Admission Policy - 2023/24
ST GREGORY'S CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL
ADMISSION POLICY AND ARRANGEMENTS 2023/2024
ST GREGORY'S is a Catholic School under the trusteeship of the Archdiocese of Liverpool. It is maintained by Sefton Council. As a Voluntary Aided School, the Governing Body is the Admissions Authority and is responsible for taking decisions on applications for admissions. The co-ordination of admissions arrangements is undertaken by the Local Authority. For the school’s year commencing September 2023, the Governing Body has set its admissions number at 30.
Our principal role as a Catholic school is to participate in the mission of the Catholic Church by providing a framework which will help children to grow in their understanding of the Good News and in the practice of their faith. The school will help the children develop fully as human beings and prepare them to undertake their responsibilities as Catholic in society. The school asks all parents applying for a place here to respect this ethos and its importance to the school community. This does not affect the rights of parents who are not of the faith of this school to apply for and be considered for a place here.
ADMISSIONS TO THE SCHOOL will be determined by the Governing Body. Parents must complete a Local Authority Preference Form or apply online via the website www.sefton.gov.uk/admissions. If you wish to have your application considered against that school's faith/denomination criteria then you should ALSO complete the Supplementary Form which is available from the school. All preferences listed will be considered on an equal basis and, where there are more applications than the number of places available, the following set of OVERSUBSCRIPTION CRITERIA will be applied:
1. 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 (or became subject to a child arrangements order, or special
guardianship order).
2. Baptised Catholic children who have a sibling in the school at the time of admission.
3. Baptised Catholic children resident in the parishes of Our Lady’s, Lydiate and St Gregory the Great, Lydiate.
4. Other baptised Catholic children.
5. Other children who have a sibling in the school at the time of admission.
6. Children from other Christian denominations. Proof of Baptism in the form of a Baptismal Certificate or
confirmation in writing that the applicant is a member of their Faith community from an appropriate
Minister of Religion is required.
7. Children of other faiths. An appropriate Faith Leader would need to confirm in writing that the applicant is
a member of their faith group.
8. Other children.
If it is not possible to offer places for all applications within any criteria above then priority will be given to those living closest to the school measured by the shortest walking distance from the child’s home. We will measure from the property’s address point, to the nearest school gate (using recognised routes known to the Authority at the time of measurement). In the event of distances being the same for 2 or more applicants where this distance would be last place/s to be allocated, a random lottery will be carried out in a public place. All the names will be entered into a hat and the required number of names will be drawn out.
Children with a Statement of Special Educational Needs or Education Health Care Plan that names a school will be offered place without using the admission criteria and will count as part of the school’s published admission number.
Notes:
a. All applications submitted before the national closing date will be considered equally and included in the Local Authority initial allocation of school places. Applications received after the national closing date will be processed in accordance with the Sefton admissions schemes for primary and secondary schools detailed in the Sefton admissions information booklets.
b. A Looked After Child is a child who is (a) in the care of a Local Authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a Local Authority in the exercise of their Social Services functions (under section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989. A previously Looked After Child is one who immediately moved on from that status after becoming subject to an adoption, residence or special guardianship order.
c. For a child to be considered as a Catholic evidence of a Catholic Baptism is required. Baptism should take place before the closing date for applications.
A Baptised Catholic can also be defined as one who has been baptised by the Rites of Baptism of one of the various Churches in communion with the See of Rome (cf Catechism of the Catholic Church 1203). Written evidence of this baptism can be obtained by recourse to the Baptismal Registers of the church in which the baptism took place.
Or
A person who has been baptised in a separate ecclesial community and subsequently received into full communion with the Catholic Church by the Rite of Reception of Baptised Christians into the Full Communion of the Catholic Church. Written evidence of their reception into full communion with the Catholic Church can be obtained by recourse to the Register of Receptions, or in some cases a sub-section of the Baptismal Registers of the Church in which the Rite of Reception took place.
The Governing Body will require written evidence in the form of a Certificate of Reception before applications for school places can be considered for categories of ‘Baptised Catholics’. A Certificate of Reception is to include full name, date of birth, date of reception and parent(s) name(s). The certificate must also show that it is copied from the records kept by the place of reception.
Those who have difficulty obtaining written evidence of baptism for a good reason, may still be considered as baptised Catholics but only after they have been referred to the parish priest who after consulting with the Vicar General, will decide how the question of baptism is to be resolved and how written evidence is to be produced in accordance with the law of the Church.
d. Home Address is considered to be the address where the child normally lives. Where care is split and a child moves between two addresses, the household in receipt of the child benefit would normally be the address used but the admission body reserve the right to request other proofs as fit the individual circumstance. Applicants should not state a childminder’s or other relative’s address.
e. Sibling is defined in these arrangements as full, half or step brothers and sisters, adopted and foster brothers and sisters who are living at the same address and are part of the same family unit. This does not include cousins or other family relationships.
f. A waiting list for children who have not been offered a place will be kept and will be ranked according to the Admission Criteria. The waiting list does not consider the date the application was received or the length of time a child's name has been on the waiting list. This means that a child's position on the list may change if another applicant is refused a place and their child has higher priority in the admissions criteria. The waiting list will be retained until at least the end of December of the relevant year of the admissions process.
g. For ‘In Year’ applications received outside the normal admissions round, if places are available they will be offered to those who apply. If there are places available but more applicants than places then the published oversubscription criteria will be applied.
h.If an application for admission has been turned down by the Governing Body, parents can appeal to an Independent Appeals Panel. Parents must be allowed at least twenty school days from the date of notification that their application was unsuccessful to submit that appeal. Parents must give reasons for appealing in writing and the decision of the Appeals Panel is binding on the Governors.
i. The Governing Body reserve the right to withdraw the offer of a school place where false evidence is received in relation to the application.
j. It is the duty of governors to comply with regulations on class size limits at Foundation Stage and Key Stage One. The Governing Body may exceed the regulations for twins and children from multiple births where one of the children is the 30th child admitted. This also applies to in-year applicants who are looked after/previously looked after, children of UK service personnel or children who move into the area for whom there is no other school available within a reasonable distance.
k. If a child is a “summer born child”, parents can request that the date their child is admitted to school is deferred to later in the school year. However, the child has to start school before the end of that school year. If a parent wishes their child to be educated out of their normal school year (kept back a year), they must discuss this with the school before applying. However, the decision on this rests with the school (para 2.17 of the Admissions Code).
l. Parents may request that their child attend school part-time until he/she reaches his/her fifth birthday.
In Year Transfers
If you have recently arrived in Sefton or you are looking to move in to the Sefton area and you require a new school for your child(ren) you should refer to Sefton Council policy (In Year Admissions Policy) and read the Guide for parents before you submit an 'In Year' admission application form. You must complete one application form for each child for whom you are seeking a school place.
If you wish to transfer from one school to a Sefton school during the school year, for a reason other than a house move, you should refer to the policy and read the booklet 'In Year Schools Transfers' and complete the first part of the Transfer application form (T1).
Sefton Council will then notify school of an In Year transfer application and this will then be either authorised/unauthorised by the Headteacher and returned to Sefton Council. Sefton Council holds all waiting lists for Sefton schools.
Further details of In Year Transfers can be found on Sefton Council website on the following link
Nursery Admissions
Where the number of applications exceeds the number of places available the Governing Body will apply the following over-subscription criteria:
2. Baptised Catholic children living in the Parishes of St. Gregory’s and Our Lady’s Lydiate who are 4 within the school year with preference being given to the oldest children. Proof of Baptism in the form of a Baptismal Certificate is required.
3. Baptised Catholic Children who have a brother or sister at the school at the time of likely admission who are 3 within the
Autumn term with preference being given to the oldest children. This includes full, half or step-brothers and sisters, foster
brothers and sisters and children who are living at the same address and are part of the same family unit. Proof of Baptism
in the form of a Baptismal Certificate is required.
4. Baptised Catholic children living in the Parishes of St. Gregory’s and Our Lady’s Lydiate who are 3 within the Autumn term with preference being given to the oldest children. Proof of Baptism in the form of a Baptismal Certificate is required.
5. Baptised Catholic children from other Catholic Parishes. Proof of Baptism in the form of a Baptismal Certificate is required.
6. Children who are other than Catholic who have a brother or sister at the school at the time of likely admission. This includes full, half or step-brothers and sisters, foster brothers and sisters and children who are living at the same address and are part of the same family unit.
7. Children who are baptised in other Christian denominations. Proof of Baptism in the form of a Baptismal Certificate is required.
8. Children of other faiths. An appropriate Minister of Religion would need to confirm in writing that the applicant is a member of their faith group.
9. Children whose parents express a preference for a place at the school.
In the event of any over-subscription in the number of applications made under any of the categories above then the admissions committee will offer places first to children living nearest to the school measured by the shortest walking distance from the door of the house/flat to the front door of the school using public highways (except where an alternative methodology of measurement has been adopted by the Local Authority).