Landau Forte Academy, Amington

Consultation 2027/2028

2025/2026 & 2026/2027

Consultation on admission arrangements 2027/2028

Introduction

Landau Forte Academy Amington is committed to serving its local community and ensuring that our admissions arrangements are fair, transparent and aligned with the needs of local children and families.

As part of this commitment, the academy is consulting on a proposed change to its oversubscription criteria for admission in September 2027. This consultation is being carried out in accordance with the School Admissions Code and provides an opportunity for parents, carers and stakeholders to comment on the proposed arrangements.

Our Commitment to the Local Community

Landau Forte Academy Amington is a non-selective 11–16 academy that serves the Amington and wider Tamworth community. We work closely with local families and partner schools to ensure continuity, stability and high-quality educational provision.

A key part of this work is our close partnership with Landau Forte Greenacres, our linked primary school. Through shared values, curriculum alignment and strong pastoral collaboration, we support smooth and successful transitions for pupils moving from primary to secondary education.

Rationale for the Proposed Change

The proposed changes to the oversubscription criteria are intended to ensure that our admissions arrangements:

• Reflect our role as a school serving its immediate local community
• Promote fairness, transparency and clarity for families
• Prioritise children and families who live closest to the academy
• Strengthen continuity for pupils transferring from Landau Forte Greenacres

Historically, the academy has used an old catchment area as part of its oversubscription criteria. However, this catchment area does not represent an equidistant radius from the academy and, in practice, can disadvantage some children who live closer to the school while prioritising others who live further away.

The academy believes that this approach no longer reflects the most equitable way of allocating places.

Why the Catchment Area Is Being Removed

As part of this consultation, the academy is proposing to remove the catchment area priority entirely and to rely instead on a clear and objective distance-based criterion.

This change is intended to:

• Ensure that places are allocated in a way that is geographically fair
• Provide greater clarity and consistency for families
• Better reflect the academy’s commitment to serving children and families who live closest to the school
• Remove reliance on historical boundaries that no longer reflect local patterns of residence or travel

Distance will continue to be measured by straight-line measurement, as determined by the Local Authority School Admissions Team, ensuring consistency and transparency.

What Is Changing?

The consultation proposes the following changes:

• Removal of the old Woodhouse catchment area as an oversubscription criterion
• Introduction of a priority for pupils transferring from Landau Forte Greenacres
• Continued use of distance from the academy as a key criterion once higher priorities are applied

The following remain unchanged:

Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan naming the academy will be admitted first

• Highest priority for looked after and previously looked after children
• Priority for siblings of pupils attending the academy
• The Published Admission Number (PAN)

Our Commitment to Fairness and Inclusion

These proposed changes reflect the academy’s strong and improving educational outcomes and our responsibility to ensure that access to the academy is fair, inclusive and transparent.

By prioritising proximity to the school and continuity of education, the academy seeks to ensure that children and families who live closest to Landau Forte Academy Amington are not disadvantaged by historic arrangements and that admissions decisions are made using clear, objective and easily understood criteria. 

Consultation Period and How to Respond

The consultation is open until 31 January 2026.

All feedback should be submitted by email to:

 post@lfata.org.uk

All responses received by the closing date will be carefully considered before any final determination is made by the academy’s governing body and trustees.

Proposed admission arrangements 2027/2028

Admission Number

The school has an agreed admission number of 192 pupils for entry in Year 7.

Oversubscription Criteria

All children whose statement of special educational needs (SEN) or education, health and care (EHC) plan names the school will be admitted before any other places are allocated.

If the school is not oversubscribed, all applicants will be offered a place.

In the event that the school receives more applications than the number of places it has available, places will be given to those children who meet any of the criteria set out below, in order until all places are filled.

1. Highest priority will be given to looked after children and all previously looked after children who apply for a place at the school including those children who appear (to the admission authority) to have been in state care outside England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.

2. Priority will next be given to those children applying from Landau Forte Greenacres.

3. Priority will next be given to children with siblings in attendance at the school and who will still be attending at the proposed admission date. Siblings include step siblings, foster siblings, adopted siblings and other children living permanently at the same address. Priority will not be given to children with siblings who are former pupils of the school.

4. Priority will then be determined by how near home addresses are to the main gate of the school. This will be a straight line measurement as determined by the Local Authority School Admissions Team.

Where it is not possible to accommodate all pupils applying for places within a particular category then places will be allocated in accordance with the remaining criteria. 

Tie break

In the case of 2 or more applications that cannot be separated by the oversubscription criteria outlined above, the school will use the distance between the school and a child’s home as a tiebreaker to decide between applicants. Priority will be given to children who live closest to the school. Distance will be measured in a straight line from the child’s home address to the school’s front gates on Woodland Road. A child’s home address will be considered to be where he/she is resident for the majority of nights in a normal school week.

In-year admissions

You can apply for a place for your child at any time outside the normal admissions round. As is the case in the normal admissions round, all children whose statement of SEN or EHC plan names the school will be admitted.

Likewise, if there are spaces available in the year group you are applying for, your child will always be offered a place.

If there are no spaces available at the time of your application, your child’s name will be added to a waiting list for the relevant year group. When a space becomes available it will be filled by one of the pupils on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria listed in section 6.2 of this policy. Priority will not be given to children on the basis that they have been on the waiting list the longest.

Applications for in-year admissions should be sent to the Admissions Officer at the Landau Forte Academy Amington.

Appeals

If your child’s application for a place at the school is unsuccessful, you will be informed why admission was refused and given information about the process for hearing appeals. If you wish to appeal, you must set out the grounds for your appeal in writing and send it to the Local Authority School Admissions Appeal Team.

Requests for Admission outside the normal age group

Parents are entitled to request a place for their child outside their normal age group.

Decisions on requests for admission outside the normal age group will be made on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. In accordance with the School Admissions Code, this will include taking account of:

• parents’ 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
• whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely
• the Principal’s views

Wherever possible, requests for admission outside a child’s normal age group will be processed as part of the main admissions round. They will be considered on the basis of the admission arrangements laid out in this policy, including the oversubscription criteria listed in section 6. Applications will not be treated as a lower priority if parents have made a request for a child to be admitted outside the normal age group.

Parents will always be informed of the reasons for any decision on the year group a child should be admitted to. Parents do not have a right to appeal if they are offered a place at the school but it is not in their preferred age group. 

Admission arrangements 2026/2027 2025/2026

Admission Number

The school has an agreed admission number of 192 pupils for entry in Year 7.

Oversubscription Criteria

All children whose statement of special educational needs (SEN) or education, health and care (EHC) plan names the school will be admitted before any other places are allocated.

If the school is not oversubscribed, all applicants will be offered a place.

In the event that the school receives more applications than the number of places it has available, places will be given to those children who meet any of the criteria set out below, in order until all places are filled.

1. Highest priority will be given to looked after children and all previously looked after children who apply for a place at the school including those children who appear (to the admission authority) to have been in state care outside England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.

2. Priority next will be given to children who live within the old Woodhouse catchment area.

3. Priority will next be given to children with siblings in attendance at the school and who will still be attending at the proposed admission date. Siblings include step siblings, foster siblings, adopted siblings and other children living permanently at the same address. Priority will not be given to children with siblings who are former pupils of the school.

4. Priority will then be determined by how near home addresses are to the main gate of the school. This will be a straight line measurement as determined by the Local Authority School Admissions Team.

Where it is not possible to accommodate all pupils applying for places within a particular category then places will be allocated 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.

Tie break

In the case of 2 or more applications that cannot be separated by the oversubscription criteria outlined above, the school will use the distance between the school and a child’s home as a tiebreaker to decide between applicants. Priority will be given to children who live closest to the school. Distance will be measured in a straight line from the child’s home address to the school’s front gates on Woodland Road. A child’s home address will be considered to be where he/she is resident for the majority of nights in a normal school week.

In-year admissions

You can apply for a place for your child at any time outside the normal admissions round. As is the case in the normal admissions round, all children whose statement of SEN or EHC plan names the school will be admitted.

Likewise, if there are spaces available in the year group you are applying for, your child will always be offered a place.

If there are no spaces available at the time of your application, your child’s name will be added to a waiting list for the relevant year group. When a space becomes available it will be filled by one of the pupils on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria listed in section 6.2 of this policy. Priority will not be given to children on the basis that they have been on the waiting list the longest.

Applications for in-year admissions should be sent to the Admissions Officer at the Landau Forte Academy Amington.

Appeals

If your child’s application for a place at the school is unsuccessful, you will be informed why admission was refused and given information about the process for hearing appeals. If you wish to appeal, you must set out the grounds for your appeal in writing and send it to the Local Authority School Admissions Appeal Team.

Requests for Admission outside the normal age group

Parents are entitled to request a place for their child outside their normal age group.

Decisions on requests for admission outside the normal age group will be made on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. In accordance with the School Admissions Code, this will include taking account of:

• parents’ 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
• whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely
• the Principal’s views

Wherever possible, requests for admission outside a child’s normal age group will be processed as part of the main admissions round. They will be considered on the basis of the admission arrangements laid out in this policy, including the oversubscription criteria listed in section 6. Applications will not be treated as a lower priority if parents have made a request for a child to be admitted outside the normal age group.

Parents will always be informed of the reasons for any decision on the year group a child should be admitted to. Parents do not have a right to appeal if they are offered a place at the school but it is not in their preferred age group.