School Admissions Policies 2024-2025

Introduction

St Alban’s C of E Primary School is a Church of England Primary School in the Diocese of Sheffield. It is an academy within the Diocese Sheffield Academies Trust.

The school provides a distinctively Christian education for children aged 3 to 11 years.

Historically, Anglican schools were parish schools providing education for the community in accordance with the principles of the Church of England. Thus the majority of Sheffield Diocesan schools were established to provide education for the children of the parish within a Christian context. The two aims of being ‘distinctively Christian’ and ‘serving the local community’ are reflected in the school’s admission criteria.

St Alban’s is a church school in which the Governing Body is the Admission Authority and responsible for admissions. It is guided in that responsibility by the requirements of the law, the academy trust, by advice from the Sheffield Diocesan Board of Education and its duty to the community.

This policy should be read in conjunction with the rest of this booklet.

The admission number for 2022/23 is 30 and children will be admitted during the Autumn term prior to their 5th birthday.

Please contact the school if you need help in completing the Common Application Form or Supplementary Information Form.

Making an Application

1. Applications are made on the Common Application Form
2. To support your application to St Alban’s C of E Primary School, please complete the Supplementary Information Form. This is not an application form for admission to school but will be used by school when applying the admissions criteria.
3. The Common Application Form should be submitted along with the Supplementary Information Form (if applicable).

Criteria for Admission

1. Children in care / Looked after children and children who were previously in Care/ Looked after. (see definition 1) 

2. Children with special medical or social circumstances where these needs can only be met at this school. (see definition 2) 

3. Children who have an elder brother/sister (see definition 3) attending the school at the time of anticipated admission. 

4. Children of staff (see definition 7) 

5. Children whose parents/carers who reside in the ecclesiastical parish 
of Wickersley and regularly attend a Christian denomination participating in ‘Churches Together in England’ (see definition 6). 

6. Children whose parents/carers reside outside the ecclesiastical parish of Wickersley and regularly attend a Christian denomination participating in ‘Churches Together in England’ 

7. Children whose parents/carers are resident in the ecclesiastical parish of Wickersley. 

8. All other children.

Definitions

Definition 1 – Looked After Children

A ‘relevant Looked After Child’ is a child that is looked after by a local authority in accordance with Section 22 of the Children’s Act 1989 at the time an application for admission to a school is made, and who the local authority has confirmed will still be looked after at the time when he/she is admitted to the school. A previously looked after child is a child who was adopted or became subject to a residence or special guardianship order immediately following having been looked after.

Definition 2 – Children with Special Medical or Social Circumstances

This is not about educational needs. Professional supporting evidence must be provided if admission is to be made under this criterion. A professionally qualified person such as a medical doctor, psychologist or social worker must set out the particular reasons why the school is the suitable one for the child and the difficulties which would be caused if the child had to attend another school.

Definition 3 – Brother/Sister

Brother or sister means sibling, half brother or sister, adopted brother or sister, step brother or sister, or the child of the parent/carer’s partner, and in every case, the child should be living in the same family unit at the same address.

Definition 4 – Parent/Carer

A parent/carer is any person who has parental responsibility or care of the child. Where admission arrangements refer to ‘parent’s attendance at church’ it is sufficient for just one parent to attend. ‘Family members’ include only parents and siblings.

Definition 5 – Regular Church Attendance

Regular attendance by parents/carers is defined as attendance at a Church of England church or another Christian denomination participating in ‘Churches Together in England’ for at least twice a month over the last 12 months (calendar year January – December in the year preceding entry in FS2). In the event that during the period specified for attendance at worship the church has been closed for public worship and has not provided alternative premises for that worship, the requirements of these [admissions] arrangements in relation to attendance will only apply to the period when the church or alternative premises have been available for public worship.

Parents/carers whose application is based on attendance at a church of Christian denomination should submit the Minister of Religion Reference Form available with the Common Application Form.

Definition 6 – Churches Together in England

Member churches:Antioch Orthodox Church; Baptist Union of Great Britain; Cherubim and Seraphim Council of Churches; Church of England; Church of God of Prophecy; Church of Scotland (in England); Congregational Federation; Coptic Orthodox Church; Council of African and Caribbean Churches UK; Council of Oriental Orthodox Christian Churches; Icthus Christian Fellowship; Independent Methodist Church; International Ministerial Council of Great Britain; Joint Council for Anglo-Caribbean Churches; Lutheran Council of Great Britain; Methodist Church; Moravian Church; New Testament Assembly; New Testament Church of God; Oecumenical Patriachate; Redeemed Christian Church of God, Religious Society of Friends; Roman Catholic Church; Russian Orthodox Church; Salvation Army; Seventh Day Adventist (Observer); Transatlantic Pacific Alliance of Churches; United Reform Church; Wesleyan Holiness Church

Definition 7- Children of staff at school

Children of staff

where the member of staff has been employed at the school for two years or more at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made and / or 

the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage 

Place of residence

The child’s ordinary place of residence will normally be a residential property at which the parent or person or persons with parental responsibility for the child resides at the closing date for receiving applications for admission to the school.

Where parental responsibility is held by more than one person and those persons reside in separate properties, the child’s ordinary place of residence will normally be the property at which the child resides with the parent or person or persons with parental responsibility, for the greater part of the week.

Late Applications

Late applications will be dealt with in accordance with the Local Authority scheme.

Waiting List

1. Names of children will automatically be placed on the waiting list for this school when the child has been refused admission.
2. A vacancy only arises when the number of offers to the school falls below the admission number (30).
3. The waiting list will be established on the offer day.
4. The waiting list is determined according to the Governing Body’s priority of admission over-subscription criteria.
5. Following the offer day, should an application be received for the school where the pupil has a higher priority as determined by the admissions criteria for a place at the school, it will be placed on the list, above those with a lower priority.

False Information

1. Where the Governing Body has made an offer of a place at this school on the basis of a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application from a parent /carer which has effectively denied a place to a child with a stronger claim to a place at the school, the offer of a place will be withdrawn.
2. Where a child starts attending the school on the basis of fraudulent and intentionally misleading information the place may be withdrawn depending on the length of time that the child has been at the school.
3. Where a place or an offer has been withdrawn, the application will be re-considered and a right of independent appeal offered if the place is refused.

Applications outside the normal admissions round

Applications outside the normal admissions round will be considered in accordance with the Local Authority scheme.

Appeals against the Governing Body’s decision to refuse admission

1. If a place is not offered at the school parents have the right of appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel formed in accordance with the legislation. Details of the appeals procedure will be sent to parents by the local authority.
2. Parents who intend to make an appeal against the Governing Body’s decision to refuse admission must submit a notice of appeal by the date set out in the decision letter. Appeals will be held within the timescales set out in the Admission Appeal Code.

Details of name/address to which appeals should be submitted: