Admissions Information 2024-2025

CALVERLEY CHURCH OF ENGLAND VOLUNTARY AIDED PRIMARY SCHOOL

Calverley
Leeds
LS28 5NF

0113 257 5127

ADMISSIONS POLICY 2024- 2025

The Governing Body of Calverley Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School is the Admissions Authority for the school, not the Local Authority in Leeds.

School Vision and Ethos 

Following the teachings of Jesus, we challenge and support all members of our community to love one-another, make the most of their God-given gifts and care for everyone in friendship. Allowing all to flourish; enabling heart, mind and spirit to soar. “I can do all this through Christ who gives me strength.” 

Love, Learn, Care.

(Philippians 4:13)

We welcome equally, applications from parents of the Christian faith, of other faiths and of no faith. We ask all parents applying for a place here to respect our distinctive Christian ethos and its importance to the school community.

The planned admissions number (PAN) for admission to the reception class in the school year commencing September 2024 will be a maximum of 60. By law, no infant class may normally contain more than thirty children. The Governing Body will not place any restrictions on admissions to Reception Class unless the number of children for whom admission is sought exceeds the number of places available. 

Making an application

Applications for children starting school in the Reception Class must be completed on the standard Local Authority application form - Common Preference Form (CPF). The CPF is available from online via the Local Authority’s website.  A Supplementary Information Form (SIF) which asks about Church attendance is available from the school. If you want your application to be considered under over subscription criterion 4 and the SIF is not received Governors can only rank applications against the information provided on the CPF.

If you are applying for a place under the faith oversubscription criteria, you will need to return a Supplementary Information Form (SIF) so Governors can verify your Church attendance meets the faith criteria in this policy.

The SIF is attached to this policy and is available from the school.  It must be returned to the school by 15 January. If you do not return a completed SIF to the school or it is returned after 15 January, your application cannot be considered under the faith based over subscription criterion for offers made on national offer day (April).

It is a parental responsibility to ensure that all relevant forms are completed online and returned by the above date.

Late Applications

Late Applications of either the CPF or the SIF received after the closing date of 15 January 2024 will not be dealt with until after all on time applications have been dealt with.

Applications made after midnight on that date will be considered after all on-time applications have been fully processed unless exceptional circumstances merit consideration alongside on-time applications, in which case a letter/e-mail should be sent into school explaining the nature of the exceptional circumstances and should be addressed for the attention of the Governing Body Admissions Committee.

Admission procedures

We do not know what preference number you have given our school. If our school has more applications than places (called being oversubscribed) we will give children priority for places in the following order:

The Oversubscription Criteria:

1. Pupils who are either currently or have previously been ‘looked after’ (see note 4)
2. Children who will have a sibling on the roll of the school at the proposed date of           admission. (See note 5)
3. Children who reside within the 2014 parish boundary of St Wilfrid’s Church, Calverley.  A map of the parish boundary is attached to the policy as Appendix 1 (See note 1 and 3)
4. Children who regularly attend worship at St Wilfrid’s Church, Calverley or Calverley Methodist Church. (See note 6) 
5. Any other children

Tie breaker 1

If there are more applications in a particular criterion than the number of places available, the remaining places will be offered to the children whose permanent address is nearest to school.  The distance measurement will be made using the Local Authority’s electronic mapping service.

Tie breaker 2

In the unlikely event there are insufficient places for two (or more) pupils living in the same building (e.g. flats) or otherwise equidistant from the school, then any final place will be allocated by the drawing of lots.

When your child must start at school (compulsory school age)

All children can start Reception in the September after they turn four and most children thrive when starting school at age four. If you do not think your child will be ready by then, you can speak to us about whether your child would benefit from starting part time, or after Christmas or Easter break.

You must ensure your child has a full time education from when they reach compulsory school age. Your child reaches this on 31 December, 31 March or 31 August after their fifth birthday (whichever comes first).

If you have been offered a reception school place at our school, the latest your child can start with us is when they become compulsory school age, or after the Easter break.

Admission out of chronological age (including deferment for summer born children)

You can ask for your child to be admitted outside of their normal age group, for example if your child is gifted and talented or has experienced problems such as ill health.

In addition, if your child is summer born child (born between 1 April and 31 August) you may request that your child be admitted out of their normal age group, to reception rather than year one. We recommended you:

•           talk to any professionals involved with your child about your request

•           contact us (and any other schools you are considering applying for) to understand what we do to meet the needs of our youngest children

•           read the Department for Education guidance on Summer born children

You still need to apply for a place in their normal age group, in case you don't get permission. You must apply by any deadline date, and we recommend you send the request to each school you intend to apply for, as it is possible for one school to refuse a request that another school agrees.

To apply, you must send to us a written request that explains:

•           why admission out of normal year group is being requested

•           the year group you wish your child to be allocated a place

If you have it, you can also attach any available evidence that supports your request.

Our Governing Body will consider each application individually and make a decision on the basis of the circumstances of the case and in the best interests of the child concerned.

This request is separate to any decision about offering a place at our school. There is no right of appeal against a decision relating to admission out of chronological age. All decisions about offering places are made by applying the admission policy oversubscription criteria to the child’s application. Find out more about starting Reception earlier, later or part time.

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS

In line with the requirements of Section 324 of the Education Act 1996 or the Children's and Families Act 2014, school will admit children with EHCP (Education and Health Care Plan), or statements of special educational needs in which Calverley Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School is named on the statement. This is not part of the oversubscription criteria.

Fraudulent applications

Where the Admissions Authority has made an offer of a place at a school based on fraudulent or intentionally misleading information, which has effectively denied a place to a child with a higher right of admission, the admissions authority will withdraw the offer of a place. If the Admissions Authority withdraws an offer of a place, you will be offered an alternative school place by the Local Authority and notified of your right to appeal to an independent appeal panel. The details of which are provided below under the Appeals section.

Fraudulent or intentionally misleading information includes, but is not limited to, a false home address, including cases where parents take out a short term let or buy a property solely to use its address on the application form without any intention of taking up permanent residence there. In fairness to all parents, all allegations of fraudulent practice brought to the Governing Board’s attention will be investigated.

Waiting lists

Where an application has been unsuccessful parents/guardians may request that the child’s name is added to the waiting list. The waiting list will be maintained until the end of the last school day of the school year for which application was made.

Any places that become available will be allocated according to the published oversubscription criteria of the admission arrangements with no account being taken of the length of time on the waiting list.

In accordance with the School Admissions Code as soon as school places become vacant the Governing Board must fill the vacancies from any waiting list, even if this is before admission appeals have been heard. Placing a child’s name on a waiting list does not affect a parent’s/guardian’s right of appeal against an unsuccessful application.

It should be noted that children, who are subject of direction by a Local Authority to admit or who are allocated in accordance with an In-Year Fair Access Protocol (The School Admission Code), must take precedence over those on a waiting list.

School will write to you if a place becomes available for your child and you will be asked to confirm if you wish to accept the place.

Appeals

Where the Governors are unable to offer a place because the school is oversubscribed, parents have the right to appeal to an independent admission appeal panel, set up under the School Standards and Framework Act, 1998, as amended by the Education Act, 2002. Parents, who intend to make an appeal against the Governing Body’s decision to refuse admission, must submit a written notice of appeal within twenty days of receiving the refusal letter or email to the School who will provide details of and forward the appeal to the relevant appeals authority.

Email address is: [email protected]

Calverley Church of England VA Primary School

Town Gate, Calverley, LS28 5NF

You will then be contacted by Clerk to the Independent Appeal Panel who will make arrangements for an appeal hearing.

Admissions outside the normal admissions round (In-year applications)

Our Governors have the responsibility for considering requests to join our school in-year, or for Reception after the start of the school year (1 September).   

To apply for a place, go to the Leeds application portal at www.leeds.gov.uk/moveschools to submit an online in-year application to Leeds City Council.  

If you are applying for a place under the faith oversubscription criteria, you will need to return a Supplementary Information Form (SIF) directly to our school so Governors can verify your Church attendance meets the faith criteria in this policy.

The Council will send the application on to all the school(s) you have applied for at the same time. Our school will decide whether we can offer a place and contact you with a decision. If we refuse to offer a place, we will confirm this in writing to you, explaining our reasons, and that you have the right of appeal.  We must give you a written decision within 15 school days.   

Your child will be added to our school’s waiting list automatically for that school year. Where any vacancy arises, places will be offered from the waiting list based on the oversubscription criteria within this policy. Find out more including any current vacancies in Leeds schools.  

Where a place can be offered, a start date will be confirmed by the school.

NOTES

1     Map

A map showing the Parish Boundary of St Wilfrid’s Church Calverley as at 7th November 2014, which is the boundary for the catchment area is attached to this policy as Appendix 1 and also available from the school.

2    Parents

 ‘Parents’ include all those people who have a parental responsibility for a child as set out in the Children Act 1989.

Only one parent can submit a school place application and we cannot resolve disputes between parents – only a family court can do this.

When you apply in the normal round, you are confirming you have the consent of all other persons to make the application. If we (or the local authority) receive two conflicting applications, both applications will be placed on hold (and school places may have to be offered to other applicants) until the local authority has received (either):

•           written evidence that everyone holding parental responsibility agrees the application

•           a Court Order specifying who should apply

Your home local authority may be required to allocate a place at the closest school to the child’s home with spaces remaining available if the child needs a school place offer.

3   Which address to use

When you apply you must use the child’s permanent address, where they usually live with their parent or carer - this is the address of a person holding parental responsibility for the child. You must not use any other address on your application.

Using the address of a childminder, a relative or renting a property for a short period of time in order to secure a school place is considered a fraudulent application. We will investigate all queries about addresses, and we could ask the local authority to change the school place offer.

If we find out that an intentionally misleading or false address has been given to get a school place, the school place may be withdrawn even if the child has already started at our school.

If the child lives in different properties (shared care)

Only one address can be used on your application for a school place, and this should be the parent address where the child lives for the majority of the week. In cases of equal shared care, both parents must agree which address will be used on the application.

For applications made in the normal round, if there is no agreement, the local authority will decide on our behalf which parent address will be used. This decision will be based on where the child spends the majority of the school week. If the child spends equal time with each parent, they will use the address where the child is registered with their doctor at the closing date.

4 A 'looked after child' or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order*including those 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. 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 (seethe definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989). *An adoption order is an order under the Adoption Act 1976 (see Section 12 adoption orders) children who were adopted under the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (see Section 46adoption orders). A ‘child arrangements order’ is an order settling the arrangements to be made as to the person with whom the child is to live under Section 8 of the Children Act 1989 as amended by Section 14 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Section 14A of the Children Act1989 defines a ‘special guardianship order’ as an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian (or special guardians).

5   The term ‘sibling’ is defined as:

• a full or half-brother or sister

• a stepbrother or sister

• an adoptive brother or sister

• the children of parents living together in the same family household.

Stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother and half-sister are defined as children who belong to only one parent living in the same family household. The governing body will, admit twins, triplets or children from other multiple births where at least one of those children is allocated a place at the school.

6    Regular Attendance at Christian Worship

This is defined as the attendance of the child at worship* at St Wilfrid’s Church Calverley or Calverley Methodist Church at least twice per month on average for the 12 months prior to the closing date of the application.

*Attendance at worship includes any Sunday and midweek church service and/or church crèche/Sunday School groups that include Christian teaching and worship, including Messy Church.

Attendance must be physical and does not include any on-line services.

In the event that during the period specified for attendance at worship the church has been closed for public worship and has not provided alternative premises for that worship, the requirements of these [admissions] arrangements in relation to attendance will only apply to the period when the church or alternative premises have been available for public worship.

If a disability or other ‘special needs’ circumstance prevents regular attendance at a specific place of worship but the person concerned is recognised by the church leaders as a ‘regular worshipper’ then this can be taken into consideration in your declaration and the verification of your “regular worship at a Christian Church”.

A ‘Supplementary Information Form’ (SIF) to provide confirmation of attendance at Christian worship is available from the school and attached to this policy. The form should be signed by the Vicar/Minister of one of the Churches above and returned to the school. During a vacancy, the form should be signed by a Churchwarden or Senior Steward.

It is the parent’s responsibility to ensure that the SIF is completed and returned to the school by the closing date for School Applications which is 15 January.

Appendix 1

    

Appendix 2

Request to start school out of chronological year group Application form (PDF available at the bottom of this page)

To be completed by parents/carers requesting their child starts school in the Reception class, a full year after their chronological age peers.

Note: If you wish your child to attend school part-time until they reach compulsory school age or start school later in the academic year, you should discuss your request with the school. You do not need to complete this form.  

CHILD DETAILS Full Name:   ____________________________________________________ Date of Birth:  ________________________ Gender:   Male/Female Address:  ______________________________________________________                 ______________________________________________________ Postcode:  _____________ Telephone number: _______________________ FAMILY/CARER DETAILS Parents/Carer’s Names:  ___________________________________________ Address (if different from above):  ___________________________________ ______________________________________________________________  Email:_________________________________________________________

 

Please describe why you feel a deferment out of chronological year group would support the needs of your child:

 

Please attach any supporting evidence from relevant professionals e.g. an early years professional, health care professional, educational psychologist or educational professional that you wish the Admissions Committee to consider.

Outline the additional evidence provided by the relevant professional/s to support the application: