Applying for place at our school during the school year (In-Year Admissions)
In Year Admissions are admissions to school that take place outside the normal admissions rounds (ie Reception and Year 7).
If you are new to the area and require a school place or if you already reside in the area and you want to move your child from their current local school to our school, your application should be made directly to our school and the child will be admitted where there are available places.
To apply for a place, complete our In-Year Admissions form,
and return to:
school.info@st-josephs-wrightington.lancs.sch.uk
If you would like your application to be considered under our faith criteria, in addition to the In Year Admissions form, please also complete a church reference form. Copies of both forms are available in the Admissions section of our website or from the school office.
If you have any questions in relation to in-year admissions, please contact us either by email at school.info@st-josephs-wrightington.lancs.sch.uk or by phone on 01257 423092
You may ring the school office to confirm that the form and accompanying evidence has been received.
Your application will be acknowledged upon receipt and we will advise you of the outcome within a maximum of 15 school days.
Where places are available, but we have more applications than places, the published oversubscription criteria will be applied, to ensure the correct child/children are offered the places.
If there are no places available, the child will be added to the waiting list and you have the right of appeal. Please see below for appeal information. Please note, that the waiting list does NOT guarantee a place at our school and if your child is currently not in education you should either make an appeal to our school and/or apply for a place at an alternative school.
Further information on how to apply for a local school can be found on the Lancashire County Council website: https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/children-education-families/schools/apply-for-a-schoolplace/changing- schools-during-the-school-year/
Appeals
The school's admission appeals are supported by Lancashire County Council. If the Governing body cannot offer a school place, parents have the right to make an appeal.
This appeal should be submitted using the link below within twenty days of refusal of admission. The appeal provides you with an opportunity to explain why you wish to register your child at our school. The appeal forms and advice on how to complete them is available on the Lancashire County Council website:
https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/children-education-families/schools/appeal-against-an- admissiondecision/primary-school-appeals/
Lancashire County Council will contact you in respect of your appeal application and inform you of the arrangements. The outcome of the appeal will be notified to you in writing.
The decision of the Independent Appeal Panel is binding to all parties, ie the family and the school.
Please note that this right of appeal against the Governors’ decision does not prevent you from making an appeal in respect of any other school.
We would welcome the opportunity to show you around our wonderful school.
All applications are made online and these must be completed by the 15th January 2024. A supplementary form is also available for parents who wish their application to be considered against the faith criteria as outlined in the full policy, which is required for all Catholic schools. The supplementary form should be returned to our school office. Our admission number is 20.
Our full admission arrangements are detailed below but if you have any questions, please ring our school office and we would be happy to help.
Making an Application
Applications for admission to the school for September 2024 should be made on-line to the local authority in which you live. Online admissions can be found at:
https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/children-education-families/schools/apply-for-a-school-place/
or
https://www.wigan.gov.uk/Resident/Education/Schools/School-Admissions/Primary-Schools.aspx
between 1st September 2023 and 15th January 2024. It is not normally possible to change the order of your preferences for schools after the closing date. Parents must complete the Local Authority electronic form, stating three preferences. Parents who wish their application to this Church school to be considered against the faith criteria should also complete the supplementary form. If the school is oversubscribed, a failure to complete the supplementary form may result in your application for a place in this school being considered against lower priority criteria as the Governing Body will have no information upon which to assess the worship attendance.
The Supplementary Information Form is available from the school.
Letters informing parents of whether or not their child has been allocated a place will be sent out by the Local Authority on 16th April 2024. Parents of children not admitted will be informed of the reason and offered an alternative place by the Authority.
Non-Routine or In-Year Admissions
It sometimes happens that a child needs to change school other than at the “normal” time; such admissions are known as non-routine or in-year admissions. Parents wishing their child to attend this school should arrange to visit the school. They will be provided with an application form once they have a definite local address. If there is a place in the appropriate class, then the governors will arrange for the admission to take place. If there is no place, then the admissions committee will consider the application and information about how to appeal against the refusal will be provided. Appeals for children moving into the area will not be considered until there is evidence of a permanent address, e.g. exchange of contracts or tenancy agreement with rent book. Please note that you cannot re-apply for a place at a school within the same school year unless there has been relevant, significant and material change in the family circumstances.
Admission of Children Outside of their Normal Age Group
Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group, for example, if a 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. Admission Authorities must make clear in their admission arrangements the process for requesting admission out of the normal age group. Admission authorities must 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. They must also take into account the views of the head teacher of the school concerned. When informing a parent of their decision on the year group the child should be admitted to, the admission authority must set out clearly the reasons for their decision. Where an admission authority agrees to a parents’ request for their child to be admitted out of their normal age group and. As a consequence of that decision, the child will be admitted to a relevant age group (ie the age group to which pupils are normally admitted to the school) the local authority and admission authority must process the application as part of the main admissions round, unless
the parental request is made too late for this to be possible, and on the basis of their determined admission arrangements only, including the application oversubscription criteria where applicable. They must not give the application lower priority on the basis that the child is being admitted out of their normal age group. Parents have a statutory right to appeal against 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.
1 The term summer born children relates to all children born from 1April to 31 August. These children reach compulsory school age on 31August following their fifth (or on their fifth birthday if it falls on 31 August) It is likely that most requests for summer born children admitted out of their normal age group will come from parents of children born in the later summer months or those born prematurely
Deferred Admission
If your child is due to start school during the next academic year, it is important that you apply for a place for September. If your child’s fifth birthday is between the months of September and
December, then, if you wish it, admission may be deferred until January; if it is between January
and April, then admission may be deferred until the start of the summer term though it is likely to be in your child’s interest to start no later than January. You may also request that your child attend school part time until he/she reaches his/her fifth birthday.
Twins etc
Where there are twins, etc wanting admission and there is only a single place left within the admission number, then the governing body will exercise as much flexibility as possible within the requirements of infant class sizes. In exceptional circumstances cases we are now able to offer places for both twins and all triplets, even when this means breaching infant class size limits.