Admissions

Where there are more children in one particular criterion than the number of places available, places will be allocated to the children whose home address is nearest the school. The distance will be measured in a straight line using LLPG information to measure the distance between the address point of the child’s home address and the centre of the school in miles. Those children whose home address is closest to the school will be those who get priority for places.

No child can automatically transfer from nursery to a reception class. Where a school has more applications than places available in the reception class, they must be allocated using the published admission criteria. Children who have attended the nursery will be considered on the same basis as those who have not.

In Salford, children who would be eligible for this criterion are those who are at level 3 and have ongoing social worker involvement, and all at level four on the ‘Thresholds of needs and response in Salford’. For children resident in other local authorities, contact will be made with the child’s social worker to confirm that the child’s level of need falls within these boundaries of the Salford thresholds. Salford LA must have confirmation of an applicant’s level of need from an appropriate professional before they will be considered under this criterion.

Applicants under this criterion will be required to submit a medical form completed by an appropriate medical professional. Forms are available from the school admissions team. These forms will be placed before the medical panel, consisting of a consultant pediatrician, school health lead nurse, educational psychologist and two headteachers. The medical panel will consider all applications under this criterion and whether attendance at the preferred school is essential based on the child’s medical condition. Attendance will be deemed essential by the panel where, due to the child’s medical needs, the location of the school, the school building, or the support it is able to offer the child is unique in meeting the child’s needs and cannot be provided by another school. Parents will be informed of the panel’s decision before places are allocated, so that where necessary they may change their preference schools.

Children considered as having a medical need to attend a school may include children with significant special educational needs, but without a statement or education, health and care plan, who require a carefully planned transition into school. These children will still be required to provide evidence to be considered by the medical panel as above.

If there is a situation where only one place is available and the next children to be offered are siblings of a multiple birth, all the siblings will be offered places.

Priority for places will be given to children resident within the local authority of Salford. This includes all children whose parents pay their council tax to Salford City Council. If places are still available, then these will then be given to children outside of the local authority of Salford (whose parents pay council tax to another local authority/council).

Salford City Council’s policy states that parent/carers will not be allowed to take two part-time nursery places for their child, thus limiting the number of places available.

Some schools allocate full and part-time places in the nursery class. This decision is the responsibility of the governing body who should be able to justify to a parent the reason for the decision, ie full-time places are given to the older pupils first.

No places will be allocated in nursery classes to children who have not reached the age of three by 1 September in the admission year.

Please note at present, all Nursery places at Brentnall are full time following the settling in period in September. We aim, wherever possible, to have all children in school full time by the end of the full 3rd week.

The child’s home address is considered to be the child’s parent/carer(s) place of residence, that is to say, where they are normally and regularly living. If parents are separated and the child spends time at each parents’ address, the address which will be used for admission to schools is that of the main carer. The main carer is determined as the parent who is in receipt of child benefit. If a child is resident with friends or relatives for reasons other than guardianship, the friend or relative’s address will not be considered.

The authority may at its discretion consider as genuine a child’s temporary address where, for example, the child is living with his/her parent/carer(s) in temporary accommodation due, for example, to their parent/carer(s) working commitments, whilst they are seeking a permanent address in the same area. If the parent/carer(s) main address has changed temporarily, for example where a parent/carer resides with extended family during a period of sickness or takes up temporary accommodation due to building or renovation work, then the parent/carer(s) address remains that at which the parent/carer(s) was resident before the temporary residence began.

Any permanent change in address must be notified in writing or by email to the admissions team as soon as possible. Where a change of address occurs after the closing date and before the offer date, the local authority will consider a change of preferences to be on-time only where the change of address is over two miles from the previous address (measured from address point to address point in a straight line). Where the change of address is under two miles any changes of preference will be considered as a late application.

Children who are not offered a place at their preferred school will be placed on the school’s waiting list. The waiting list will be maintained only for the statutory period (until 31 December). Should any places become available they will be allocated in accordance with Salford local authority’s published admission criteria. After 31 December, if a parent wishes their child to remain on a waiting list for a school, they will need to reapply for a place using the procedure for in-year admissions.

Children who come under the fair access protocol will take precedence over those on the waiting list.