Bhylls Acre Primary School
2023/2024, 2024/2025 (prior to academy conversion)
Introduction
Bhylls Acre Primary School is an Academy and is a member of the Ignite Learning Partnership Academy Trust. The Trust is the admission authority for the school.
These arrangements are designed to comply with the requirements of the School Admissions Code (2021), the School Standards and Framework Act (1998) and the Education Act (2002).
The Application Process – Entry into Reception in September 2025
Reception is the normal point of entry for Bhylls Acre Primary School and the local authority for the school is the Staffordshire County Council. Admissions in to Bhylls Acre Primary School is managed by Wolverhampton City Council.
The Education Act includes a requirement that all local authorities must coordinate the admissions process for each normal point of entry year group for the schools in their area.
The local authority’s admission arrangements outline the application process that must be followed by families and will ensure that every child, for whom an application has been made through this process, receives an offer of one school place only. Families must make the application through their home authority (i.e., where they live and pay their Council Tax)
Further information about this application process can be obtained from the City of Wolverhampton Council's website
The deadline for on-time applications to be submitted, for entry into Reception in September 2024, is 15 January 2025.
Published Admission Number
The school has an agreed admission number of 30 pupils for entry into Reception in September 2025. The school will therefore admit up to 30 pupils in the relevant age group, if sufficient applications are received.
All applicants will be admitted if 30 or fewer pupils apply.
The Application Process – In-Year admissions during the 2025/26 academic year
Bhylls Acre Primary School has contracted the local authority - the City of Wolverhampton Council – to carry out their in-year admissions process for all year groups, from Reception up to Year 6.
Further information about this application process can be obtained from the City of Wolverhampton Council
Over-subscription criteria
Where the school receives more applications for the year group requested than there are places available, the following over-subscription criteria will be applied to each application. Applicants will be ranked according to these criteria and places will be offered in this order of priority, up to the Admission Number that has been set for the relevant year group.
Any child who has an Education, Health and Care Plan which names Bhylls Acre Primary School as that child’s educational setting, must be offered a place by Law. This may reduce the number of places available for other applicants.
• Category 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 (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 England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.
• Category 2: Medical / Social
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 application 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 to the local authority with the application. The information submitted must clearly state the effects of the condition/illness and why the preferred school is the only school that can meet the child’s needs.
• Category 3: Siblings attending the school
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:
• brother/sister
• 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 address (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 will be expected to be attending the same school in September 2024). The sibling connection will not be applied to the application until that sibling is on roll at the school applied for.
• Category 4: Children living within the catchment area of the preferred school
• Category 5: Distance
Those living closest to the school will be given the highest priority for places. 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 Local Authority’s software. If there are a limited number of spaces available and it is not possible to distinguish between applicants using the above criteria – for example, children who live in the same block of flats - the available spaces will be offered randomly by drawing lots.
Additional Arrangements and Information
Late Applications
Late applications will be dealt with in accordance with the City of Wolverhampton Council coordinated admissions scheme.
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 Council as this may affect the outcome of the application.
Waiting lists
The Authority will maintain the waiting lists until 31 December 2025. A child’s position on awaiting list is not fixed. This means that a child’s position on the waiting list could go up or down during the time that it is on the list. Any late applications accepted will be added to the waiting list and ranked in accordance with the oversubscription criteria outlined above.
Fraudulent or Misleading Applications
The City of Wolverhampton Council will follow up any reports they receive that allege that a fraudulent or misleading application has been made.
Multiple Births
Where multiple births (twins and triplets etc.) from the same family are tied for the final place for Reception we will admit them all, as permitted by infant class size legislation, inaccordance with the School Admissions Code (2021).
Changes of address (occurring during the allocation process)
In these circumstances - or if a query arises in respect of your child’s place of residence -you will be required to supply evidence of your new address. 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.
In-Year Admissions
An in-year admission is entry to the school other than at the normal point in Reception, for example, transferring school due to a move of house or personal reasons.
Applications for places in Reception after the normal round of admissions (from September2025), or applications for places all year groups during the 2025-2026 academic year should be made directly to the City of Wolverhampton Council, following The City of Wolverhampton Council’s co-ordinated in-year admissions in conjunction with Ignite Learning Partnership Schools Admission Policy.
Children who have an Education, Health and Care Plan should contact their child’s Plan Coordinator through the local authority’s SENSTART team to discuss a change of school.
In Year Fair Access Protocol
The Trustees of Ignite Learning Partnership 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.
Applications for children to be admitted outside their normal age group
• Summer-born children
Parents/carers of a summer-born child may choose not to send that child to school until the September following their fifth birthday and may request that they are admitted outside their normal age group – to Reception rather than Year 1.
Any parent/carer wishing to make such a request must put their requests in the first instance in writing to the LA where they reside by 15 January 2025. Requests will be considered on an individual basis and decisions will be reached considering the parents’/carers’ 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 if it were not for being born prematurely.
The view of the Headteacher of the school concerned will also be sought as part of the decision-making process. Any agreement to defer a child’s admission to a Reception class does not guarantee a place at the preferred school, nor does it give the child any additional priority for a place. Parents/carers are required to make a new application next year for Reception 2026 and the application will be considered alongside all other applications for that round in accordance with the relevant oversubscription criteria.
• Deferred Entry
A child’s parents/carers can request to 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 in September 2026. A child may take up a part-time place until later in the school year, but not beyond the point at which the child reaches compulsory school age. Upon receipt of the offer of a place a parent/carer 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.
Compulsory School Age is defined as the term after the child’s 5th birthday. For example, a child born on 25th December would need to have taken up their school place, on a full-time basis, by the start of the Spring Term in January.
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 athttps://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/education-and-schools/school-admission-appeals
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.
A child’s home address is defined as the address at which a child normally resides or, where the child lives at more than one address, the address at which the child lives for the majority of the time. Where the home address is unclear parents will be required to provide documentary proof of the child’s residence.