authority will inform parents/carers in writing of the outcome of their application on 16th April or the next working day.

In England, compulsory school age is 5 years old.

Admission to primary school is provided for all children in the September following their fourth birthday. Where a child is offered a place at a school, that child is entitled to a full-time place in the September following their fourth birthday; the child’s parents can defer the date their child 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 beginning of the final term of the school year for which it was made; and where the parents wish, children may attend part-time until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age.

Information on how to apply can be found here:

Staffordshire County Council

If you live in another area find your local council here

All children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) that names our academy will automatically be given a place before any other applications are considered.

Oversubscription

If we receive more applications than there are places available, places will be allocated according to the following criteria:

Children in care and children who ceased to be in care because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order), including those children who appear (to the admission authority) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.

Section 14A of the Children Act 1989 defines a special guardianship order as an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian (or special guardians).

Children who satisfy both of the following tests:

The child is distinguished from the great majority of other applicants either on their own medical grounds or by other exceptional circumstances.

and

The child would suffer hardship if they were unable to attend the academy.

Children who have an elder sibling in attendance at the academy and who will still be attending the school at the proposed admission date.

Children living within the catchment area of the academy.

Below is a map of our catchment area:

Other children arranged in order of priority according to how near their home addresses are to the main gate of the school, determined by a straight-line measurement as calculated by the local authority’s geographical information system.

The local authority uses a geographical information system (GIS) to calculate home to school distances in miles. The measurement is calculated using Ordnance Survey (OS) data from an applicant's home address to the main front gate of the school. The coordinates of an applicant's home address are determined and provided by the Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and OS address point data.

Where it is not possible to accommodate all children applying for places within a particular category then the local authority will allocate the available places in accordance with the remaining criteria. If for instance, all the catchment area children cannot be accommodated at a school, children who are resident within the catchment area will be arranged in order of priority according to criteria 5.

Tie Breaker

Priority will be given to children who live closest to the school.

We will not draw lots for twins or other multiple birth siblings from the same family. Where they are tied for the final place we will admit them all, exceeding the Published Admissions Number for our school.

Waiting List

A waiting list for reception children is maintained by Staffordshire Council as part of their co-ordinated admissions process. If your child is not offered a place in reception at our academy on offer day, your child’s name will automatically be added to the waiting list for our school. Your child’s name will remain on our waiting list until:

You are offered a place at a higher preference school,
You are offered a place at our academy,
The end of Year 2 (you will be written to each year to ask if you wish to remain on the waiting list).

Please note:

Your child’s place on our waiting list is decided by the oversubscription criteria listed above.
Each time a child is added or removed, the waiting list is ranked again and your child can move down if another child meets higher criteria.
Looked after children, previously looked after children and those allocated a place at the school in accordance with a Fair Access Protocol take priority over those on a waiting list.

Late Admissions

If you apply after the national closing date (usually mid-January each year), we cannot guarantee to consider your preferences at the same time as those received on time. For applications submitted or changed after the national closing date, we will follow any dates set by the home local authority in their coordination scheme.

In-Year Admissions

Application Process

You can apply for a place in any year group (R-6) at any time. This might happen because you are moving to the area and your child has already started school elsewhere, or because you feel our academy would be a better fit for your child.

You can contact us to find out if we have spaces in specific year groups before you apply. If we don’t have space in the requested year group, you can still apply. If you apply for a place and there are currently no places available, your child’s name will automatically be added to the waiting list. Your child’s name will be kept on the waiting list until the end of the academic year.

To make an ‘in-year’ application for years R -6, you should complete an ‘in-year’ application form which you can access at Staffordshire.gov.uk .

Please call us for more information: 01782 470401.

We will contact you in writing within 15 days of receiving your application to let you know the outcome of your application. Our Academy Governing Council is responsible for making decisions regarding in-year admissions.

Children with an EHCP that names our academy will be given a place regardless of whether the year group has spaces or whether there is a waiting list.

In-Year Waiting List

The academy and its governors may decide to admit above the stated PAN in any year group, as long as the admittance of additional children does not contravene Infant Class Size legislation, does not prejudice the education of those children already in the academy, and as long as those admitted are done so in accordance with the oversubscription criteria shown in these admissions arrangements.

A waiting list for each year group is maintained by the academy in-line with the oversubscription criteria outlined above. If your child is not offered a place at our academy, your child’s name will automatically be added to our waiting list. Your child’s name will remain on the waiting list until

You are offered a place at our academy,
The waiting list closes (end of summer term),
You request, in writing, to be removed from the waiting list.

After the end of the academic year, you may re-apply for an in-year admission place for the following year. If no spaces are available at the time of application, you will be added to the in-year admissions waiting list for the appropriate year group.

Please note:

You will automatically be added to our in-year waiting list if you make an in-year application.

Your child’s place on our waiting list is decided by the oversubscription criteria listed above.
Each time a child is added or removed, the waiting list is ranked again and your child can move down if another child meets higher criteria.
Looked after children, previously looked after children and those allocated a place at the school in accordance with a Fair Access Protocol take priority over those on a waiting list.

Further Information

Which address to use

When you apply you must use the child's permanent address, where they usually live with their parent(s) or carer(s). You must not use any other address on your application.

Using the address of a childminder, a relative or renting a property for a short period of time in order to secure a school place is considered as a fraudulent application. We will investigate all queries about addresses.

If we find out that an intentionally misleading or false address has been given to get a school place, the school place may be withdrawn even if the child has already started at the school.

Only one address can be used on your application for a school place, and this should be the address where the child lives for the majority of the week. In cases of equal shared care, both parents must agree which address will be used on the application.

Infant Class Sizes

Infant classes (those where the majority of children will reach the age of 5, 6 or 7 during the school year) must not contain more than 30 pupils with a single school teacher.

Additional children may be admitted under limited exceptional circumstances. These children will remain an ‘excepted pupil’ for the time they are in an infant class or until the class numbers fall back to the current infant class size limit.

The excepted children are:

Children admitted outside the normal admissions round with Education, Health and Care Plans specifying the school;
Looked after children and previously looked after children admitted outside the normal admissions round;
Children admitted after initial allocation of places, because of a procedural error made by the admission authority or local authority in the original application process;
Children admitted after an independent appeals panel upholds an appeal;
Children who move into the area outside the normal admissions round for whom there is no other available school within reasonable distance;
Children of UK service personnel admitted outside the normal admissions round;
Children whose twin or sibling from a multiple birth is admitted otherwise than as an excepted pupil;
Children with special educational needs who are normally taught in a special educational needs unit attached to the school, or registered at a special school, who attend some infant classes within the mainstream school.

Admission of Children Outside Their Normal Age Group

Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group, for example, if the child is gifted and talented or has experienced problems such as ill health. In addition, the parents of a summer born child may choose not to send that child to school until the September following their fifth birthday and may request that they are admitted out of their normal age group – to reception rather than year 1.

We will make decisions on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. This will include taking account of the parent’s 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; and whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely. Our headteacher’s views will also be considered in this decision making process.

If you wish to make an application for your child in these circumstances, please contact the school and arrange a meeting with the headteacher to discuss this further. Following this meeting we will encourage you to apply for a place via the normal application process (via your home local authority) and we will work closely with them to carefully consider your application. Your application, regardless of whether your child is offered a place in their chronological year group or another year group, will be offered based on the criteria used for all applications (e.g. our oversubscription criteria).

Parents/Carers have a statutory right to appeal against the refusal of a place at a school for which they have applied. This right does not apply if they are offered a place at the school, but it is not in their preferred age group.

Making an Appeal

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. Staffordshire Council operates an appeals process for Co-op Academy Friarswood, full details of which are available here.

You can find details of the school’s appeals timetable on our website.

Challenging behaviour

We will not refuse to admit a child on behavioural grounds in the normal admissions round or at any point in the normal year of entry. We may refuse admission in certain cases where the specific criteria listed in the School Admissions Code (paragraph 3.8) apply, i.e. where section 87 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 is engaged.

We may refuse admission for an in-year applicant for a year group that isn’t the normal point of entry, only in such a case that we have good reason to believe that the child may display challenging behaviour that may adversely affect the provision we can offer. In this case, we will refer these pupils to the Fair Access Protocol. We will not refuse admission on these grounds to looked after children, previously looked after children and children with EHC plans listing the school.

Fair Access Protocol

All schools have an active role in admitting pupils under the Fair Access Protocol. The protocol operates outside the boundaries of the Admissions policy. It is a statutory requirement. The aim is to make sure the most vulnerable children are offered a place at a suitable school as quickly as possible, and that no school, including those with places, is asked to take a disproportionate number of vulnerable children.

More information can be found here.