St Peter's Church of England Primary, Caverswall

Admissions arrangements 2024/2025, 2025/2026, 2026/2027

St Peter’s Primary is a Church of England Aided school, which means that the Governing Body of the school is the Admissions Authority and produces its own Admissions Policy.

Children will be admitted to the Reception Class in the September following their fourth birthday. There is one intake each year.

The school has a Published Admission Number (PAN), which is the number of pupils that the school will admit into its Reception Class each year. The PAN is currently 28.

If the number of applicants for admission to the school exceeds the school’s PAN then the following order of priority will be used to allocate the available places.  In accordance with legislation, children who have an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names a particular school as being the most appropriate to meet the child’s needs must be admitted to that school. This will reduce the number of places available to other applicants:

1. Looked after children and children who ceased to be looked after 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 England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.
2. Children of families resident in the Church parish of Caverswall and who are regular church attenders either at St Peter’s Caverswall, St Andrew’s Weston Coyney or another Anglican church.*
3. Children with an older brother or sister (including step-children) in the school at the time the additional child joins.
4. Children of families who regularly worship at St Peter’s Church or St Andrew’s Church but who live outside the church parish.*
5. Children who live in the electoral parish of Caverswall, which alongside the village of Caverswall, includes Cookshill, Caverswall Common and Roughcote.
6. Children of families who regularly worship at another Christian church.**
7. Other requests from families living outside the electoral parish of Caverswall.

Where it is not possible to accommodate all children applying for places within a particular category then the Governing Body will allocate the available places in accordance with the remaining criteria. If for instance, all the applicants considered under criterion 2 cannot be accommodated, children who are resident within the church parish of Caverswall will be arranged in order of priority according to criteria 3) 

‘Tie Break’

Distance – how near the home address is to the school is the criteria used in any tie break decision. This will be measured as the “crow flies” using the local authority’s 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

The closing date for admissions is in line with the Admissions Policy for Staffordshire. Parents who have been refused admission will be advised by the beginning of April.

When it is necessary to implement the Admissions Policy, decisions will be made by a committee of the Governing Body dealing with admissions.

Any parent whose child is refused admission has the right to appeal against the decision. The process will be undertaken by an independent appeal panel. Parents will be notified of a place being granted or refused following an appeal within 5 working days of the appeal being heard.

Looked after children

Looked after children 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).  

Deferred Entry to Reception Class

The Governing Body will consider requests from parents to retain a place in the preferred school where the parents wish to defer their child’s entry to Reception Class until January in the same academic year. Where it is possible to offer a place, deferral will be supported if the request is made at the normal time of application.

Admission outside the normal age group

Parents may seek to apply for their child’s admission outside 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 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 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 Governing Body 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.

Repeat Applications

Repeat applications will only be considered in the same academic year unless there have been significant and material changes in the circumstances of the applicant.

Late Applications

Application forms received after the closing date will be considered alongside those applicants who applied on time where there were exceptional reasons, which prevented the applicant from applying by the closing date, e.g. a family changes its address and was unable to apply within the deadline or needs to make new school preferences.

A late application does not affect the right of appeal or to be placed on a school’s waiting list.

Waiting Lists

Parents who decide not to appeal can also ask for their child’s name to be included on the waiting list.  If any places subsequently become available at the school, children on the waiting list will be given priority in accordance with the published oversubscription criteria.  

Waiting lists will be held until the end of the school year. 

Inclusion on a school’s waiting list does not mean that a place will eventually become available at the preferred school. 

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. 

Application forms for admission may be obtained from The Office Support Manager, St. Peter’s CE (A) Primary School.  They are then kept on file until the time arrives for the Governors to make admission decisions regarding a particular year.  Do not hesitate to contact the school on 01782 393118 if you have any queries regarding admissions.