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Blythe Bridge High School & Sixth Form

2025/2026

2024/2025 & 2023/2024


 

Admission arrangements 2025/2026

1. Introduction

Blythe Bridge High School & Sixth Form is a well-established and fully comprehensive 11-19 school in the Staffordshire Moorlands. In March 2023 we became a proud partner school of the John Taylor Multi Academy Trust (JTMAT). Our school PAN is 180 and we work with Staffordshire School Admissions to ensure that school places are filled each year in line with our admissions arrangements. Advice on the procedures including appeals, catchment areas and boundaries is available through the Staffordshire Local Authority website www.staffordshire.gov.uk

2. Admissions to Year 7

Where the number of applications is greater than the published admission number (PAN), applications will be considered against the criteria set out below. After the admission of students with Education, Health and Care Plan’s EHCP’s (formally Statements of Special Educational Needs) where Blythe Bridge High School is named on the statement, the criteria will be applied in the order in which they are set out below:

3. Oversubscription criteria

If the total number of preferences for admission exceeds the schools Published Admission Number (PAN), the following order of priority is used to allocate the available places. (N.B. after applying the oversubscription criteria, where an applicant can be offered a place at more than one preferred school, then they will be offered a place at the establishment ranked highest on their application).

  1. Children in care and children who ceased to be in care 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 of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted (Internationally adopted previously looked after children IAPLAC)
  2. Children who satisfy both of the following tests:

Test 1: the child is distinguished from the great majority of 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 the preferred school rather than any other school.

Exceptional circumstances must relate to the choice of Academy/ School and the individual child, i.e. the circumstances of the child, not the economic or social circumstances of the parent/carer. It 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 the preferred School rather than any other establishment.

Test 2: the child would suffer hardship if they were unable to attend the preferred School.

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 the preferred school and who will still be in attendance 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 the preferred school.

5. Children who attend certain primary or middle schools defined as major contributory schools:

The major contributing Partnership Schools include:

Forsbrook CE (C) Primary School

Fulford Primary School

Meir Heath Academy

Springcroft Primary School

St. Peter CE (VA) Primary School (Caverswall)

The William Amory Primary School

6. Children of Blythe Bridge High School & Sixth Form employees in the following circumstances:

a) Where the member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the application for admissions to the school is made; and or

b) The member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post at the school for which there is a demonstratable skill shortage.

7.  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 on an ordnance survey map.

Where it is not possible to accommodate all children applying for places within a particular category then the local authority 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 i.e. criteria 6 and then criteria 7.

4. Additional notes

Copies of the schools catchment area maps are available through Staffordshire School Admissions.

There is no charge or cost related to the admission of a child into Secondary School.

Admissions are administered through a coordinated admission scheme and preferences for community, controlled, aided and foundation schools will be processed centrally through the Staffordshire County Council Admissions office. Pupils will receive one offer of a place at a maintained school.

Relevant Children in Care means children who are in the care of a Local Authority in accordance with section 22 of the Children Act 1989(b) and who (a) are looked after at the time an application is made and (b) in relation to whom the Local Authority has confirmed that the children will still be looked after at the time when the child will be admitted to the School (Admissions Criteria 1)

In accordance with legislation, children who have a Education, Health Care Plan EHCP (formally Statement of Educational Needs) that names a particular school as being the most appropriate to meet the child’s needs will be admitted to that establishment. This may reduce the amount of places available to other applicants.

It is the applicant’s responsibility to provide any supportive information required in order for the application to be assessed against the published admissions criteria. The Local Authority will not seek to obtain this information on behalf of the applicant. School admissions use 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 home address is considered to be the child’s along with their parents’ 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.

In the event that there are multiple children in any household that fall into this criteria, then all the children from the household will be offered a place at the school subject to spaces being available.

Any Staffordshire child not obtaining a place at any of their parents’ preferred school will be allocated a place at their catchment area school (if places remain available) or the next nearest Academy or School with a space available and advised about the independent appeals process.

5. Waiting lists

Unsuccessful applicants will be placed on a waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria stated above. If places become available after the offer date they will be offered according to the child at the top of the waiting list. Children will be added to the waiting list and offered places based upon exactly the same criteria as used for the initial selection.

Waiting lists will be kept until the end of Autumn term of admission. No other waiting lists will be maintained.

Inclusion on the schools waiting list does not mean that a place will eventually become available at the preferred establishment.

A child’s position on a waiting list is not fixed and is subject to change during the year i.e. they can go down the list. Children who are subject of a direction by local authority to admit or who are allocated to the school in accordance with the Fair Access Protocol will take precedence over those on the waiting list.

6. Late applications

Application forms 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 applicants will be considered only after those applicants who applied by the published closing date.

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

7. Appeals

Parents who wish to appeal against the decision of the Local Authority or Governors to refuse their child a place at Blythe Bridge High School and Sixth Form may register their appeals through the Local Authority. The School will be informed of this decision with the appeals heard by an Independent Appeals Panel co-ordinated through the Local Authority the school is located in.

8. Admissions 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.

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 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.

9. Sixth form admission arrangements for community and voluntary controlled secondary schools

Applications for admission to the Sixth Form will be dealt with by the School in accordance with the school’s published admission arrangements. Individual schools will provide detailed information on the admission policy including minimum entry requirements for particular courses on request.

Children already in the school will not be required to apply formally for places in Year 12 but should have reached the minimum entry requirements for admission into the sixth form, details of which are included in the published admission arrangements.

External applicants will not be refused the opportunity to make an application, or told that they can only be placed on a waiting list rather than make a formal application.

Any applicant refused a place in Year 12 is entitled to make an appeal to an independent appeal panel whether the child is already attending the school or is an external candidate. Minimum entry requirements are the same for internal and external applicants.

Schools must not interview children or their families for entry to Year 12, although meetings can be held to provide advice on options and entry requirements for particular courses. Entry must not be dependent on attendance, behaviour record or perceptions of attitude or motivation.

 


 Admission arrangements 2024/2025 & 2023/2024

1. Introduction

Blythe Bridge High School & Sixth Form is an 11-18 Trust school situated in the heart of the Staffordshire Moorlands.

The school works in conjunction with Staffordshire School Admissions to ensure the school PAN of 180 is achieved.

The admission policy on the allocation of places at Blythe Bridge High school follows the Local Authority model and therefore the co-ordinated admission arrangements. Advice on the procedures including appeals should be taken from the Staffordshire Local Authority website www.staffordshire.gov.uk

2. Admissions to Year 7

Where the number of applications is greater than the published admission number (PAN), applications will be considered against the criteria set out below. After the admission of students with Education, Health and Care Plan’s EHCP’s (formally Statements of Special Educational Needs) where Blythe Bridge High School is named on the statement, the criteria will be applied in the order in which they are set out below:

3. Oversubscription criteria

If the total number of preferences for admission exceeds the schools Published Admission Number (PAN), the following order of priority is used to allocate the available places. (N.B. after applying the oversubscription criteria, where an applicant can be offered a place at more than one preferred school, then they will be offered a place at the establishment ranked highest on their application).

  1. Children in care and children who ceased to be in care 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 of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted (Internationally adopted previously looked after children IAPLAC)
  2. Children who satisfy both of the following tests:

Test 1: the child is distinguished from the great majority of 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 the preferred school rather than any other school.

Exceptional circumstances must relate to the choice of Academy/ School and the individual child, i.e. the circumstances of the child, not the economic or social circumstances of the parent/carer. It 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 the preferred School rather than any other establishment.

Test 2: the child would suffer hardship if they were unable to attend the preferred School.

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 the preferred school and who will still be in attendance 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 the preferred school.

5. Children who attend Partnership establishments defined as a major contributing schools.

The major contributing Partnership Schools include:

Forsbrook CE (C) Primary School

Fulford Primary School

Meir Heath Academy

Springcroft Primary School

St. Peter CE (VA) Primary School (Caverswall)

The William Amory Primary School

6.  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 on an ordnance survey map.

Where it is not possible to accommodate all children applying for places within a particular category then the Admissions Authority will allocate available places in accordance with the remaining criteria. If for instance, all the catchment area children cannot be accommodated at the school, children who are catchment area children and satisfy category (3) will receive offers of a place, followed by children who live in the catchment area and satisfy category (4), etc.

4. Additional notes

Copies of the schools catchment area maps are available through Staffordshire School Admissions.

There is no charge or cost related to the admission of a child into Secondary School.

Admissions are administered through a coordinated admission scheme and preferences for community, controlled, aided and foundation schools will be processed centrally through the Staffordshire County Council Admissions office. Pupils will receive one offer of a place at a maintained school.

Relevant Children in Care means children who are in the care of a Local Authority in accordance with section 22 of the Children Act 1989(b) and who (a) are looked after at the time an application is made and (b) in relation to whom the Local Authority has confirmed that the children will still be looked after at the time when the child will be admitted to the School (Admissions Criteria 1)

In accordance with legislation, children who have a Education, Health Care Plan EHCP (formally Statement of Educational Needs) that names a particular school as being the most appropriate to meet the child’s needs will be admitted to that establishment. This may reduce the amount of places available to other applicants.

It is the applicant’s responsibility to provide any supportive information required in order for the application to be assessed against the published admissions criteria. The Local Authority will not seek to obtain this information on behalf of the applicant. School admissions use 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 home address is considered to be the child’s along with their parents’ 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.

In the event that there are multiple children in any household that fall into this criteria, then all the children from the household will be offered a place at the school subject to spaces being available.

Any Staffordshire child not obtaining a place at any of their parents’ preferred school will be allocated a place at their catchment area school (if places remain available) or the next nearest Academy or School with a space available and advised about the independent appeals process.

5. Waiting lists

Unsuccessful applicants will be placed on a waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria stated above. If places become available after the offer date they will be offered according to the child at the top of the waiting list. Children will be added to the waiting list and offered places based upon exactly the same criteria as used for the initial selection.

Waiting lists will be kept until the end of Autumn term of admission. No other waiting lists will be maintained.

Inclusion on the schools waiting list does not mean that a place will eventually become available at the preferred establishment.

A child’s position on a waiting list is not fixed and is subject to change during the year i.e. they can go down the list. Children who are subject of a direction by local authority to admit or who are allocated to the school in accordance with the Fair Access Protocol will take precedence over those on the waiting list.

6. Late applications

Application forms 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 applicants will be considered only after those applicants who applied by the published closing date.

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

7. Appeals

Parents who wish to appeal against the decision of the Local Authority or Governors to refuse their child a place at Blythe Bridge High School and Sixth Form may register their appeals through the Local Authority. The School will be informed of this decision with the appeals heard by an Independent Appeals Panel co-ordinated through the Local Authority the school is located in.

8. Admissions 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.

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 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.

9. Sixth form admission arrangements for community and voluntary controlled secondary schools

Applications for admission to the Sixth Form will be dealt with by the school in accordance with the school’s published admission arrangements. Individual schools will provide detailed information on the admission policy including minimum entry requirements for particular courses on request.

Children already in the school will not be required to apply formally for places in Year 12 but should have reached the minimum entry requirements for admission into the sixth form, details of which are included in the published admission arrangements.

External applicants will not be refused the opportunity to make an application, or told that they can only be placed on a waiting list rather than make a formal application.

Any applicant refused a place in Year 12 is entitled to make an appeal to an independent appeal panel whether the child is already attending the school or is an external candidate. Minimum entry requirements are the same for internal and external applicants.

Schools must not interview children or their families for entry to Year 12, although meetings can be held to provide advice on options and entry requirements for particular courses. Entry must not be dependent on attendance, behaviour record or perceptions of attitude or motivation.

 

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