Admissions Policy September 2024

Policy details

• Date reviewed - September 2023
• Policy owner - Mrs E. Clewlow

Purpose of this policy

This document serves to outline our admission arrangements related to admission of pupils to Florence MacWilliams Academy for September 2024 (academic year 2024-2025).

Introduction

Thank you for your interest in applying for a place at Florence MacWilliams Academy. Florence is a new non-selective secondary free school, for children of all abilities and from all backgrounds.  The school is located in Meir, in Stoke-on-Trent, and will open in September 2024 to its founding cohort of Year 7 children.  The school will grow year on year until it has students aged 11-19 by 2031.  

Florence is committed to ensuring that it serves local children from local schools. This policy sets out the admission arrangements for the academic year 2024/25. It applies to Year 7 applications for September 2024 as well as ‘in-year’ applications. It also includes details of the oversubscription criteria, waiting lists and the appeals process.  

Admissions number - Florence’s Published Admission (PAN) number for Year 7 - 120  

The school has an admission number of 120 for entry in Year 7. Accordingly, Florence MacWilliams Academy will admit this number of children if there are sufficient applications. Where fewer applicants than the published admission number for the relevant year group are received, Florence MacWilliams Academy will offer places at the school to all those who have applied.  

Application process 

Florence MacWilliams Academy is not included in Stoke-on-Trent local authority’s co-ordinated admissions process. This means that Florence MacWilliams Academy will directly process applications outside the normal co-ordinated admissions process. The application form can be completed directly via the school’s website www.florencemacwilliamsacademy.org.uk where a ‘click to apply for a school place’ feature can be found.  The closing date for applications is 31 December 2023. Offers will be made on 1 March 2024.  

Parents will also need to complete their local authority’s common application form for any other choice of school.  

Oversubscription criteria

If the number of applications received for any year group, or phase, is greater than the number of spaces available, places will be allocated according to the oversubscription criteria in the order below: The academy trust will admit any pupil with an Education, Health and Care plan which names Florence MacWilliams Academy.

1. Children looked after by a Local Authority (in accordance with section 22 of the Children Act 1989) and children who were previously looked after but ceased to be so because they were adopted or became subject to a child arrangements or special guardianship order. This includes those children who appear to the admission authority to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care because of being adopted.  

2. Siblings of pupils attending the secondary phase of the school at the time of admission. ‘Sibling’ means a natural brother or sister, a half brother or sister, a legally adopted brother or sister or half brother or sister, a stepbrother or sister, or other child living in the same household who, in any of these cases, will be living with them at the same address at the date of their entry to the school. Children residing in the same household as part of an extended family, such as cousins, will not be treated as siblings.  

3. Distance from home to school, where a child living closer to the school will be given priority for admission. Distance is measured using Geographic Information System known as GIS to identify and measure the distance in a straight line from the address point of an applicant’s home to the main entrance of Florence MacWilliams Academy.

Tie-break 

If Florence MacWilliams Academy is unable to distinguish between applicants using the published oversubscription criteria, including those who live in blocks of flats within the same building, places will be offered via a random draw, which will be supervised by someone independent of the academy.  

In the case of multiple births or siblings in the same year group, where there is only one place available in the academy, all will be considered together as one application.

Waiting list

Any child refused a place at the academy will automatically be put on a waiting list (unless a higher preference school has been offered already.) A waiting list will be maintained until the end of the academic year after which it will be cleared.  

The waiting list is maintained in the order of the oversubscription criteria only (not application date). This means that names can move down the list if, for example, someone moves into the area and is higher placed according to the oversubscription criteria.  

Parents/carers have the right to request that their child is removed from the waiting list at any time. Once removed, the child cannot be reinstated on the waiting list without submitting a new application.  

If a place becomes available it will be allocated to the first child on the waiting list, in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. If that offer is declined the place will be offered to the next child on the waiting list.

Unsuccessful Applications and the Appeals Process 

All applicants who have applied for a secondary place at the academy and been refused have a right to appeal that decision to an Independent Appeal Panel.  

Applicants will be informed in writing of the academy’s decision to refuse their application; this letter will include:  

• The reason a place was refused (e.g. no available places)

• Information about the waiting list  

• Information about the right to appeal  

• The deadline for submitting an appeal  

• Contact details for making an appeal

In-year admissions 

In-year admission applications made outside the normal admissions round should be made directly to Stoke-on-Trent local authority at the web address: www.stoke.gov.uk/info/20033/school_admissions. The Local Authority will then notify parents of the decision.