Admissions
Thank you for your interest in Bretherton Endowed CE Primary School. This page will outline our Admission policy for Reception places and in year admissions including appeals.
Please have a look at our prospectus to find out more about our school and our proceedures. If you would like a paper copy, please contact the school office.
As a voluntary aided school, we determine our own admissions. Our arrangements can be found in the policy area for the current and next year. Please note that in June 2021, we added a change to our admission policy to ensure children who were previously in care outside England who may be now adopted will fall under category 1a.
Please note that Bretherton Endowed, in conjunction with the Diocese of Blackburn and the Church of England has submitted a request for variation of admission process due to Covid-19 lockdown limited access to Churches and collective worship. See attached letter. Once we have had this agreed, we will update this page.
If you are interested in applying for a school place 'in year' ( not Reception starting September), please contact the school office to enquire whether we have any places within the class/age group that you require. As we have 15 places per year group, we are often full, however in KS2 you may be able to secure a place through the appeal process through Lancashire County Council. Again, contact the school and we will talk you through the process. If you would like to apply, we will forward you an application form to complete.
At Bretherton Endowed, as a VA school, we manage our 'in year' admissions through our admissions committee and the Local Authority and can provide the application form for parents to complete (with a supplementary information form where necessary), and will notify you once the place has been allocated. Unfortunately we are unable to hold places for families. We can provide a hard copy of the information about in-year applications on request for those who do not have access to the internet.
Applying for place at our school during the school year (In-Year Admissions)
In-year admissions:
In-year admission is the process of applying for a school place during the school year. Any applications for the intake made after the start of the autumn term will be treated as an in-year application.
The in-year admission process is managed by the school. Parents are required to complete the in-year application form, which is available from the school website.
Where a place cannot be secured, parents will be offered a legal right of appeal to an independent appeal panel.
Lancashire County Council administers the appeals process on behalf of the school. Parents can complete the school’s appeal form on Lancashire County Council’s website
In Year Admissions are admissions to school which take place outside the normal admissions rounds.
If you are new to the area and require a school place or if you already reside in the area and you want to move your child from their current local school to our school, your application should be made directly to our school and we will advise if there are places available. Please see application attached at teh bottom of this website page.
To apply for a place, please complete our In-Year Admissions form and return to bursar@bretherton.lancs.sch.uk
If you have any questions in relation to in-year admissions, please contact Paula Carlyon by email at bursar@bretherton.lancs.sch.uk or by telephone on 01772 600431.
If you wish to send faith evidence please email bursar@bretherton.lancs.sch.uk you may also wish to complete the Supplementary Information form - below
Your application will be acknowledged upon receipt, and we will advise you of the outcome within a maximum of 15 school days.
Where places are available but we have more applications than places, the published oversubscription criteria will be applied, to ensure the correct child/children are offered the places.
Further information on how to apply for a local school can be found on the Lancashire County Council website: https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/children-education-families/schools/apply-for-a-school-place/changing-schools-during-the-school-year/
If there are no places available, then you have the right of appeal. Please see below for appeal information
Appeals
The school’s admission appeals are supported by Lancashire County Council. If the Governing body cannot offer a school place, parents have the right to make an appeal.
This appeal should be submitted using the link below within twenty days of refusal of admission. The appeal provides you with an opportunity to explain why you wish to register your child at our school. The appeal forms and advice on how to complete them is available on the Lancashire County Council website:
Lancashire County Council will contact you in respect of your appeal application and inform you of the arrangements. The outcome of the appeal will be notified to you in writing.
The decision of the Independent Appeal Panel is binding to all parties, ie the family and the school.
Please note that this right of appeal against the Governors’ decision does not prevent you from making an appeal in respect of any other school.
Thank you for your interest in our school. Please feel free to call for a mutually convenient personal look around with the Head Teacher.
Bretherton Endowed Church of England Primary School
DETERMINED ADMISSION ARRANGEMENTS
For September 2024
Making an application
Applications for admission to the school for September 2024 should be made on-line at https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/children-education-families/schools/apply-for-a-school-place/ between 1st September 2023 and 15th January 2024. It is not normally possible to change the order of your preferences for schools after the closing date.
Parents must complete the Local Authority electronic form, stating three preferences.
Parents who wish their application to this Church school to be considered against the faith criteria must also complete the Supplementary Form. If the school is oversubscribed, a failure to complete the Supplementary Form will result in your application for a place in this school being considered against lower priority criteria as the Governing Body will have no information upon which to assess the worship attendance. The Supplementary Information Form is available from the school and should be completed and returned to the school.
Emails informing parents of whether or not their child has been allocated a place will be sent out by the Local Authority on 23rd April 2024. Parents of children not admitted will be informed of the reason and offered an alternative place by the Authority.
Admission procedures
Arrangements for admission have been agreed following consultation between the Governing Body, the Diocesan Board of Education, Local Authorities and other admissions authorities in the area.
The number of places available for admission to the Reception class in the year 2024 will be a maximum of 15
The Governing Body will not place any restrictions on admissions to the reception class unless the number of children for whom admission is sought exceeds their admission number. By law, no infant class may contain more than thirty children.
The Governing Body operates a system of equal preferences under which they consider all preferences equally and the Local Authority notifies parents of the result. In the event that there are more applicants than places, after admitting all children with a Statement of Educational Need or Education Health and Care Plan naming the school, the Governing Body will allocate places using the criteria below, which are listed in order of priority.
- (a) Children in public care and previously looked after children.
This includes any "looked after child", “previously looked after children” and any child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, residence or special guardianship order. ‘Looked after’ means that the child was (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.
This criteria also includes looked after children and all previously looked after children 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.
(b) Children with special medical or social circumstances affecting the child where these needs can only be met at this school.
Professional supporting evidence from a professional, e.g. a doctor, psychologist, social worker, is essential if admission is to be made under the criterion for special medical or social circumstances, and such evidence must set out the particular reasons why the school is question is the most suitable school and the difficulties which would be caused if the child had to attend another school. Alternatively, the school should be named in an education and health care plan or statement.
Children whose parents live within the civil parish of Bretherton.
A map showing the boundaries is available in school.
- Children whose parents live outside the parish.
(a) Children who have a sibling attending the school on the date of application and on the date of admission. Siblings include step, half, foster, adopted brothers and sisters living at the same address.
(b) Children with a parent/guardian worshipping in a church in membership of Churches Together in England or the Evangelical Alliance. "Parental worshipping" is normally taken to mean a minimum of monthly attendance at church at public worship for over at least the six months leading up to the 1st September 2023. The governors will request confirmation of this from the relevant member of the clergy or church officer. The lists of Churches can be found on the Churches Together in England website at cte.org.uk, and for the Evangelical Alliance at eauk.org; lists are taken as on 1st September 2023. Churches in membership of the equivalent bodies to CTE in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are equally accepted.
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 arrangements in relation to attendance will only apply to the period when the church or alternative premises have been available for public worship.
(c) Other children.
Tie break
Where there are more applicants for the available places within a category, then the distance between the Ordnance Survey address points for the school and the home measured in a straight line will be used as the final determining factor, nearer addresses having priority over more distant ones. This address point is within the body of the property and usually located at its centre. Where two addresses have the same distance, or the cut-off point is for addresses within the same building, then the Local Authority's system of a random draw will determine which address(es) receive the offer(s).
Admissions information:
In 2023, there were 60 applications for 15 places
Late applications for admission
Where there are extenuating circumstances for an application being received after the last date for applications, and it is before the governors have established their list of pupils to be admitted, then it will be considered alongside all the others.
Otherwise, applications which are received after the last date will be considered after all the others, and placed on the waiting list in order according to the criteria.
Waiting list
Where we have more applications than places, the admissions criteria will be used. Children who are not admitted will have their name placed on a waiting list. The names on this waiting list will be in the order resulting from the application of the admissions criteria. Since the date of application cannot be a criterion for the order of names on the waiting list, late applicants for the school will be slotted into the order according to the extent to which they meet the criteria. Thus it is possible that a child who moves into the area later to have a higher priority than one who has been on the waiting list for some time. If a place becomes available within the admission number, the child whose name is at the top of the list will be offered a place. This is not dependent on whether an appeal has been submitted. Looked after children or previously looked after children allocated a place at the school in accordance with a Fair Access Protocol will take precedence over those on a waiting list.
This waiting list will operate until 31st December 2024.
The schools in-year admissions will be administered by the Governing Board of the School and further details can be found on our website https://www.brethertonschool.org.uk/page/admissions/34915 . A paper copy can be provided if required.
Address of pupil
The address used on the school’s admission form must be the current one at the time of application, i.e. the family’s main residence. If the address changes subsequently, the parents should notify the school. Where the parents live at different addresses, and there is shared parenting, the address used will normally be the one where the child wakes up for the majority of Monday to Friday mornings. If there is any doubt about this, then the address of the Child Benefit recipient will be used. Parents may be asked to show evidence of the claim that is being made for the address, e.g. identity cards of various sorts showing the child’s address as the one claimed. Where there is dispute about the correct address to use, the governors reserve the right to make enquiries of any relevant third parties, e.g. the child’s GP, Council Tax Office, Electoral Registration Officer, utilities provider. For children of UK Service personnel and other Crown Servants returning to the area proof of the posting is all that is required.
In-year admissions:
In-year admission is the process of applying for a school place during the school year. Any applications for the intake made after the start of the autumn term will be treated as an in-year application.
The in-year admission process is managed by the school. Parents are required to complete the in-year application form, which is available from the school website.
Where a place cannot be secured, parents will be offered a legal right of appeal to an independent appeal panel.
Lancashire County Council administers the appeals process on behalf of the school. Parents can complete the school’s appeal form on Lancashire County Council’s website
Appeals for routine admissions
Where the governors are unable to offer a place because the school is over subscribed, 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 should notify the clerk to the governors at the school by 30th April, 2024. Parents will have the opportunity to submit their case to the panel in writing and also to attend in order to present their case. You will normally receive 14 days’ notice of the place and time of the hearing. Where possible, the appeals will be heard in person although some are now heard through a digital format.
Appeals which are received after the deadline will be slotted into the schedule where this is possible. There is no guarantee that this will happen, and late appeals may be heard after the stipulated date at a second round of hearings. The schedule is subject to change depending upon the availability of appeal panel members, clerks, venues and the number of appeals for each school (which will vary year on year).
Please note that this right of appeal against the governors’ decision does not prevent you from making an appeal in respect of any other school.
Fraudulent applications
Where the governing body discovers that a child has been awarded a place as the result of an intentionally misleading application from a parent (for example a false claim to residence in the catchment area or of involvement in a place of worship) which effectively denies a place to a child with a stronger claim, then the governing body is required to withdraw the offer of a place. The application will be considered afresh and a right of appeal offered if a place is refused.
Deferred admission
If your child is due to start school during the next academic year, it is important that you apply for a place for September. If your child’s fifth birthday is between the months of September and December, then, if you wish it, admission may be deferred until January; if it is between January and April, then admission may be deferred until the start of the summer term though it is likely to be in your child’s interest to start no later than January. You may also request that your child attend school part time until he/she reaches his/her fifth birthday.
Admission of children outside of their normal age group
Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group, for example, if a child is gifted and talented or has experienced problems such as ill health. In addition, the parents of a summer born child[1] may choose not to send that child to school until the September following their fifth birthday and may request that they are admitted out of their normal age group – to reception rather than year 1.
The Governing Body will make decisions on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. This will include taking account of the parent’s views; information about the child’s academic, social and emotional development; where relevant, their medical history and the views of a medical professional; whether they have previously been educated out of their normal age group; and whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely. They will also take into account the views of the head teacher of the school.
When informing a parent of their decision on the year group the child should be admitted to, the Governing Body will set out clearly the reasons for their decision.
If the Governing Body agrees to a parents’ request for their child to be admitted out of their normal age group and as a consequence of that decision the child will be admitted to a relevant age group (ie the age group to which pupils are normally admitted to the school) the local authority and Governing Body will process the application as part of the main admissions round, unless the parental request is made too late for this to be possible, and on the basis of their determined admission arrangements only, including the application oversubscription criteria where applicable. The Governing Body will not give the application lower priority on the basis that the child is being admitted out of their normal age group. Parents have a statutory right to appeal against refusal of a place at a school for which they have applied. This right does not apply if they are offered a place at the school but it is not in their preferred age group.
More information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-school-admission
Twins, etc
Where there are twins, etc wanting admission and there is only a single place left within the admission number, then the governing body will exercise as much flexibility as possible within the requirements of infant class sizes. In exceptional circumstances cases we are now able to offer places for both twins and all triplets, even when this means breaching infant class size limits.
[1] The term summer born children relates to all children born from 1 April to 31 August. These children reach compulsory school age on 31 August following their fifth (or on their fifth birthday if it falls on 31 August).