Forest Hills Primary
Admission arrangements 2024/2025, 2023/2024 & 2022/2023
Perry Hall Multi Academy Trust (PHMAT) is a Multi Academy Trust (MAT) of seven schools and the Trustees of the MAT are its admission authority. The Trustees apply the regulations on admissions fairly and equally to all those who wish to attend the school. All seven schools will comply with the provisions within the Schools Admissions Code and the School Appeals Code
The Schools within the MAT are: Perry Hall Primary, Berrybrook Primary, Dunstall Hill Primary, Birds Bush Primary, Woodthorne Primary, Stanley Road Primary, Forest Hills Primary, Mesty Croft Primary and Sledmore.
All eight schools are inclusive, that welcome children from all backgrounds and abilities. The only restriction we place on entry is number. If the number of children applying exceeds the places available, we enforce the procedure set out below in order to determine whether a child is accepted or not. It is our wish to allow parents the right to have the place at the school of their choice. However, this is not always possible, due to the excess demand on the school places available.
The City of Wolverhampton Council (CWC) will co-ordinate Admissions on behalf of Perry Hall Multi Academy Trust
Published Admission Numbers (PAN):
Perry Hall Primary School - 60
Berrybrook Primary School - 30
Dunstall Hill Primary School -60
Birds Bush Primary School - 45
Woodthorne Primary School - 60
Stanley Road Primary School - 60
Forest Hills Primary School - 30
Mesty Croft Primary School - 60
Sledmore Primary - 90
How parents can apply to be admitted to our schools
Reception admissions
The admissions arrangements outlined in this section apply to children starting Reception for the first time .
Forest Hills Primary and Bird’s Bush Primary are part of the Staffordshire Local Authority co-ordinated admissions scheme.
Perry Hall Primary, Berrybrook Primary, Dunstall Hill Primary and Woodthorne Primary are part of the Wolverhampton LA admissions scheme and Stanley Road are part of the scheme at Worcester LA.
Mesty Croft Primary School are part of the Sandwell admissions scheme.
Sledmere Primary School are part of the Dudley LA admissions scheme.
The closing date for admissions will be 23:59 on 15 January. Allocations results will be notified on 16 April by the applicants’ home Local Authority (LA).
All applicants must:
1. Complete the Common Application Form by applying online to the Local Authority where they reside:
2. In addition, applicants applying under the oversubscription criteria relating to Children whose parent/carer is a member of staff employed at the school must complete the Supplementary Information Form and return it direct to the School Admissions Team, City of Wolverhampton Council
Parents who would like their child to be admitted to this school during the year their child is five should ensure they complete all the necessary application forms.
Admission to nursery does not mean automatic entry to the Primary school and a separate application must be made.
Admission Criteria for the schools in PHMAT for Reception and In-year admissions
A child with an Educational Health and Care Plan (EHCP) which names the school will be admitted. Remaining places are allocated as detailed below.
Where there are fewer applicants than the PAN, all children will be offered a place. In the event the school is oversubscribed, the admission authority will apply the following oversubscription criteria in order of priority
1. Children and Young People in Care and previous Children and Young People in Care Children and young people in care are children who are in (a)in the care of the local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of the social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989) at the time the application is made to school. Previously looked after children are children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order) immediately following having been looked after and 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.
Supporting evidence
If the child is in the care of a local authority or provided with accommodation by that authority this must be indicated on the common application form and evidence (e.g. evidence of child in care from the placement authority) to support this claim must be submitted with the common application form. If the child has previously been in the care of a local authority or provided with accommodation by them and has subsequently been adopted, or is subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order this must be indicated on the common application form and evidence (e.g. adoption certificate/copy of court order) to support this claim must be submitted with the common application form. For children in state care outside of England who ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted the relevant legal document(s) must be supplied.
2. Medical/Social
Whether there are specific medical or social circumstances that can be met only by the child’s attendance at the preferred school.
Supporting evidence
If parents believe there are specific reasons, medical or social, for claiming priority for their child to attend a particular school these special factors must be indicated on the form and evidence (e.g. a letter from a registered health professional such as a doctor or a social worker) to support this claim must be submitted with the common application form. The information submitted must state clearly the effects of the condition/illness and why the preferred school is the only school that can meet theirchild’s needs. This is necessary because parents would be asking the Authority to assess their child as having a stronger case than many other children, even some who live closer to the school in question than they do. The information provided will be used to prioritise the request for the school. Please note that only in exceptional cases are places prioritised in respect of a child’s/parent’s medical/social grounds.
3.Children with a sibling already attending the school at the time of admission. For admission purposes, a sibling is a child who resides permanently at the same address as the child for whom a place is being requested, and is one of the following:
- half brother/sister (i.e. share one common parent)
- or stepbrother/sister (i.e. related by a parent’s marriage)
- any other child for whom it can be demonstrated that s/he is residing permanently at the same aaddress (e.g. under the terms of a residence order).
The sibling connection only applies where the child concerned has a sibling attending the school at the time of the application as well as at the time of admission, (i.e. for normal year of entry applications siblings are expected to be attending the same school in September 2021). A sibling connection will not be accepted if the original place was obtained by using fraudulent or false information.
4.Children whose parent/carer is a member of staff* employed at the school for two or more years at the point at which the application for admission to the school is made or where the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage evidence by completing the Supplementary Information Form (SIF).
* Priority can only be given to children of staff at the individual Academy that the application is for.
Parents should be aware that where the SIF is completed it will not be regarded as a valid application unless the home Local Authority has also received a completed application showing an expressed preference for the school(s) concerned.
5.Children who live closest to our schools
The distance from the applicant’s home and school is taken in a straight line between the respective school and the child’s home address. The distance is measured using the CWC software, with those living closest to the school receiving the highest priority. If there are a limited number of spaces available and we cannot distinguish between applicants using the above criteria, children who live in the same block of flats will be offered the available spaces randomly selected by drawing lots.
Home address
Parents are asked to provide their child’s home address, i.e. the usual place of residence on weekdays and nights. Please note that childminder’s addresses will not be accepted. This applies to both formal childminders and relatives and friends acting in a childminding capacity.
The home address of a pupil is considered to be the permanent residence of a child in a residential property when the place is offered.
The address must be the child’s only or main residence and is either:
- Owned by the child’s parent(s), carer(s) or guardian(s)
- Leased to or rented by the child’s parent(s), carer(s) or guardian(s) under lease or written rental agreement.
Documentary evidence of ownership or rental agreement may be required together with proof of actual permanent residence at the property concerned.
Acceptable proof of address includes:
- a copy of a council tax bill
- a copy of a recent utility bill (gas, electric, dated within the last six months)
- a solicitor’s letter stating that contracts have been exchanged and specifying a completion date
- a copy of your Child Tax Credit or Working Tax Credit award letter (if you receive either of these benefits)
- a signed and dated tenancy agreement
Where parents have shared responsibility for the child and the child lives with both parents for part of the week then the main residence will be determined as the address where the child lives for the majority of the school week. If the child equally shares living with both parents, the parents must inform the City of Wolverhampton Council (and the home Local Authority if this is not the same) which address should be used for admission purposes and which parent will make the application. Parents will be requested to supply documentary evidence to support the address used for the application.
In the event that the family moves between the application and date of allocation, it is the parent’s responsibility to inform the City of Wolverhampton Council School Admissions Team (and the home Local Authority if this is not the same) as soon as possible of these circumstances.
Additional arrangements and information
Applications for children to be admitted outside their normal age group
Parents who wish for their child to be considered for admission to a class outside of their normal age group must make an application for the normal age group in the first instance by 15 January 2022.
This will include Parents of a "summer born child" that 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. Any parent wishing to make such a request must put the request in writing to the Admissions and Appeals section at CWC no later than 15 January 2022.
This request should be in the form of a written letter of application outlining the reasons why they wish for their child to be admitted into a class outside of their normal age group and enclosing any supportive evidence and documentation that they wish to be taken into account as part of that request.
Requests will be considered on an individual basis and decisions will be reached by 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. The view of the head teacher of the school concerned will also be sought as part of the decision-making process.
If the request is agreed and the year group for which the parents have requested a place is for a future year group, i.e. Reception in September 2023, then the original application is withdrawn and the parents must submit a fresh application for Reception 2023 when applications open in the autumn term of 2022. Please note that parents only have the right to re-apply for a place. Where the decision is to agree the request for an application in Reception the following year, that application is considered alongside all other applications received and parents will be advised of the outcome of that application on national offer day. No place is reserved or held for the child in advance.
Before any application is submitted it is strongly recommended that parents/carers also read the DFE guidance.
Deferred entry
A child’s parents may defer the date at which their child, below compulsory school age, 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 first day of the summer term 2021. A child may take up a part-time place until later in the school year, but not beyond the point at which the child reached compulsory school age. Upon receipt of the offer of a place a parent should notify the school, as soon as possible, that they wish to either defer their child’s entry to the school or take up a part-time place.
Late applications
Applications received after the closing date will be treated as late.
Applications received after the closing date and before the final date for late submissions (11 February) with approved written evidence will only be incorporated into the initial allocation process if the late submission is for a valid reason or parents can demonstrate a material change of circumstances (see below).
When submitting late applications parents must give reasons in writing and supporting documentary evidence for the late submission. The appropriate admission authority will give consideration to the reasons, following which the application will be:
Either 1) incorporated into the initial allocation and assessed against the over-subscription criteria for the school(s) concerned
Or 2) considered only after all other applications.
Applications without written reasons for the late application or received after the final date for late submissions will only be considered after all other applications and the notification may be sent shortly after the national offer day.
Material changes of Circumstance
In claiming material changes of circumstances, the applicant, at the time of application, must supply documentary evidence to confirm the changes. An example of material changes of circumstances is a house move that necessitates a change of preferences. This would need to be
validated by documentary evidence such as a solicitor’s letter confirming the completion of a house purchase or rent book confirming tenancy. An impending change of circumstances should not delay the submission of the preference form.
If applicants’ circumstances change during the course of making the application that relate to any of the published criteria it is the applicant’s responsibility to provide evidence to the City of Wolverhampton’s Admissions and Appeals Team as this may affect the outcome of the application.
Special educational needs
The admission of children with an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) will be agreed between the home Local Authority's SEN Statutory Assessment and Review Team, parents and school in accordance with parental preference, as far as possible, and the child's individual needs. Children an EHCP are given overall priority to the named school. This will reduce the number of places at the school, which are available for allocation in accordance with the above criteria.
Tie breaker for oversubscription
If there are an insufficient number of places to accommodate all the children of a particular criterion, the next criterion will be used to assess the applications concerned in order to prioritise applications.
In-year fair access protocol
The Trustees of PHMAT are committed to taking its fair share of children who are vulnerable and/or hard to place, as set out in locally agreed protocols.
Children who are the subject of a direction by the Local Authority to admit or who are allocated to a school in accordance with the Fair Access Protocol take precedence over those on a waiting list.
Multiple births
We understand that parent/carers would like to keep twins, triplets and other children of multiple births together. In the event that there is an insufficient number of places to allocate to twins, triplets, etc. all children will be allocated together.
Response to allocation
Parents/Carers must respond to an allocation of a school place within 2 weeks of the notification of the availability of a school place. Response should be made to the school you have been allocated a place. In the absence of a response, the offer may be revoked and the place may be allocated to someone else
Waiting lists
If a place cannot be offered at the
time of application, the child’s name will be placed on a waiting list. Unless offered a higher preference school. Those on the waiting list and late applicants will be treated equally and placed on the same waiting list. Waiting lists will be held in order of the published admission criteria.
The Admitting Authority will maintain the waiting list until 31 December 2022.
Parents and carers will be asked to confirm on a termly basis their wish for their child to remain on the waiting list in order for the list to be kept up to date.
In-year admissions
The admissions arrangements outlined in this section apply to in-year admissions for this and subsequent academic years.
An In-year admission is any entry to school other than at the normal point in Reception, for example, transferring school due to a move of house or personal reasons. With the exception of a child with an education, health and care plan (EHCP) requests for places in reception after the normal round of admissions or request for places in other year groups should be made directly to CWC.
For Stanley Road Primary School only an in-year transfer request should be made to Worcestershire County Council. A common application form (CA1) must be completed and returned to the School Admissions Team in Worcester.
All applicants must:
1. Complete the in-year transfer form:
2. In addition, applicants applying under oversubscribed criteria relating to Children whose parent/carer is a member of staff employed at the school must complete the Supplementary Information Form and return it direct to the School Admissions Team, CWC.
Admission appeals
In the event that an applicant is denied a place at the school, the parent/carer will have the right to appeal to an Independent appeal panel. Information relating to this can be found at www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/admissions.
Fraudulent or misleading applications
The CWC will follow up any reports they receive that allege that a fraudulent or misleading application has been made.
Withdrawing offer places
Any allegations received by the admission authority of people providing false accommodation addresses when applying for school places shall be fully investigated and, if found to be true, allocated places may be withdrawn, as appropriate.
Financial implications
There is no charge or cost related to the admission of a child to Perry Multi-Academy Trust.
Full time places in reception classes will be available in September of the academic year within which the child becomes five years old.
It is the academy’s policy to try and meet parents’ wishes where possible, however in some cases there may be more applications than there are places available.
Oversubscription criteria
If the total number of preferences for admission to a school exceeds the published admission number of 45 (PAN), the following order of priority is used to allocate the available places.
1) Children in care and children who ceased to be in care because they were adopted (or became subject to a residence order or special guardianship order) as defined by the Children Act 1989.
2) Children who satisfy both of the following tests:
Test 1: 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 Bird’s Bush Primary.
Exceptional circumstances must relate to Bird’s Bush Primary 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 Bird’s Bush Primary rather than any other school.
and
Test 2: the child would suffer hardship if they were unable to attend Bird’s Bush Primary.
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.
3) Children who have an elder sibling in attendance at Bird’s Bush Primary 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.)
4) Children living within the catchment area of Bird’s Bush Primary.
5) 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.
Where it is not possible to accommodate all children applying for places within a particular category then the academy 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 the remaining criteria.
Additional Notes
Copies of school catchment area maps are available from the local authority or school.
Admissions for the normal age of entry are administered through a coordinated admission scheme and preferences for maintained schools will be processed centrally by the School Admissions and Transport Service. Each child will receive only one offer of a place at a Staffordshire school.
In accordance with legislation, children who have an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names Bird’s Bush Primary as being the most appropriate to meet the child’s needs must be admitted. This will reduce the amount of places available to other applicants.
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).
It is the applicant’s responsibility to provide any supportive information required in order for the application to be assessed against the published admissions arrangements, the school will not seek to obtain this information on behalf of the applicant.
On behalf of the academy, 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 is determined and provided by the Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and OS address point data.
The requirement for the academy to meet the infant class size legislation may result in the refusal of catchment area or sibling applications where a class has already reached its limit of 30 pupils. However, as an exception, the academy will give careful consideration to offering places above the published admission number to applications from children whose twin or sibling from a multiple birth is admitted even when there are no other vacant places.
The home address is considered to be the child’s along with their parent/carer’s main and genuine principal place of residence at the time of the allocation of places i.e. where they are normally and regularly living. If a child is resident with friends or relatives (for reasons other than legal guardianship) the friends or relatives address will not be considered for allocation purposes.
Where parents have shared responsibility for a child, and the child lives with both parents for part of the school week, parents will be required to provide documentary evidence to support the address they wish to be considered for allocation purposes.
It is expected that parents will agree on school places before an application is made, and it may be necessary to request evidence from you to confirm that this is the case. The academy is not in a position to intervene in disputes between parents over school applications and will request that these are resolved privately.
If a child’s home address changes during the admissions process it is the responsibility of the parent/carer to inform the academy immediately. Where there is a proposed house move taking place during the admissions process the academy will only accept the revised address for purposes of allocation where parents/carers can provide documentary evidence of the move by 13 March 2020. It will be necessary for sufficient evidence of a permanent move to be provided by the applicant by this date before it will be taken into account for allocation purposes at the national offer date.
If a place is offered on the basis of an address that is subsequently found to be different from the child’s normal and permanent home address at the time of allocation of places then that place is likely to be withdrawn.
If there are a limited number of spaces available and we cannot distinguish between applicants using the criteria listed, such as in the case of children who live in the same block of flats, then the child or children who will be offered the available spaces will be randomly selected. This process will be independently verified.
Deferred entry to reception class
Parents may request that their child be admitted to reception class on a part-time basis, or that their child be admitted to school later in the same academic year until the child reaches compulsory school age (i.e. beginning of the term after the child’s fifth birthday). The effect is that the place will be held for the child in reception and is not available to be offered to any other child within the same academic year in which it has been offered.
Before deciding whether to defer their child’s entry to school, parents should visit their preferred school(s) to clarify how they cater for the youngest children in reception and how the needs of these children are met as they move up through the school.
Admission Outside of the Normal Age Group
Parents may seek to apply for their child’s admission to school outside of their normal age group, for example if the child is exceptionally gifted and talented or has experienced problems such as ill health. In addition, the parents of summer born children may choose not to send their child to school until the September following their fifth birthday and may request that they are admitted outside of their normal age group to reception rather than year 1.
These parents will need to make an application alongside children applying at the normal age which should explain why it is in the child’s best interest to be admitted outside of their normal age which may include information such as professional evidence as to why this is the case and why an exception should be made in the case of the child. A decision as to whether this is an appropriate course of action will be made by the academy who will take into account the circumstances of the case and views of the headteacher. Parents do not have the right to insist that their child is admitted to a particular year group.
Waiting lists
Unsuccessful applicants will be placed on a waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria stated above and not based on the date their application was received. There will be a period of two weeks after the national offer date whereby available places will not be reallocated. If places become available after this date they will be offered according to the child at the top of the waiting list.
For cases where the infant class size regulations apply, the waiting list will operate until the cohort concerned leaves year 2.
Inclusion on a school’s waiting list does not mean that a place will eventually become available.
A child’s position on a waiting list is not fixed and is subject to change during the year i.e. they can go up or down the list since each added child will require the list to be ranked again in line with the oversubscription criteria.
Children who are subject of a direction by a local authority to admit or who are allocated to a school in accordance with the fair access protocol will take precedence over those on the waiting list.
Late applications
Preferences received after the closing date will be considered alongside those applicants who applied on time wherever possible. Where it is not practicable because places have already been allocated, or are shortly to be allocated, then late preferences will be considered only after those that were made before this point.
A late application does not affect the right of appeal or the right to be placed on a school’s waiting list.
Repeat applications
Parents do not have the right to a second appeal in respect of the same school for the same academic year unless, in exceptional circumstances, the academy has accepted a second application from the appellant because of a significant and material change in the circumstances of the parent, child or school but still refused admission.