Admissions and Policy

The following information and supplementary form can be downloaded using the link at the bottom of the page.

ST JOSEPH’S CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL

POLICY FOR ADMISSION TO SCHOOL FOR 2025-2026

St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School was founded by the Catholic Church to provide education for children of Catholic families. The school is conducted by its Governing Body as part of the Catholic Church in accordance with its Trust Deed and Instrument of Government, and seeks at all times to be a witness to Jesus Christ. The school uses the rites and liturgy of the Catholic Church.

The Governing Body has sole responsibility for admissions to this school and intends to admit 30 pupils to the Reception class (Bernadette) in the school year which begins in September 2025.

Pupils with a Statement of Special Educational Needs or Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan

The admissions of pupils with a Statement of Special Educational Needs or with an EHC Plan are dealt with by a completely separate procedure. The procedure is integral to the making and maintaining of statements and EHC plans by the pupil’s home Local Authority. Details of this separate procedure are set out in the SEND code of practice. Pupils with a statement or EHC Plan naming the school will be admitted without reference to the criteria below.

OVERSUBSCRIPTION CRITERIA

Where there are more applicants for places than the number of places available, places will be offered according to the following order of priority:

Looked after Catholic children or looked after children in the care of Catholic families and previously looked after Catholic children who have been adopted or who have become the subject of a residence or guardianship order including those 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.
Baptised Catholic children. A baptismal certificate or evidence of reception into the Catholic Church must be provided.

Other looked after children and other previously looked after children who have been adopted or who have become the subject of a residence or guardianship order including those 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.

Children enrolled in the Catechumenate; evidence of enrolment will be required.
Children who are members of the Eastern Orthodox Church; evidence of Baptism will be required.
Christians of other denominations and whose application is supported by a minister of religion.
Children of other faiths and whose application is supported by a religious leader.

Any other applicants

The following order of priorities will be applied when applications within any of the above categories exceed the places available:

A sibling on roll at the time of admission. The term sibling includes relationship through blood, marriage or adoption; evidence of the relationship, and that the siblings live at the same permanent address.
Social and medical needs which make the school particularly suitable for the child; strong, relevant evidence must be provided by an appropriate professional authority within the last three months.

Distance from the school’s pedestrian side gate to the child’s permanent home address. Distances will be measured using GI Tech Measurements Service to calculate the shortest walking distance. Where the last remaining place is to be allocated and two or more children are deemed to live at the same distance from the school, the place will be decided by the drawing of lots.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES AND TIMETABLE

Applications should be submitted by 15th January 2025, using your home Local Authority Online Admissions Application.

The school will only request to see the child’s Baptism Certificate if applying under criteria 1, 2 and 5.

Please note, Southwark residents who are making a late application must do so online at www.southwark.gov.uk/schooladmissions. Non-Southwark residents wishing to make a late application to the school must check how to do so with their home local authority.

In Year Admissions

St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School participates in the LA’s co-ordinated in year admissions scheme and follow the protocol set within it. For a copy of the protocol and further information on this matter, you may wish to visit Southwark

councils’ in year admissions website. It can be found here: www.southwark.gov.uk/schools-and-education/school-admissions/in-year-admissions You can also complete their in-year online application form.

If you would like to apply for a school outside of Southwark, you will need to contact the borough where the school is located to ask about their application arrangements.

Admission of children below compulsory school age

The governors will provide for the admission of all children in the September following their fourth birthday. Parents can defer up until the child reaches compulsory school age within the same academic year that the initial application was for made for; parents may also request that their child attends part-time up until the child reaches compulsory school age.

Admission of children outside their normal age group

For the purposes of safeguarding, Southwark residents must complete Southwark Council’s ‘Request for admission outside of the normal age group’ form: www.southwark.gov.uk/schools-and-education/school-admissions/admission- of-children-outside-their-normal-age-group

Parents who are seeking a place for their child outside of their normal age group, eg, the child has experienced problems such as ill health or the parents of a summer born child preferring not to send their child to school until the September following their fifth birthday, may request that they are admitted out of their normal age group – to reception rather than year 1. Governors will make decisions on 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 school’s head teacher. When informing a parent of the decision which year group the child should be admitted to, the governors will set out clearly the reasons for their decision. Where the governors agree to a parent’s 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 the age group to which pupils are normally admitted to the school the local authority 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 the determined admission arrangements, including the application of oversubscription criteria where applicable. The agreement to admit any child outside of their normal age group does not guarantee that a school place will be offered as this is a separate process. Parents have a statutory right to appeal against the 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.

Waiting Lists

Parents of children who have not been offered a place at the school may ask for their child’s name to be placed on a waiting list. The waiting list, which will be

maintained until the end of the Autumn Term 2025, will be operated using the same admissions criteria listed above. Placing a child’s name on the waiting list does not guarantee that a place will become available however, Looked After Children and previously Looked After Children will take precedence. This does not prevent parents from exercising their right to appeal against the decision not to offer a place. It is possible that when a child is directed under the local authority’s fair access protocol they will take precedence over those children already on the list. Looked after children, previously looked after children and those allocated a place at the school in accordance with a Fair Access Protocol will take precedence over those on a waiting list.

Fair Access Protocol

The school participates in the local authority’s Fair Access Protocol to allocate places to vulnerable and other children in accordance with the School Admission Code 2021. Admitting pupils under the protocol may require the school to admit above the planned admission number for the relevant year group.

Appeals

Parents whose applications for places are unsuccessful may appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel set up in accordance with section 85(3) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. Appeals must be made in writing and must set out the reasons on which the appeal is made. Appeals should be made to the Admissions Appeal Clerk at the school address. Parents/Carers have the right to make oral representations to the Appeal Panel. Infant classes are restricted by the legislation to 30 children. Forms can be collected from the school office. Parents should be aware that an appeal against refusal of a place in an infant class may only succeed if it can be demonstrated that:-

a) The admission of additional children would not breach the infant class size limit; or
b) The admission arrangements did not comply with admissions law or had not been correctly and impartially applied and the child would have been offered a place if the arrangements had complied or had been correctly and impartially applied; or
c) The panel decides that the decision to refuse admission was not one which a reasonable admission authority would have made in the circumstances of the

Appeals advice to parents

NOTES (these form part of the oversubscription criteria)

a) A ‘looked after child’ is a child who is (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 (see definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989) at the time of making an application to a school. This includes children who were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 (see section 12 adoption orders) and children who were adopted under the Adoption and Children’s Act 2002 (see section 46 adoption orders). Child arrangements orders are defined in section 8 of the Children Act 1989, as amended by section 12 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Child arrangements orders replace residence orders and any residence orders in force prior to 22 April 2014 is deemed to be a child arrangements order. Section 14A of the Children Act 1989 defines a ‘special guardianship order’ as an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian (or special guardians). References to previously looked after children in the School Admissions Code 2014 means such children who were adopted (or subject to child arrangements orders or special guardianship orders) immediately following having been looked after.
b) ‘Catholic’ means a member of a Church in communion with the See of Rome. This includes the Eastern Catholic This will normally be evidenced by a certificate of Baptism in a Catholic Church or a certificate of reception into the full communion of the Catholic Church.
c) ‘Catechumen’ means a person who wishes to be baptised in the Catholic church and has been accepted as a member of the Catechumenate. This will normally be evidenced by a certificate of reception into the order of catechumens.
d) ‘Eastern Orthodox Church’ includes Orthodox Churches and is normally evidenced by a certificate of Baptism or reception from the authorities of that Church.
e) To demonstrate an exceptional, social, medical or pastoral need of the child which can be most appropriately met at this school, the Governing Body will normally require written evidence from an appropriate professional, such as social worker, doctor, or priest.

f) The home address is where the parent/carer lives and the child permanently resides for the majority of school nights (Sunday to Thursday) unless otherwise directed by a Court Order. This will also apply to informal care arrangements. Where a child spends time with both parents/carers in separate homes and both have parental responsibility, the school will need to establish where the majority of school nights (Sunday to Thursday) are spent. This will then be treated as the home address.

Mrs C McLoughlin — Headteacher

On behalf of the Governors

SOUTHWARK'S STARTING PRIMARY SCHOOL BROCHURE

Southwark Primary Admissions Brochure 2024-25