Determined Admission Arrangements for Co-op Academy Belle Vue

Admissions Policy 2024-25

The Co-operative Academies Trust (CAT) is the Admission Authority for the Co-op Academy Belle Vue and is therefore required to draft, consult on and determine their admission arrangements.

Where there are more applicants than places available the Academy will apply the admission arrangements in order to decide which applicants will be offered places. These admission arrangements apply to applicants seeking a place in year 7 and In Year. Applications.

Policy details

Date created - 04/07/2022

Date reviewed - October 2023

Next review date - 07/2024

Application Procedures

All parent/carers are required to apply to their home Local Authority (LA) regardless of where the school/academy they are applying is situated. Manchester residents will apply to Manchester LA. The LA will liaise with other Admission Authorities in Manchester and other LAs where required. Manchester LA will inform parents/carers in writing of the outcome of their application.

Applications should be made online at www.manchester.gov.uk/admissions alternatively, paper forms are available and can be requested by phone on 0161 245 7166. They should be returned to:

The Admissions Service Manchester City Council,

P.O. Box 532, Town Hall, Manchester, M60 2LA

Or school.admissions@manchester.gov.uk

Published Admission Numbers

A Published Admission Number (PAN) is the number of places a school/academy has in the year of entry. Places will normally only be offered up to the published admission number. A child cannot be refused admission to the normal year of entry on the grounds of prejudice to the provision of efficient education and efficient use of resources unless the published admission number has been reached.

Outside of the year of entry it is expected that the PAN will continue to be applied. However, if circumstances at the academy have changed since the year of entry, a place may be refused even if the admission number has not been reached.

The published admissions number for The Co-op Academy Belle Vue for entry in the 2024/2025 academic year is 240 per year group.

Oversubscription Criteria

The oversubscription criteria will be applied to all applicants where there are more applicants than places available. All applicants will be placed in a priority order determined by the oversubscription criteria. Places will be offered to the applicants with the highest priority until all places at the academy have been offered. There are different oversubscription criteria for entry into:

• year 7 in September (Secondary Admissions Round),

• year 7 to year 11 during the academic year (In Year Admissions).

Secondary Admissions Round - Oversubscription Criteria

All children whose statement of special educational needs or Education, Health and Care plan names the school must be admitted.

Category 1 - children who are looked after by a local authority and children who were previously looked after by a local authority. Previously looked after children are children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a residence order or special guardianship order);

Category 2 - children with exceptional medical/social needs;

Category 3 - children with a sibling at the academy;

Category 4 - All other children

Within each category, applicants will be prioritised according to the distance between the child's permanent address and the academy. Distance will be measured in a straight line from the centre point of the child's permanent home address to the centre point of the academy as defined by Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG), and using the Local Authority's computerised measuring system, with those living closer to the academy receiving higher priority.

Proximity to the academy is used as a tie-breaker, those living closest being given priority. On the rare occasion where the offer of places to applicants with equi-distant addresses would lead to oversubscription, the decision of who will be offered the place will be made by random selection.

For parents who have shared responsibility for a child, the place of residency will be determined as the address where the child lives for the majority of the week. Where this cannot be easily determined full details must be provided in writing at the time of application to enable the Local Authority to determine which address will be used for the purpose of admission. Should the Local Authority be unable to reach a decision based on the information received, the address provided for claiming Child Benefit and where appropriate, Child Tax Credits will be used. In such circumstances, documentary evidence must be provided.

**Notes:

Category 2

A panel of Local Authority officers will consider Category 2 applications on behalf of the Academy Trust. If a parent has chosen Co-op Academy Belle Vue because the child has exceptional social or medical circumstances or the parent is disabled, this should be indicated with the reasons for choosing the academy.

Parents must also provide a letter from a doctor or social worker as supporting evidence. The LA will then send a category 2 application form allowing the parent to state in full the exceptional social/medical reasons why the child should attend this academy.

If supporting evidence is not supplied with a category 2 application the application will be refused.

Category 3 - Sibling

A sibling is defined as an older brother or sister attending Co-op Academy Belle Vue when the applicant will take up the place and living at the same address. This includes adopted siblings, step siblings and foster children.

In Year Admissions - Oversubscription Criteria

All children whose statement of special educational needs or Education, Health and Care plan names the academy must be admitted.

Category 1 - children who are looked after by a local authority and children who were previously looked after by a local authority. Previously looked after children are children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a residence order or special guardianship order);

Category 2 - children with exceptional medical/social needs;

Category 3 - children with a sibling at the academy

Category 4 - children who have moved into Manchester and are without an offer of a school place;

Category 5 – all other children

Within each category, applicants will be prioritised according to the distance between the child's permanent address and the academy. Distance will be measured in a straight line from the centre point of the child's permanent home address to the centre point of the academy as defined by Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG), and using the Local Authority's computerised measuring system, with those living closer to the academy receiving higher priority.

Proximity to the academy is used as a tie-breaker, those living closest being given priority. On the rare occasion where the offer of places to applicants with equi-distant addresses would lead to oversubscription, the decision of who will be offered the place will be made by random selection.

For parents who have shared responsibility for a child, the place of residency will be determined as the address where the child lives for the majority of the week. Where this cannot be easily determined, full details must be provided in writing at the time of application to enable the LA to determine which address will be used for the purpose of admission. Should the Local Authority be unable to reach a decision based on the information received, the address provided for claiming Child Benefit and where appropriate, Child Tax Credits will be used. In such circumstances, documentary evidence must be provided.

**Notes:

Category 2 - Exceptional medical/social needs

A panel of LA officers will consider Category 2 applications on behalf of the Academy Trust. If a parent has chosen Co-op Academy Belle Vue because the child has exceptional social or medical circumstances or the parent is disabled, this should be indicated with the reasons for choosing the academy. Parents must also provide a letter from a doctor or social worker as supporting evidence. The LA will then send a category 2 application form allowing the parent to state in full the exceptional social/medical reasons why the child should attend this academy. If supporting evidence is not supplied with a category 2 application the application will be refused.

Category 3 - Sibling

A sibling is defined as a brother or sister attending the applied for school when the

applicants will take up the place and live at the same address. This includes adopted siblings, step siblings and foster children; Sibling criteria, as specified above may be applied whether the sibling is older or younger than the applicant.

Category 4 - New to Manchester

A child is considered new to Manchester when they:

• Move into the city from abroad and make an application within the same academic year;
• Move into the city from another LA and make an application within the same academic year and it is unreasonable to expect them to attend their previous school.

A child who is new to Manchester will be prioritised for their preferred schools. These applicants have not had the opportunity to apply during the normal admission round when they may have had a reasonable chance of being offered a preferred school.

All preferences will be considered equally and if more than one preference can be offered the highest ranked preference will be offered. If no preference can be offered an alternative offer of the closest Manchester school or academy with vacancies will be made. Once a preference or an alternative offer is made, the applicant will no longer be considered in this category.

Waiting Lists

Waiting lists will be held in criteria order according to the oversubscription criteria. Waiting lists will not be operated on a “first served come, first served” basis. The amount of time an applicant is on a waiting list will not affect their position on it.

For the Secondary Admissions Round a waiting list will be held up to the end of the autumn term. At this point applicants will be required to re apply for the academy should they wish to stay on the waiting list.

For In Year applications, waiting lists will be held for the term in which the application was made. At the end of the term all applicants will be removed from all waiting lists. The only exception to this will be if the applicant has not been offered a place. In this circumstance the applicant will be kept on the waiting list for the next term. Details of the waiting list process will be on the application forms and on the offer letters sent to applicants.

Late Applications

Waiting lists will be held in criteria order using the academy's oversubscription criteria. Waiting lists are not operated on a "first come, first served" basis. The amount of time an applicant is on a waiting list will not affect their position on it.

The following excerpt taken from the LA's Admissions Scheme 2016/17 describes how late applications will be dealt with.

14.0 Secondary Admission Round - Late Applications

14.1

The closing date for applications will be November. Any admission forms received after the closing date will be processed as late applications. This means an offer of a school/academy place will be made after all on time applicants have been processed. Late applications for Manchester school/academies may result in parents/carers not being offered a place at their preferred school/academy.

14.2

The LA will only process applications received after the deadline date as on time applications if there is a good reason for late submission. Such applications are valid late applications. A valid late application will include situations where children move into Manchester after the closing date, before offers of places are made. There is a cut off beyond which late applications with reasons for late submission will no longer be considered. This is the date when application information is exchanged with other LA's.

14.3

Where possible late applicants will be sent an offer letter in early March.

14.4

Applications received after the 01 March will be notified of the outcome of their application as soon as possible.