The Sun Academy

Consultation 2027/2028

2026/2027 and 2025/2026

Consultation on admission arrangements 2027/2028

Introduction

Academy Transformation Trust is consulting on a reduction in the published admission number(PAN) at Sun Academy Bradwell from 30 down to 15 effective from 1st September 2027.

The current PAN for Sun Academy Bradwell of 30 was agreed when it met demand for places at thattime. Owing to falling birth rates, the current published admission number of 30 is much higher thanthe estimated pupil numbers and the Local Authority pupil place plan for 2027 and going forward.

The proposed change will enhance the ability of our Trust Board and Education Directorate tosupport resource management and planning to ensure both the academy and its learningenvironment remain both viable and suitable for the delivery of its current high standard ofeducation.

No pupil who already has a place at the academy will be affected by this proposal.

Specific Proposal

The Academy Transformation Trust’s Board and Sun Academy Bradwell are proposing to reduce thepublished admission number from 30 to 15 effective from September 1st, 2027. This means the number of places available for pupils in Reception will be 15 and will remain at 15 for all subsequentReception cohorts going forward.

Academy Transformation Trust’s Board and Sun Academy Bradwell have considered a number of key factors in deciding to hold a consultation in regard to the proposal:

• The ability of the academy to support pupil place planning and provide sufficient places for local pupils.

• The school places available at other undersubscribed primary schools within a 1.5 mile radius are all currently below capacity and the pupils numbers are expected to decline further within the area based upon the childcare sufficiency survey data

• A falling local birth rate, which shows no sign of reversing

• The difficulties of providing a sustainable staffing model with Reception cohorts of fewer than 30 pupils for the past three years.

• Management and resource planning and its efficiency in supporting the required pupilcohorts.

Academy Transformation Trust is committed to supporting pupil place planning within each localauthority in which we operate and would consider reviewing the published admission number in future should the need in the area require this support.

Consultation period

The consultation period is running from 14 November until 9 January 2026.

Who is being consulted

The consultation of this proposal is for the attention of the following:

• Local parents with children at the school or under school age

• Residents/people in the area with an interest in the proposal

• All other relevant admission authorities within the local area

• The local authority

• Neighbouring local authorities

How to respond

Academy transformation Trust and Sun Academy Bradwell welcome your views on this proposal, andyou can engage in the following ways:

Email: consultations@attrust.org.uk with the subject header Sun Academy PAN

In writing: Karen Robson, Academy Transformation Trust, Unit 4, Second Floor,Emmanuel Court, Reddicroft, Sutton Coldfield, B73 6AZ

Proposed admission arrangements 2027/2028

1. Legal Framework and Guiding Principles

1.1 Academy Transformation Trust is a multi-academy trust consisting of academies in the East and West Midlands and in the East of England. Our Trustees are the admissions authority for all our academies, and they apply all aspects of the regulations and procedures detailed in this policy fairly and equally to all those who wish to attend one of our academies.

1.2 This policy has due regard to the following legislation and any regulations thereunder:

• The School Admissions Code (2021)
• The School Admission Appeals Code (2022)
• The Equality Act (2010)
• The Human Rights Act (1998)
• The School Standards Framework Act (1998) 

1.3 All children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) that specifies the academy as the placement school will be automatically admitted. Information on each academy’s local SEN offer can be found on that academy’s website.

1.4 Where fewer applications are received than the number of places available for a relevant age group (i.e., the normal age that pupils are admitted to the academy), all applicants will be offered a place.

1.5 Where there are more applications than places for a relevant age group, the oversubscription criteria detailed at 5.1 will be used to determine which children are offered a place.

1.6 The Local Governing Board (LGB) for each academy has responsibility, on behalf of ATT’sDirectors, for monitoring the application of this policy to ensure fairness and consistency across our Trust.

2. How to Apply for a Place at One of Our Academies

2.1 If you are applying for a place during the normal admissions round, you should use the Common Application Form (CAF) provided by the Local Authority.

2.2 The normal admissions round covers applications for admission in a relevant age group(Reception) which are made in time for the Local Authority to offer a school place on national offer day. Please see Section 3 for details regarding in-year admissions and Section 11 forhow we deal with other circumstances.

2.3 If your child has an EHCP you must contact the SEN Team at your home Local Authority(where you live, which may be different to the authority in which the academy is situated).If the school is oversubscribed, children will be admitted in accordance with the oversubscription criteria in the order listed below, once all children with an EHCP, naming the academy are admitted.

2.4 Please check the application process for the Local Authority by visiting their website. Pleaseensure that you submit your application either in writing or online, but not by both methods.For the purposes of these admission arrangements, this type of application process will bereferred to as CAF submission.The deadline for applications to be allocated on national offer day to take up a place in September 2027 is 15 January 2027 for admissions into Reception.

2.5 Applications received after the deadline will be treated as late applications and consideredin accordance with the Local Authority’s co-ordinated scheme. Details of this will also beavailable on the Local Authority’s website.

2.6 Applications submitted later than the first day of the academic year, if that is not 1 September, must be submitted as an in-year admission (see Section 3).

2.7 For admission into any year group after the deadline, see Section 3 below.

3. In-Year Admissions

3.1 In-year admissions occur when an application for admission is made outside the normaladmissions round. All in-year admissions are conducted by the academy.

3.2 Initial applications for in-year admissions should be made directly to the academy.Applications will be considered by a panel of 3 members, established by the governing body. For children with an EHCP the in-year admission process will not apply. Parentsshould contact their home Local Authority’s Special Educational Needs TEAM. The child will be offered a place if the LA’s SEN TEAM names the school in the EHCP.

3.3 The details of the in-year application process are available in the In-Year AdmissionsApplication Form available at Appendix 2, or by contacting the academy directly at SunAcademy Bradwell, Cauldon Avenue, Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire, ST5 8JN.

3.4 Applications that have been made directly to the academy for year groups other than theentry year will be put to the academy’s admissions panel to determine if places are available,or whether admissions would cause prejudice to the provision of an efficient education.Applications for the entry year (Reception) will be dependent on PAN.

3.5 The academy admissions panel will issue a decision on an individual admission within fifteen school days following receipt of an application.

4. How Many Pupils Will Be Admitted

4.1 The Trust has set the number of pupils who will be admitted to the entry year (Reception)during the normal admissions round. This number is the Published Admissions Number(PAN).

4.2 If the number of applications received for the entry year exceeds the PAN, theoversubscription criteria will be used to determine which pupils are allocated a place.

The PAN for Reception (entry year) is 15.5.

Oversubscription Criteria

5.1 If there are more applications for places than there are places available, we will give preference to children according to the following criteria, in this order of priority:

i. Looked after children and all previously looked after children, including 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.

Per the School admissions Code (clause 1.7) a looked after child is a child who is (a) in thecare of a Local Authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a Local Authorityin the exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of theChildren Act 1989) at the time of making an application to a school.A child is regarded as having been in state care outside of England if they were in the careof or were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation, or any otherprovider of care whose sole or main purpose is to benefit society. This includes childrenwho were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 (see Section 12 adoption orders) andchildren who were adopted under the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (see Section 46adoption orders).Child arrangements orders are defined in Section 8 of the Children Act 1989, as amendedby Section 12 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Child arrangements orders replaceresidence orders and any residence order in force prior to 22 April 2014 is deemed to be achild arrangements order. See Section 14A of the Children Act 1989 which defines a ‘special guardianship order’ as an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s specialguardian (or special guardians).

ii. Children whose siblings live at the same address, currently attend the academy andwho will still be attending the academy at the point of admission. For the purposes ofthese admission arrangements a sibling is classed as children living permanently at thesame address as a child already attending the academy and either have one or bothparents in common, are related by a parent’s marriage or civil relationship, areadopted or fostered by a common parent, or are related to children who live at thesame address whose parents live as partners. This must be the main family home andthe child’s normal place of residence – not a temporary or short term arrangement. Ifchildren of multiple births (twins and triplets etc) require admission in the same yeargroup and there is only a single place left within the PAN, the school will offer placesabove the PAN, as permitted by the Infant class size rules.

iii. Children of permanent teaching and support staff at the academy (full time and parttime on permanent or consecutive annual fixed term contracts) who have beenemployed at the academy for 2 years or more at the time of application, or a memberof staff who is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skillshortage at the same academy. The staff member must spend more than 50% of theirnormal working week during term time at the academy. Staff does not include peopleengaged on a contract for services.For the purposes of this criterion “children include a son or daughter who is biological,step, adopted, fostered, or those under special guardianship, and they must live at thesame address as the employed parent. This also includes children of cohabitingpartners.

iv. Other children by distance from the academy, with priority for admission given tochildren who live nearest to the academy as measured by a straight-line distance fromthe child’s home address to the main school entrance using Google Maps.

6. Application of Oversubscription Criteria

6.1 The address given on the application form will be used to assess whether another childattending the academy is living at the same address. The child’s address will be compared tothe addresses held in the academy’s records.

6.2 The address given on the application form will be used to assess the straight-line distancebetween the child’s property address point and the academy’s property address point.

6.3 If, following the application of the oversubscription criteria, two or more applicants arejudged to have equal priority for the final place at an academy, random allocation will beused to determine who receives the place. Where random allocation is used, the names ofthe applicants will be entered into a hat and a name will be selected from the hat bysomeone independent of the academy.

6.4 An exception to 6.3 is where the applicants judged to be of equal priority live at the sameaddress. In this case, the academy will admit them all.

6.5 Where a child lives with parents that have shared responsibility for the child, the addressused is the home at which the child mostly wakes up on school days. Where responsibilityis shared equally, parents should submit full details (including any documentary evidence)at the time of application.

6.6 When considering applications from children of UK service and Crown Servants personnelwe will allocate a place in advance of the family arriving in the area (as long as a place isavailable), provided the application is accompanied by an official letter that declares arelocation date. We will use the address at which the child will live when applying ouroversubscription criteria as long as some evidence of the parent’s intended address isprovided. We will use a unit or Quartering address as the child’s home address whenconsidering the application against our oversubscription criteria, where a parent requeststhis.For information regarding children of UK service and Crown Servant personnel - please see Appendix 3

7. When Do I Find Out Whether My Child Has Been Offered a Place?

7.1 If you have applied for Reception using the CAF, and your application was submitted by thedeadline, you will receive notification from the Local Authority advising you of the schoolyour child has been allocated. Notifications will be issued on 16 April 2027.

7.2 For late applications made using the CAF, you will receive a notification from the LocalAuthority advising you of the school your child has been allocated on the date specified bythe Local Authority’s policy on late applications.

7.3 Once a place has been allocated at the academy, the academy’s Principal will contact you toprovide further details of the induction process.

8. Waiting Lists

8.1 The academy will maintain a waiting list for each year group. Children are only added to thewaiting list following an unsuccessful formal application to join the academy.

8.2 The waiting list for each year group is cleared on 31 July in the academic year of admissionand parents wishing to apply for future years would need to resubmit an application (seeSection 3, In-Year Admissions).

8.3 Children are inserted into the waiting list in order of the oversubscription criteria detailed at5.1. Each new application received will require the waiting list to be re-ranked in accordancewith our over subscription criteria. Waiting lists are not prioritised by the date ofapplications or the date on which a name was placed on the list.

8.4 All Local Authorities must have a Fair Access Protocol, which the academy is required to bepart of. This is to ensure that access to education is secured quickly for children who haveno school place. Children who are dealt with under the protocol are likely to be the mostvulnerable or present challenging behaviour and who cannot reasonably be managedthrough the normal admission process. Children admitted through the protocol may beplaced in a year group which is full and will take precedence over other children on thewaiting list. It is the Local Authority’s decision to determine which children are dealt with bythe protocol and the academy is obliged, as are other schools within the district, to admit aproportion of these children.

8.5 Eligibility for the Fair Access Protocol does not limit your right to make an in-year applicationfor your child. Applications will be processed in accordance with our usual in-year admissionprocedures and children will not be refused a place on the basis that they may be eligible tobe placed via the Fair Access Protocol. You will continue to have the right of appeal for anyplace your child has been refused, even if your child has been offered a school place via theFair Access Protocol.

9 Appeals Against Admissions Decisions

9.1 If you wish to appeal against our decision not to admit your child(ren) you should completethe form at Appendix 1 and submit it to the address specified.

9.2 For applications made during the normal admissions round, the deadline for submitting anappeal is 20 school days after the National Offer Days, which in 2027 is 16 April 2027 forapplications to join Reception.

9.3 Appeals will be heard within 40 days of the deadline for submitting appeals. Any lateapplications will be heard within this timeframe if possible, or else within 30 days of theappeal being lodged.

9.4 Once you have submitted your appeal form, we will acknowledge receipt of the form withinfive school days. We will then forward the appeal form to our admissions consultant whowill organise for an appeal hearing to be heard by an Independent Appeals Panel andconducted in accordance with the School Admission Appeals Code (2022). There may beoccasions when this is not possible, and in this case the Local Authority will be contacted toarrange an appeal.

9.5 The appeals hearing will take place prior to the end of the academic year for applicationssubmitted during the normal admissions round. For in-year admissions, the hearing will takeplace within thirty school days of our receipt of the appeal.

9.6 You will receive at least ten school days’ notice of the appeals hearing date and additionalinformation will be provided at this time.

9.7 If you miss the deadline for lodging an appeal, we will try, where possible, to hear yourappeal within the same timeframe as if it had been on time. However, if this is not possible,it will be heard at a later date.

9.8 Parents do not have the right to a second appeal in respect of the same year group, unlessin exceptional circumstances, the school has accepted a second application from the parentsbecause of a significant and material change in the circumstances of the parents, child orschool but were still refused admission.

10 Deferred, part-time and delayed entry

10.1 By law parents must ensure their children are receiving suitable full-time education at thebeginning of the term after their fifth birthday, which is when the child reaches compulsoryschool age. The academy offers places for children to be admitted to Reception class in theSeptember at the start of the academic year in which they reach five years of age.

10.2 Parents may defer their child’s admission until later in the school year, but not beyond thepoint at which they reach compulsory school age and not beyond the beginning of the finalterm of the school year of which the admission was made.

10.3 A parent has the right for their child to be admitted on a part-time basis during the receptionyear but not beyond the point they reach compulsory school age.

10.4 Applications for Admission Outside a Child’s Normal Age Group It is expected that childrenwill normally be educated within their chronological year group. However, parents or carerscan make a request to the academy in writing for a place outside their normal age group.This request should be in writing to the Principal stating why your child should be admittedto another year group and stating which year group.

10.5 It might be helpful to include, where relevant, any supporting evidence such as informationabout your child’s academic, social and emotional development, where relevant, theirmedical history and any views of medical professionals, and whether they have beeneducated outside their normal age group previously and whether they may have naturallyfallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely.

10.6 Decisions will be made as part of the main admissions round, unless the parental request ismade too late for this to be possible, in which case a decision will be made within 30 schooldays of the application and supporting evidence being received.

10.7 Decisions will be based on the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of yourchild, in line with the School Admissions Code. This will take into account the views of the Principal and yourselves and any information provided by you. We will write to you with theoutcome including the reasons for the decision. There is no right of appeal against a refusalto offer a place in a preferred age group. The right of appeal only applies against a refusalof a place at the school.

Admission arrangements 2026/2027 & 2025/2026

1. Legal Framework and Guiding Principles

1.1 Academy Transformation Trust is a multi-academy trust consisting of academies in the East and West Midlands and in the East of England. Our Trustees are the admissions authority for all our academies, and they apply all aspects of the regulations and procedures detailed in this policy fairly and equally to all those who wish to attend one of our academies.

1.2 This policy has due regard to the following legislation and any regulations thereunder:

• The School Admissions Code (2021)
• The School Admission Appeals Code (2022)
• The Equality Act (2010)
• The Human Rights Act (1998)
• The School Standards Framework Act (1998)

1.3 All children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) that specifies the academy as the placement school will be automatically admitted. Information on each academy’s local SEN offer can be found on that academy’s website.

1.4 Where fewer applications are received than the number of places available for a relevant age group (i.e., the normal age that pupils are admitted to the academy), all applicants will be offered a place.

1.5 Where there are more applications than places for a relevant age group, the oversubscription criteria detailed at 5.1 will be used to determine which children are offered a place.

1.6 The Local Governing Board (LGB) for each academy has responsibility, on behalf of ATT’sDirectors, for monitoring the application of this policy to ensure fairness and consistency across our Trust.

1.7 For the purposes of this policy, working days are defined as days when the relevant academy is open to pupils.

2. How to Apply for a Place at One of Our Academies

2.1 If you are applying for a place during the normal admissions round, you should use the Common Application Form (CAF) provided by the local authority for the area in which you live (known as your home local authority).

2.2 The normal admissions round refers to applications to start at the academy in the appropriate age group and when other children are normally admitted. Please see Section 3 for details regarding in-year admissions and Section 11 for how we deal with other specific circumstances.

2.3 Not all local authorities refer to the application form as a CAF and many now provide the option to apply online. You should check the application process for your home local authority by visiting their website. Ensure that you submit your application either in writing or online, but not by both methods. For the purposes of this policy, this type of application process will be referred to as CAF submission.

2.4 The deadline for applications during the normal admissions round, to take up a place in September 2025, is:

• 31 October 2024 for admissions into Year 7 and Year 12
• 15 January 2025 for admissions into Reception

.2.5 Applications received after the deadline will be treated as late applications and considered in accordance with the relevant home local authority’s co-ordinated scheme. Details of this will also be available on your home local authority’s website.

2.6 Applications submitted later than the start of the academic year (after 1 September 2025)must be submitted as an in-year admission (see Section 3).

2.7 For admission into any year groups other than those mentioned at 2.4, or after the deadline, see Section 3 below.

3. In-Year Admissions

3.1 In-year admissions occur when an application for admission is made outside the normal admissions round. Since 1 September 2021, all in-year admissions are conducted by individual ATT academies.

3.2 For all our academies, initial applications for in-year admissions should be made directly to the academy. Applications will be considered by a panel of 3 members which consists of a senior member of staff in charge of admissions in the academy together with 2 others from amongst:

• The Local Governing Board
• Trust Leaders
• External admissions consultants.

3.3 Appropriate SEN expertise will be sought on the panel in the case of applications from pupils with an EHCP

3.4 The details of the in-year application process are available in the In-Year Admissions Application Form available at Appendix 3, or by contacting the academy directly. Academy postal addresses can be found at Appendix 1

3.5 In the case of all in-year admissions, applications that have been made directly to an academy for year groups other than the usual points of entry will be put to the academy’sadmissions authority panel to determine if places are available, or whether admissions would cause prejudice to the provision of an efficient education.

3.6 Each academy admissions panel will issue a decision on an individual admission within fifteen working days following receipt of an application.

4. How Many Pupils Will Be Admitted

4.1 Each academy has set the number of pupils that will be admitted during the normal admissions round. This number is the Published Admissions Number (PAN). PAN therefore only applies to the usual points of entry in a school:• Reception (primary school)• Year 7 (secondary school)• Year 12 (6th form).

4.2 If the number of applications received for an academy exceeds the PAN, the oversubscription criteria will be used to determine which pupils are allocated a place.

4.3 The PANs for our academies are listed below 

The number of places available in Year 12 for our academies is listed below. However, where an applicant meets the minimum entry requirements, we will exceed PAN if we are able to.

5. Oversubscription Criteria

5.1 If there are more applications for places than there are places available, we will give preference to children according to the following criteria, in this order of priority:

i. Looked after children and all previously looked after children, including 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.

A full definition of Looked after children and previously looked after children can be found in Appendix 2.

ii. Children whose siblings live at the same address, currently attend the academy and who will still be attending the academy at the point of admission. For the purposes of this policy a sibling is classed as children living permanently at the same address as a child already attending the academy and either have one or both parents in common, are related by a parent’s marriage or civil relationship, are adopted or fostered by a common parent or are related to children who live at the same address whose parents live as partners.

iii. Children of permanent teaching and support staff of an ATT academy who have been employed at the academy where the application for admission is made for 2 years or more at the time of application, or a member of staff who is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage at the same academy.

iv. Children who attend an ATT Primary Academy at the time of application to join Year7 in an ATT Secondary Academy, who are in the same geographical catchment area within the same local authority. This clause currently applies to these academies:

v. In the case of the Queen Elizabeth Academy (Atherstone), other children by catchment area (as defined by Warwickshire County Council) and then by distance from the academy, with priority for admission given to children who live nearest to the academy as measured using Ordnance Survey data to plot an address (employing the measuring system used by the local authority). Distances are measured as the crow flies (a straight-line distance) from the child’s property address point to theacademy’s property address point on the site where the child will predominantly be based.

In the case of all other academies, other children by distance from the academy, with priority for admission given to children who live nearest to the academy as measured using Ordnance Survey data to plot an address (employing the measuring system used by the local authority in which the academy is situated). Distances are measured as the crow flies (a straight-line distance) from the child’s property address point to either - the academy's main reception area OR the academy address point in line with the relevant Local Authority Policy.

5.2 There are two situations which override the use of the oversubscription criteria detailed at 5.1

• Children who have an EHCP which names a specific school must by law be offered a place at that school (see 11.5). 

• In the case of applications to post-16 provision, academic entry requirements may also be considered (see 11.4).

5.3 Information regarding children of Crown servants and UK service personnel - please see Appendix 4

6. Application of Oversubscription Criteria

6.1 The address given on the application form will be used to assess whether another child attending the academy is living at the same address. The child’s address will be compared to the addresses held in the academy’s records.

6.2 The address given on the application form will be used to assess the straight-line distance between the child’s property address point or academy’s reception area (as applicable) for the site where they will predominantly be based, employing the measuring system used by the local authority in which the academy is situated.

6.3 Where a child lives with parents that have shared responsibility for the child, the address of the child is the home at which the child resides for the majority of the school week.

6.4 When considering applications from children of UK service personnel, the unit postal address or quartering area address will be used, provided that the application is accompanied by an Assignment Order that declares a relocation date and the address.

6.5 We will accept changes to the address up to the point of allocation (CAF submission) deadline.

6.6 If, following the application of the oversubscription criteria, two or more applicants are judged to have equal priority for the final place at an academy, random allocation will be used to determine who receives the place. Where random allocation is used, the names of the applicants will be entered into a hat and a name will be selected from the hat by someone independent of the academy.

6.7 An exception to 6.6 is where the applicants judged to be of equal priority live at the same address. In this case, the academy will admit them all.

7. When Do I Find Out Whether My Child Has Been Offered a Place?

7.1 If you have applied using the CAF, and your application was submitted by the deadline, you will receive notification from your local authority advising you of the school your child has been allocated. Notifications will be issued on:

• 3 March 2025 for Year 7 and Year 12

• 16 April 2025 for Reception

7.2 For late applications made using the CAF, you will receive a notification from the local authority advising you of the school your child has been allocated on the date specified by the local authority’s policy on late applications.

7.3 Representatives of the academy or our Trust are unable to comment on any application prior to the above dates.

7.4 Once a place has been allocated at the academy, the academy’s Principal will contact you to provide further details of the induction process.

8. What Happens if I Have Not Been Allocated a Place?

8.1 If your child has not been allocated a place at one of our academies, their name will be added to our waiting list until 31st of December of each year. When additional applications are received the list will be rewritten using the published criteria for oversubscription. If a place at the academy becomes available children will be admitted from the waiting list (see Section 9).

8.2 You also have the right to appeal the decision (see Section 10).

9. Waiting Lists

9.1 The academy will maintain a waiting list for each year group. This includes our academies with a nursery provision. Children are only added to the waiting list following an unsuccessful formal application to join the academy.

9.2 The waiting list for the normal admissions year group (relevant age group) will be cleared by the end of the first week of the spring term each year (or in the case of our academies in Suffolk, by 31 December). The waiting list for all remaining year groups will be cleared at the end of June each year. If you would like your child to remain on the waiting list after these dates, you will need to reapply for a place at the academy.

9.3 Children are inserted into the waiting list in order of the oversubscription criteria detailed at 5.1.

9.4 Children allocated a place at the academy in accordance with the Fair Access Protocol (see 9.5) will take priority over children on the waiting list.

9.5 The Fair Access Protocol is an agreement that allows hard to place children, for example, those that have been permanently excluded, to be given a place before any oversubscription criteria are applied and before anyone is considered from the waiting list. Such children are allocated places across all the academies within a local area. We are committed to participating in the Fair Access Protocol.

10 Appeals Against Admissions Decisions

10.1 If you wish to appeal against our decision not to admit your child(ren) to one of our academies, you should complete the form at Appendix 2 and submit it to the address specified.

10.2 For applications made during the normal admissions round, the deadline for submitting an appeal is 20 school days after the National Offer Days, which in 2025 are:

• 03 March 2025 for applications to join Year 7 or Year 12

• 16 April 2025 for applications to join Reception.

10.3 Appeals will be heard within 40 days of the deadline for submitting appeals. Any late applications will be heard within this timeframe if possible, or else within 30 days of the appeal being lodged.

10.4 Once you have submitted your appeal form, we will acknowledge receipt of the form within five working days. We will then forward the appeal form to our admissions consultant who will organise for an appeal hearing to be heard by an Independent Appeals Panel and conducted in accordance with the School Admission Appeals Code (2022). There may be occasions when this is not possible, and in this case the Local Authority will be contacted to arrange an appeal.

10.5 The appeals hearing will take place prior to the end of the academic year for applications submitted during the normal admissions round. For in-year admissions, the hearing will take place within thirty working days of our receipt of the appeal.

10.6 You will receive at least ten working days’ notice of the appeals hearing date and additional information will be provided at this time.

10.7 If you miss the deadline for lodging an appeal, we will try, where possible, to hear your appeal within the same timeframe as if it had been on time. However, if this is not possible, it will be heard at a later date.

10.8 There is no right of appeal for admissions to our nursery provision.

11. Exceptions and Specific Circumstances

11.1 We will arrange for all children of reception age allocated a place at the academy to be admitted in September full-time. You can request that the date your child is admitted to the academy be deferred until later in the academic year or that your child attend the academy part time until they reach compulsory school age. Your child must attend the academy in the final term of the academic year for which the original application was accepted.

11.2 Applications for Year 3 - If your child is due to finish infant school and you would like them to attend a school where Year 3 is not the lowest year group in the academy, you should list the primary academy on your CAF and the application will be assessed as if you had made an in year application (see Section 3 for further detail).

11.3 Applications for Year 12- Applications for Year 12 can be made using the CAF, although you may also apply directly to the academy by contacting the relevant Head of Sixth Form, who will provide details on how to apply.

11.4 Entry to one of our sixth forms is dependent on meeting the academic requirements for your chosen courses, details of which can be obtained from the relevant academy. In a case where there are more applicants than places, the oversubscription criteria detailed at 5.1 will only be applied to those applicants who meet the academic requirements.

11.5 EHCPs - All children whose Statement of Special Educational Needs or EHCP names the academy will be admitted. These children will be admitted irrespective of the number of pupils in the academy and before the oversubscription criteria are applied.

11.6 Applications for Admission Outside a Child’s Normal Age Group- It is expected that children will normally be educated within their chronological year group. However, parents or carers can make a request to the academy in writing for a place outside their normal age group. This will need to include, where relevant, any supporting evidence. We will make decisions based on the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned, in line with the School Admissions Code. This will take into account the views of the Principal. We will write to the parent or carer with the outcome including the reasons for the decision. If the request is refused, details of how to complain to the academy will be provided.

Admission arrangements 2023/2024 & 2024/2025

1 - Legal framework and guiding principles

1.1 Academy Transformation Trust is a multi-academy trust consisting of 22 academies in the East and West Midlands and in the East of England. The Directors of the Trust are the admissions authority for all our academies and they apply all aspects of the regulation and procedure detailed in this policy fairly and equally to all those who wish to attend one of our academies.

1.2 This policy has due regard to

• the School Admissions Code 2014
• the School Admission Appeals Code 2022
• the Equality Act 2010
• the Human Rights Act 1998
• the School Standards Framework Act 1998

And any regulations thereunder.

Further information on the regulations related to academy admissions can be found on the Government's website

1.3 All children whose statement of special educational needs or education health and care plan names the academy must be admitted (following paragraph 1.6 of the School Admissions Code, December 2014). Information on each academy’s SEN local offer can be found on the academy’s website.

1.4 Where fewer applications are received than the number of places available for a relevant age group (i.e. the normal age that pupils are admitted to the academy) then all applicants will be offered a place.

1.5 Where there are more applications than places for a relevant age group then the oversubscription criteria detailed in paragraph 5.1 below will be used to determine which children are offered a place.

1.6 The Local Academy Committee for each academy has responsibility, on behalf of the Directors of the Trust, for monitoring the application of this policy to ensure fairness and consistency across the Trust.

1.7 For the purpose of this policy, ‘working days’ are considered to be days when the relevant academy is open to pupils.

2 - How to apply for a place in one of our academies

2.1 If you are applying for a place during the normal admissions round, you should use the Common Application Form (CAF) provided by the local authority for the area in which you live (known as your ‘home’ local authority).

2.2 The ‘normal admissions round’ is an application to start at the academy in the appropriate age group and when other children are normally admitted. Please see section 3 below for details regarding in-year admissions and section 11 for our policy in regard to other specific circumstances.

2.3 Not all local authorities refer to the application form as a CAF and many now provide the option to apply online. You should check the application process for your home local authority by visiting their website and ensure you submit your application either in writing or online (i.e. not both). For the purposes of this policy, this type of application process will be referred to as ‘CAF submission’.

2.4 The deadline for applications during the normal admissions round (i.e. to take up a place in September) is:

• 31 October for admissions into Year 7 and Year 12
• 15 January for admissions into Reception and Year 3.

2.5 Applications received after the deadline will be treated as late applications and will be considered in accordance with the relevant home local authority’s ‘co-ordinated scheme’ (details of this are also available from your home local authority’s website).

2.6 Applications submitted later than the start of the academic year (i.e. after 1 September) must be submitted as an ‘in-year admission’ (please see section 3 below).

2.7 For admission into all other year groups (i.e. other than those mentioned in paragraph 2.4 above) or after the deadline please see section 3 below.

3 - In-year admissions

3.1 In-year admissions occur when an application for admission is made outside the normal admissions round. Since 1 September 2021, all in-year admissions are conducted by individual ATT academies.

3.2 For all our academies, initial applications for in-year admissions should be made directly to the academy. Applications will be considered by a panel of 3 members which consists of a senior member of staff in charge of admissions in the academy together with 2 others from amongst:

• The Local Governing Board
• Trust Leaders
• External admissions consultants.

3.3 Appropriate SEN expertise will be sought on the panel in the case of applications from pupils with SEND.

3.4 The details of the in-year application process are available in the In-Year Admissions Application Form available at Appendix 4, or by contacting the academy directly. Academy postal addresses can be found at Appendix 1.

3.5 In the case of all in-year admissions, applications that have been made directly to an academy for year groups other than the usual points of entry will be put to the academy’s admissions authority panel to determine if places are available, or whether admissions would cause prejudice to the provision of an efficient education.

3.6 Each academy admissions panel will issue a decision on an individual admission within fifteen working days following receipt of an application.

4 - How many pupils will be admitted?

4.1 Each academy has set the number of pupils that will be admitted during the normal admissions round. This number is the Published Admissions Number (PAN). PAN therefore only applies to the usual points of entry in a school:

• Reception (primary school)
• Year 7 (secondary school)
• Year 12 (6th form).

4.2 If the number of applications received for an academy exceeds the PAN then the oversubscription criteria will be used to determine which pupils are allocated a place.

4.3 The PANs for our academies are listed in Appendix 2.

5 - Oversubscription criteria

5.1 If there are more applications for places than there are places available, we will give preference to children according to the following rules in this order of priority:

5.1.1 Looked after children and all previously looked after children. Looked after children are children who are either in the care of a local authority or being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions, in accordance with section22 of the Children Act (1989), at the time an application for a place is made. Previously looked after children are children who were previously looked after but ceased to be so because they were adopted (under the Adoption Act (1976) or Adoption and Children’s Act (2002)) or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order immediately following after being looked after. This includes children who appear (to ATT, the admission authority) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care after being adopted. Statecare is further defined as being in the care of public authorities, religious authorities or other organisations that act in the public benefit. The DfE will provide non-statutory guidance on this matter.;

5.1.2 Siblings of current pupils, who, for the purposes of this policy, are defined as children living permanently at the same address as a child attending the academy and either have one or both parents in common; are related by a parent’s marriage; are adopted or fostered by a common parent or are related children who live at the same address whose parents are partners. This definition relates to the time of their admission (including children in the sixth form)

5.1.3 Children of permanent staff of an ATT academy who have been employed at the academy where the application for admission is made for 2 years or more at the time of application, or a member of staff who is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage at the same academy.

5.1.4 Children who attend an ATT Primary Academy at the time of application to join Year 7 in an ATT Secondary Academy, who are in the same geographical catchment area within the same local authority. This clause currently applies to these academies:

5.1.5 In the case of the Queen Elizabeth Academy (Atherstone)
Other children by catchment area (as defined by Warwickshire County Council) and then by distance from the academy, with priority for admission given to children who live nearest to the academy as measured using Ordnance Survey data to plot an address employing the measuring system used by the local authority. Distances are measured ‘as the crow flies’ (i.e. a straight-line distance) from the child’s property address point to the academy’s property address point on the site where the child will predominantly be based.

5.1.6 In the case of all other academies
Other children by distance from the academy, with priority for admission given to children who live nearest to the academy as measured using Ordnance Survey data to plot an address employing the measuring system used by the local authority in which the academy is situated. Distances are measured ‘as the crow flies’ (i.e. a straight-line distance) from the child’s property address point to the academy’s property address point on the site where the child will predominantly be based.

5.2 There are two situations which override the use of the oversubscription criteria detailed in paragraph 5.1 above:

5.2.1 Children who have an EHCP which names a specific school must by law be offered a place at that school (please see paragraph 11.5).

5.2.2 In the case of applications to sixth form provision, academic entry requirements may also be taken into account (please see paragraph 11.4).

6 - Application of the oversubscription criteria

6.1 The address given on the application form will be used to assess whether another child attending the academy is living at the same address. The child’s address will be compared to the addresses held in the academy’s records.

6.2 The address given on the application form will be used to assess the straight-line distance between the child’s property address point and the academy’s property address point for the site where they will predominantly be based ‘employing the measuring system used by the local authority in which the academy is situated’.

6.3 Where a child lives with parents that have shared responsibility for the child, the ‘address’ of the child shall be considered to be the home at which the child resides for the majority of the school week.

6.4 The unit postal address or quartering area address will be used as the ‘address’ when considering applications from children of UK service personnel against the oversubscription criteria, provided that the application is accompanied by an Assignment Order that declares a relocation date and the address.

6.5 We will accept changes to the address up to the point of allocation (CAF submission) deadline.

6.6 If, following the application of oversubscription criteria, two or more applicants cannot be separated for the final place at an academy then random allocation will be used to determine the priority for that place. Where random allocation is used, the names of the applicants will be entered into a hat and a name will be selected from the hat by someone independent of the academy.

6.7 The exception to paragraph 6.6 above will be in the case where the applicants that cannot be separated live at the same address. In this case, the academy will admit them all.

7 - When do I find out if my child has been offered a place?

7.1 If you have applied using the CAF and your application was submitted by the deadline you will receive notification from your local authority advising you of the school your child has been allocated. Notifications will be issued on:

• 1 March for Year 7 and Year 12
• 16 April for Reception and Year 3. 

7.2 For late applications made using the CAF you will receive a notification from the local authority advising you of the school your child has been allocated on a date in line with the local authority’s policy on late applications.

7.3 Representatives of the academy or the Trust are unable to comment on any application prior to the above dates.

7.4 Once a place has been allocated at the academy, the academy’s Principal will make contact with you to provide further details of the induction process.

8 - What happens if I have not been allocated a place?

8.1 If your child has not been allocated a place at one of our academies then their name will be added to our waiting list. If a place at the academy becomes available children will be admitted from the waiting list (please see section 9 below).

8.2 You also have the right to appeal the decision (please see section 10 below).

9 - Waiting lists

9.1 The academy will maintain a waiting list for each year group (this includes our academies having a nursery provision). Children are only added to the waiting list following an unsuccessful formal application to join the academy.

9.2 The waiting list for the normal admissions year group (relevant age group) will be cleared by the end of the first week of the spring term each year (or in the case of our academies in Suffolk by 31 December). The waiting list for all remaining year groups will be cleared at the end of June each year. If you would like your child to remain on the waiting list after these dates, you will need to reapply for a place at the academy.

9.3 Children are ranked on the waiting list in order of the oversubscription criteria detailed in paragraph 5.1 above.

9.4 Children allocated a place at the academy in accordance with the Fair Access Protocol (please see paragraph 9.5 below) will take priority over children on the waiting list.

9.5 The Fair Access Protocol is an agreement that allows hard to place children, for example those that have been permanently excluded, to be given a place before any oversubscription criteria are applied and before anyone is considered from the waiting list. Such children are allocated places across all the academies within a local area. We are committed to participating in the Fair Access Protocol.

10 - Appeals against admissions decisions

10.1 If you wish to appeal against a decision not to admit your child(ren) to one of our academies, you should complete the form in Appendix 3 and submit it to the address on the form.

10.2 For applications made on the CAF during the normal admissions round the deadline for submitting an appeal is:

• 16 April for applications to join Year 7 or Year 12
• 20 May for applications to join Reception or Year 3.

10.3 For all other applications the deadline for submitting an appeal is twenty working days from the date of your notification letter.

10.4 Once you have submitted your appeal form we will acknowledge receipt of the form within five working days. We will then forward the appeal form to our admissions consultant who will organise for an appeal hearing to be heard by an Independent Appeals Panel and conducted in accordance with the School Admission Appeals Code 2022. There may be occasions when this may not be possible and in this case the Local Authority will be contacted to arrange an appeal.

10.5 The appeals hearing will take place prior to the end of the academic year for applications submitted during the ‘normal admissions round’. For in-year admissions, the hearing will take place within thirty working days of our receipt of the appeal.

10.6 You will receive at least ten working days’ notice of the appeals hearing date and additional information will be provided at this time.

10.7 If you miss the deadline for lodging an appeal, we will try, where possible, to hear your appeal within the same timeframe as if it had been on time. However, if this is not possible it will be heard at a later date.

10.8 There is no right of appeal for admissions to our nursery provision.

11 - Exceptions and Specific Circumstances

11.1 We will make arrangements for all children allocated a place at the academy to be admitted in September full-time. You can request that the date your child is admitted to the academy be deferred until later in the academic year or that your child attend the academy part time until they reach compulsory school age. Your child must be in attendance at the academy in the final term of the academic year for which the original application was accepted.

11.2 Applications for Year 3
If your child is due to finish infant school and you would like them to attend a school where Year 3 is not the lowest year group in the academy, then you should list the Primary Academy on your CAF and the application will be assessed as if you had made an in-year application (please see section 3 for more details).

11.3 Applications for Year 12
Applications for Year 12 can be made using the CAF, although you may also apply directly to the academy by contacting the relevant Head of Sixth Form, who will provide details on how to apply.

11.4 Entry to our sixth forms is dependent on meeting the academic requirements for your chosen courses, details of which can be obtained from the relevant academy. In a case where there are more applicants than places, the oversubscription criteria detailed in paragraph 5.1 above will only be applied to those applicants who meet the academic requirements.

11.5 Statements of Special Educational Needs and Education Health and Care Plans
All children whose statement of special educational needs or education health and care plan names the academy will be admitted. These children will be admitted irrespective of the number of pupils in the academy and before the oversubscription criteria are applied.

11.6 Applications for admission outside a child’s normal age group
It is expected that children will normally be educated within their chronological year group. However, parents or carers can make a request to the academy in writing for a place outside their normal age group. This will need to include, where relevant, any supporting evidence. We will make decisions on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned, in line with the School Admissions Code. This will take into account the views of the Principal. We will write to the parent or carer with the outcome including the reasons for the decision. If the request is refused, details of how to complain to the academy will be given. 

PAN for Sun Academy - 30