Admissions: Over Subscription Criteria

Each school has a limit to the number of pupils it can admit to the first year in the school - this is known as the ‘intake year’. This limit is based on the amount of space available in the school and on past admissions. Once the admission limit is reached, the admissions authority cannot offer any more places, even to children who have moved into the school’s catchment area. In years other than the intake year, the admissions authority may be able to admit pupils above the admission limit if they choose. They must take into account the school’s physical capacity and must keep infant class sizes to no more than 30 children. As the admissions authority, the Council gives priority to children whose parents have applied for a place by the admissions deadline.

Where Community and Voluntary controlled schools do not have enough places available for every child whose parents have applied for a place, we have to use the following order of priority for admissions.

1. A ‘looked after child’ or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order. 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 excercise of their social services functions (see the definition in section 22(1) of the Children Act (1989).

2. Children who are both living in the catchment area served by the school and have brothers or sisters* of compulsory school age still attending the school at the time of their admission.

3. Other children living in the catchment area at the time of admission.

4. Children who do not live in the catchment area served by the school but who have brothers or sisters* of compulsory school age attending the school at the time of their admission.

5. In the case of voluntary-controlled church schools, children whose parents request a place on religious grounds as stated on their application form.

6. Other children whose parents have requested a place.

7. Children whose parents did not request a place by the admissions deadline.

For the purposes of admissions, we class a brother or sister as having:

• one or both natural parents in common

• are related by a parent’s marriage or are adopted or fostered.

• Note: A brother or sister must be living at the same address. Cousins are not classed as brothers or sisters.

Tie-breaker: When choices have to be made between children satisfying the same criteria, children living nearest to the school measured by a straight line have priority. The line will be measured from the centre of the home address to the school using the national Ordnance Survey set points. If two measurements are the same, we will give priority to the child living nearest the school measured by two walking routes measure the same distance, the place will be allocated using an independently verified random allocation process. The ‘home address’ is the address of the primary carer of the child, as shown by who receives the Child Benefit.

We will give pupils who have an Education Health and Care Plan priority admission over all others.

Dale Admissions Limits: