Primary School Admissions 2025 Information for parents / carers

Introduction

The Board of Directors of All Saints’ Academies Trust is the Admissions Authority for Cleadon Church of England Academy, with responsibility for decision making and application of the policy delegated to the Local Academy Council. The Local Academy Council intends to admit up to sixty pupils to the reception year group in September 2024. This arrangement follows consultation between the Board of Directors, the Local Academy Council, the Local Authority, all other schools in the area and all other Admission Authorities in the area. The Academy participates in the Local Authority Co-ordinated Admissions Scheme.

Children who have a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an Education Health Care Plan which name our academy will be admitted to the academy.

The academy is open to receive applications for admissions from the parents of all children. Parents (see note 1) wishing to apply for the Reception Year in September must complete the common application form provided by their home local authority (the home LA). This form much be completed even if your child attends the Academy Nursery. The home LA is the LA in whose area the parents live at the time of the application. The form must be returned to that LA no later than the date set by the Local Authority. Applications received after this date will normally only be considered after all those received on or before the cut-off date. Offers and refusals of places will be posted by the home LA.

Where there are insufficient places available to meet all parental preferences the governing body operate an equal preference system which means applications will be considered according to the following criteria regardless of any indicated preference ranking.

Oversubscription Criteria

1. “Looked-after children and children who were previously looked after, but ceased to be so because, immediately after being looked after, they became subject to an adoption, child arrangements or special guardianship order (see note 2) including children previously in state care outside of England who have ceased to be in that state care as a result of being adopted (see note 3)
2. Children who have an older sibling attending the academy at the time of their admission. Sibling refers to brother or sister, half brother or sister, adopted brother or sister, step brother or sister, or the child of the parent / carer’s partner where the child for whom the academy place is sought is living in the same family unit at the same address as the sibling.
3. Parental home residence within the defined catchment area of the academy.
4. Other children

Tie Breaker

Where there are places available for some but not all applicants within a particular criterion, distance from the centre of the parental home address (including flats) to the main entrance of the academy will be the deciding factor. This will be measured in a straight line using the Local Authority Geographical Information System (GIS) with those living closer receiving higher priority. In the event that two distance measurements are identical, the school will use random allocation to decide which child should be offered the place. The process will be conducted in the presence of a person independent of the school.

Waiting List

Any waiting list required will, in accordance with the Co-ordinated Admission Scheme be held by the LA for one school term i.e. until end of Autumn term 2025.

Subsequently, an in-year admissions waiting list will be maintained by the academy. The waiting list held by the Local Authority for places in the Reception year group will be transferred to the academy in December. All new applications received will be added to the in-year admissions waiting list in accordance with the position determined by the admissions criteria. This position is not dependent on time; the academy has no discretion to give priority outside the criteria.

In-year admissions waiting list positions are subject to change; applicants can move up and down the waiting list as vacancies arise.

A place can only be offered from the waiting list once a child is at the top of the waiting list and a vacancy is formally declared by the academy. There is no way to predict when an offer may be made as this is dependent on current pupils in the academy leaving, which is not known in advance.

Names on the waiting list will remain live until 31 July each year when the waiting list will be cancelled. Parents who wish their child’s name to be included on the waiting list for the following academic year should follow the procedure for an in-year transfer. Please contact the academy in July to confirm this.

Right of Appeal

If you are not successful in obtaining a place for your child at our academy, you have a statutory right of appeal.

Proof of Address

Where we receive more applications than places available you will be asked to provide proof of residency within the catchment area of the academy.

Multiple births

In cases where there is one place available, and the next child on the list is a twin, triplet, etc., we would admit both twins (and all the children in the case of other multiple births) even if this meant exceeding the agreed admission number for Reception or the number of places in other year groups in the relevant admission year.

Admission of children below compulsory school age and deferred entry to school

The School Admissions Code requires school admission authorities to provide for the admission of all children in the September following their fourth birthday. However, a child is not required to start school until they have reached compulsory school age following their fifth birthday. For summer born children (those born after 1 April) this can sometimes be almost a full school year after the point at which they could first be admitted.

Some parents may feel that their child is not ready to start school in the September following their fourth birthday. Parents are entitled to request in writing that:

• their child attends part-time until they reach compulsory school age, or
• that the date their child is admitted to school is deferred until later in the same academic year or until the term in which the child reaches compulsory school age. The school will hold any deferred place for the child, although, in the majority of cases, we find that children benefit from starting at the beginning of the school year, rather than part way through it.
• that the date their child is admitted to school is deferred until the term after the child reaches compulsory school age.

The child must, however, start school full-time in the term after their fifth birthday.

If parents of summer born children wish to defer entry as outlined above and wish them to be admitted to the Reception Year in the term following their fifth birthday, rather than Year 1, then parents should apply at the usual time for a place in September of the current academic year together with a written request that the child is admitted outside of his or her normal age group to the Reception Year in September the following year providing supporting reasons for seeking a place outside of the normal age group. This should be discussed with the Head Teacher as soon as possible.

If their request is agreed, and this should be clear before the national offer day, their application for the normal age group may be withdrawn before any place is offered and they should reapply in the normal way for a Reception place in the following year.

If their request is refused, the parents must decide whether to wait for any offer of a place in the current academic year (NB it will still be subject to the oversubscription criteria in this policy) or to withdraw their application and apply for a Year 1 place the following year. Parents should be aware that the Year 1 group may have no vacancies as it could be full with children transferring from the previous Reception Year group.

Further information and advice on the admission of summer born children is available from school.admissions@southtyneside.gov.uk or from the Department for Education.

Appeal where application is made outside of age range

Requests from parents for places outside a normal age group will be considered carefully e.g. for those who have missed education due to ill health. Each case will be considered on its own merits and circumstances. However, such admissions will not normally be agreed without a consensus that to do so would be in the pupil’s interests. It is recommended that parents discuss their wishes with the head teacher in advance of applying for a place. The governors may ask relevant professionals for their opinion on the case. It should be noted that if a place in the requested age group is refused, but one in the normal age group is offered then there is no right of appeal.

Appeals Procedure

1. This note provides further information on the appeal procedures and the following paragraphs indicate the action you should take if you wish to appeal. If, at any stage, you decide not to pursue the matter, I should be grateful if you would inform the Corporate Director of Children, Adults and Families, Town Hall and Civic Offices, Westoe Rd, South Shields.
2. An Appeal Committee is empowered to consider appeals from parents who are not satisfied with the Academy’s response to their expressed preferences. The Appeal Committee is independent of the Governing Body of the Academy and the decisions of the Appeal Committee are binding on the Academy. Equally, the decision of the Appeal Committee is final, subject to a review by the Secretary of State for Education and Employment or the High Court, in either case this would occur only in the most exceptional circumstances. All appeals are heard in private.
3. An appeal should be made in writing on the form attached, stating the grounds for the appeal. The Appeal Committee will have the original reasons for your preference so there is no need to repeat these on the form. You can, however, use the form to add to your original reasons, if you so wish.
   
   If you decide to use any medical reasons in support of your appeal, it is helpful if any medical certificates, a letter from your doctor, or any other document in support of your appeal can be included with your appeal form when you send it to the address shown below.
   
   Parents are encouraged to attend Appeal Committee hearings and if they do, they will have the opportunity to speak and, at the discretion of the Committee, be accompanied by a friend or be represented by an adviser. The friend or adviser can be a Choice Adviser, a locally elected politician or a Council employee such as an educational social worker provided that this will not lead to a conflict of interest.
   
   If a parent does not attend the hearing, the appeal will be decided by the committee on the basis of the information on the written statements including the appeal form. If parents, who have said they will attend, do not, and there is no reasonable explanation, the appeal will be decided on the information available to the Committee at the time fixed for the appeal.
4. If you wish your appeal to be considered by the Appeal Committee, you should complete the Appeal form and return it to the School Office within 20 days of receipt of the appeal forms, from whom further advice can be obtained on the arrangements for the hearing. If no reply is received within 20 days, it will be assumed that you do not wish to pursue the matter. If appeal papers are submitted during a school holiday, they should be returned to Corporate Director of Children, Adults and Families, Town Hall and Civic Offices, Westoe Road, South Shields.
5. As explained earlier, the decision of the Appeal Committee is final and binding on the Academy. The decision and the grounds on which it is made will be communicated to you in writing by the Clerk to the Appeal Committee, as soon as possible after the hearing.
6. If you are unhappy about the Panel’s decision there is no right of appeal to the Secretary of State for Education, but you are entitled to write to the Secretary of State about any aspect of your child’s education. The Local Government Ombudsman can investigate written complaints about maladministration on the part of an Admission Appeals Panel. This is not a right of appeal and has to relate to issues such as failure to follow correct procedures or failure to act independently, rather than just the person making the complaint thinks the decision is wrong.
7. You cannot appeal again until the next academic year unless there has been a major change in circumstances of the parent, child or academy since the original application, e.g. you have changed your address.

Mr. P. Bowens
Chair of the Board of Directors

Note 1: “Parent” is defined in law (The Education Act 1996) as either:

• any person who has ‘parental responsibility’ (defined in the Children Act 1989) for the child or young person; or
• any person who has care of the child or young person.

If you are in any doubt, please contact the school for advice.

Note 2: By a “looked-after child” we mean one in the care of a local authority or being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of its social services function. An adoption order is one made under the Adoption Act 1976 (Section 12) or the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (Section 46). A ‘child arrangements order is one settling the arrangements to be made as to the person with whom the child is to live (Children Act 1989, Section 8, as amended by the Children and Families Act 2014, Section 14). A ‘special guardianship order’ is one appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian/s (Children Act 1989, Section 14A). Applications under this criterion must be accompanied by evidence to show that the child is looked after or was previously looked after (e.g. a copy of the adoption, child arrangements or special guardianship order).

Note 3: Children previously in state care outside of England means children who have been looked after outside of England by a public authority, a religious organisation or another provider of care whose sole purpose is to benefit society. The care may have been provided in orphanages or other settings. In the case of children adopted from state care overseas, the admissions authority will require evidence that a child is eligible by asking the child’s parents or carers for appropriate evidence of their previously looked-after status.

Map showing the catchment area for Cleadon Church of England Academy

The catchment area for Cleadon Church of England Academy includes the following streets;

• Ashleigh Gardens
• Boldon Lane (Cleadon)
• Broadland
• Burdon Close
• Burdon Crescent
• Burdon Road
• Buttermere
• Bywell Road
• Celtic Close
• Celtic Crescent
• Charlton Grove
• Cleadon Lane
• Cleadon Lea
• Cleadon Meadows
• Cleadon Old Hall
• Cottage Gardens
• Dene Lane
• East Boldon Road
• East Drive
• East Farm Cottage
• Elmsleigh Gardens
• Farm Hill Road
• Fern Drive
• Foxton Court
• Front Street (Cleadon)
• Garden Lane (Cleadon)
• Grasmere
• Grosvenor Drive (Cleadon)
• Heather Close
• High Sandgrove
• Kelvin Grove (Cleadon)
• Laburnum Grove (Cleadon)
• Lilac Gardens
• Low Meadow
• Marsden Road (Cleadon)
• Marsham Close
• Mayfield Drive
• Meadowfield Drive
• Moor Lane (Cleadon)
• Moorfield Gardens
• North Drive (Cleadon)
• North Street (Cleadon)
• Nursery Lane
• Oakleigh Gardens
• Old Course Road
• Paddock Close
• Pinfold Court (Cleadon)
• Sandgrove
• Saxon Close
• South Drive (Cleadon)
• Southend
• Sunview Terrace
• Sunderland Road (Cleadon)
• Sunniside Lane
• Sunniside Leigh
• Sunniside Terrace
• The Close
• The Crescent (Cleadon)
• Thirlmere
• Thornleigh Gardens
• Trevor Grove
• Underhill Road
• West Drive
• West Farm Road
• West Meadows Drive
• West Meadows Road
• West Moor Drive
• West Park Road (Cleadon)
• Whitburn Road
• Whitburn Road East
• Windermere
• Windsor Drive
• Woodlands Drive
• Woodlands Road
• Woodlands View