Moorside High School
2024/2025 and 2023/2024
2022/2023 (prior to academy conversion)
Admissions Authority
This document sets out the Admission Arrangements for Moorside High School. Moorside High School is part of the Potteries Educational Trust and converted to an academy on 1st April 2021. The Governing Board are the Admissions Authority for Moorside High School. Governors have approved the policy for consultation on 10 November 2021.
Aims
This policy is designed to ensure there is an open and fair admissions procedure for all applicants and to help guide parents and their children through the application process. The school’s admissions arrangements will not disadvantage unfairly, either directly or indirectly, any child from a particular social or racial group, or any child with a disability or special educational needs, and that other school policies do not discourage parents from applying for a place for their child.
This policy details the school’s arrangements for admissions and will apply to all admissions from September 2023 to July 2024. This includes in-year admissions within this period.
The Governing Board will consult on the admissions arrangements at least once every seven years or if there are proposed changes to the admission arrangements which require consultation. This policy will be reviewed annually or updated in the following circumstances:
- Changes in legislation and / or government guidance
- As a result of any other significant change or event
- As the result of a decision of the office of the Schools’ Adjudicator
- Admissions arrangements will be set annually. This will happen even if there are no changes from previous years and a consultation is not required.
Published Admissions Number
Moorside has a Published Admission Number (PAN) of 145 for entry into Year in September 2023. This level has been agreed by the Governors for the 2023 entry. This number may be exceeded at the discretion of the Governors, but they are not obliged to accept pupils in excess of this number unless parents have won their case at an Independent Appeal Panel or there has been a formal direction from the Secretary of State. The Academy may accept pupils above their published admission number for any specific year without consultation after notifying the Local Authority.
How to apply for Year 7 place for September 2023
The allocation of places at Moorside High School will be co-ordinated by Staffordshire County Council. To apply for a place you will have to do so via your home local authority (dependent upon where you and your child resides, aby 31 October 2022.
Co-ordinated scheme 2023-24
Please refer to www.staffordshire.gov.uk for information regarding co-ordinated admissions to secondary schools 2023-2024
Advice on the procedures including appeals should be taken from the Staffordshire Local Authority website www.staffordshire.gov.uk. The Local Authority website states that parents have the right to express a preference for the school that they wish their child to attend however there is no guarantee of a place being offered at their preferred school.
It is Moorside High School’s policy to try and meet parents’ wishes where possible, however in some cases there may be more applications for Moorside High School than there are places available.
Oversubscription Criteria
In accordance with legislation, after applicants with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan* which names the academy have been admitted, priority for any remaining places will be given to those children who meet the oversubscription criteria set out in the priority order below. If there is oversubscription within a criterion and all children within that criterion cannot be admitted within the PAN of 145, places will be allocated in accordance with the remaining criteria. For example, if all children within criterion 4 cannot be accommodated, children within this criterion will be prioritised in accordance with criterion 5 and 6.
1. Children in care and children who ceased to be in care because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangement 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 see additional note ** below.
2. Children living within Moorside High School’s catchment area**
3. Children who have an elder sibling in attendance Moorside High School and who will still be attending the school at the proposed admission date***
4. Children who attend certain primary or middle schools defined as major contributory primary and middle schools
5. Children of staff at Moorside High School where the member of staff has been:
- employed for two or more years at the time of application or
- recruited to fill a vacancy for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage
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 as calculated by the local authority’s geographical information system. ****
Notes
* An Education, Health and Care Plan is a plan made by the local authority under Section 37 of the Children and Families Act 2014 specifying the special education, health and social care provision required for that child. In accordance with legislation, children who have an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names Moorside High School as being the most appropriate to meet the child’s needs must be admitted to that school. This will reduce the number of places available to other applicants.
**Children in care means children who are looked after by a local authority in accordance with section 22 (1) of the Children Act 1989 and who is (a) in care of a local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a Local Authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see definition in Section 22 (1) of the Children Act 1989) at the time of making an application to a school. This includes children who were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 (see section 12 adoption orders) and children who were adopted under Adoption and Children Act 2002 (see section 46 adoption orders).
Child arrangements orders are defined in s.8 of the Children Act 1989, as amended by s.12 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Child arrangements orders replace residence orders and any residence order in force prior to 22 April 2014 is deemed to be a child arrangements order.
Section 14A of the Children Act 1989 defines a special guardianship order as an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian (or special guardians).
***Copies of the school catchment area are available to download from the from the Local Authority: https://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/Education/Admissions-primary/Catchment-areas.aspx
****(For admission purposes, a sibling is a child who lives at the same address and either: have one or both natural parents in common; are related by a parent’s marriage; are adopted or fostered by a common parent or are unrelated children who live at the same address, whose parents live as partners.)
***** The major contributory schools are Werrington Primary School and St. John’s CE (VC) Primary School-Wetley Rocks.
****** School uses a geographical information system (GIS) to calculate home to school distances in miles. The measurement is calculated using Ordnance Survey (OS) data from an applicant's home address to the main front gate of the school. The coordinates of an applicant's home address are determined and provided by the Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and OS address point data.
General Notes
It is the applicant’s responsibility to provide any supportive information required for the application to be assessed against the published admissions criteria, the governors will not seek to obtain this information on behalf of the applicant.
The home address is usually considered to be the child’s, along with their parent’s main and genuine principal place of residence at the time of the allocation of places, i.e. where they are normally and regularly living. If a child is resident with friends or relatives (for reasons other than legal guardianship), the friends or relatives’ address will not be considered for allocation.
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 application purposes.
If a place is offered on the basis of an address that is subsequently found to be different from a child’s normal and permanent home address, then that place is likely to be withdrawn.
It is expected that parents will agree on school places before an application is made, and it may be necessary to request evidence from you to confirm that this is the case. The governing body is not in a position to intervene in disputes between parents over school applications and will request that these are resolved privately.
Waiting lists for Normal Point of Entry
If your child has not been offered a place, your child’s name will be automatically kept on the waiting list by the Local Authority and then transferred to Moorside High School by 31 December of the year of admission. Waiting lists will be kept for the duration of the time at Moorside High School for each cohort. If places become available they will be offered according to the child at the top of the waiting list. The waiting list is held in accordance with the published oversubscription criteria and a child’s position on a waiting list is not fixed and is subject to change during the year I.e. they can go up or down the list since each added child will require the list to be ranked again in line with the oversubscription criteria.
Inclusion on a school’s waiting list does not mean that a place will eventually become available at the preferred school.
Children who are subject of a direction by local authority appeals panels or Secretary of State to admit, or who are allocated to a school in accordance with the fair access protocol, will take precedence over those on the waiting list.
Late applications
Preferences received after the closing date will be considered alongside those applicants who applied on time wherever possible. Where it is not practical because places have already been allocated, or are shortly to be allocated, then late preferences will be considered only after those that were made before this point. A late application does not affect the right of appeal or the right to be placed on a school’s waiting list.
Appeal Process
You have the right of appeal under the School Standards & Framework Act 1998 against the refusal of a place at any of the schools for which you have applied. If you wish to appeal, you must contact the school, within a few days of receiving the refusal, to obtain the procedure and the date by which an appeal must be received by them. The appeal will be conducted by an independent appeal panel.
The arrangements for appeals will comply with the School Admission Appeals Code published by the Department for Education as it applies to Academy schools. The determination of the appeal panel is binding on all parties
Fair Access Protocol
The school complies with Staffordshire County Council’s Fair Access Protocol to allocate places to vulnerable and other children in accordance with the School Admissions Code 2021. Admitting pupils under the protocol may require the school to admit above the planned admission number for the relevant year group. Students included in the Fair Access Protocol will take precedence over those held on the waiting list.
Repeat applications
Parents do not have the right to a second appeal in respect of the same school for the same academic year unless, in exceptional circumstances, the local authority has accepted a second application from the appellant because of a significant and material change in the circumstances of the parent, child or school but still refused admission.
Admission Outside of the Normal Age Group
Parents may seek to apply for their child’s admission to school outside of their normal age group, for example if the child is exceptionally gifted and talented or has experienced problems such as ill health. 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.
In-Year Admissions Arrangements
Parents or carers seeking to be admitted to Moorside High School may make an application directly to Moorside using the appropriate application form. This application will be processed in line with the procedure outlined in the determined admission arrangements.
Parents and carers need to be aware that in the case of transfers between local schools, any date set for joining the new school may be after the next term or half term holiday and those parents/carers are responsible for ensuring that their child continues to receive appropriate education in the interim.
Parents moving to the area, or those who wish to move their child to the school, should contact the school directly and email us your proof of address:
- We need 2 documents showing your current address. At least one of them needs to be a council tax bill, utility bill, solicitor’s letter upon completion (exchange of contracts not accepted) or a signed tenancy agreement.
- If you're moving, we also need proof of your new address. This should be either a tenancy agreement showing the start date of the tenancy or a solicitor’s letter confirming the completion date.
We won't use the new address until we have proof that the child is living there permanently. If you're moving to a rented property, send us evidence that you've sold or are in the process of selling your current property, or that your current lease agreement has ended.
Principles underpinning this policy
This policy may be amended in writing at any time by agreement between the Secretary of State and Moorside High School.
The Academy will act in accordance with, and will ensure that the Independent Appeal Panel is trained to act in accordance with, all relevant provisions of the School Admissions Code and the School Admission Appeals Code published by the Department Education (“the Codes”) as they apply at any given time to maintained schools and with equalities law and the law on admissions as they apply to maintained schools.
The Academy will take part in the Admissions Forum set up by the LA and have regard to its advise; and will participate in the co-ordinated admission arrangements operated by the LA and the local in year fair access protocol.