Co-op Academy Clarice Cliff

Admission Arrangements

Normal Age of Entry:

Academic Year

2025/26

Nursery Admission

Our nursery has 60 full time places available each year for children before they start in reception.

You can apply for a place for your child to start the term after they turn 3 - for example if your child turns 3 on or before 31st December, you can apply for a place for them to start in January following their 3rd birthday; if your child turns 3 on or before 31st March, you can apply for them to start in April following their 3rd birthday. Alternatively, you can apply for them to start in the academic year that they turn 4 (the year prior to them starting in reception).

Applications to our nursery are processed by the academy directly.

Attendance at school is not a requirement at this age but is at the discretion of parents.

To apply for a place in our nursery, please visit our website and select “Apply for a Nursery Place” from the admissions page. This will take you to an online application form which will automatically be sent through to the academy.

Applications open in September each year. The deadline for applications to our nursery for a September start is 28th February each year. You will be notified by 31st March if your child has been given a place in the nursery. Mid-year places will be allocated as and when a place becomes available.

Children aged three years on or before 31st August are able to attend a nursery class or school in September. Attendance at school is not a requirement at this age but is at the discretion of parents.

Oversubscription Criteria

Where there are more applications for our nursery than there are places the following priorities will be used, in order, to allocate places:

1. Children in care and children who ceased to be in care because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order), including those children who appear (to the academy) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.
2. Children living within the catchment who have an elder brother or sister at the academy who will still be attending at the time of admission

3. Other children living within the catchment.
4. Children living outside the catchment who have an elder brother or sister at the academy who will still be attending at the time of admission.
5. Children who live nearest to the school as determined by a straight line measurement from the child’s home address point to the main entrance of the academy.

Once the class is full a waiting list based on these criteria will be held until the end of September of that academic year.

Attendance at our nursery will not guarantee admission to our reception class and a fresh application must be made.

As nursery education is not compulsory there is no right of appeal against the refusal of a place. However, every effort will be made to accommodate the wishes of parents.

Admission to Reception

Admission to primary school is provided for all children in the September following their fourth birthday. Where a child is offered a place at our academy, that child is entitled to a full-time place in the September following their fourth birthday; the child’s parents can defer the date their child is admitted to the academy until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age and not beyond the beginning of the final term of the school year for which it was made; and where the parents wish, children may attend part-time until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age.

All applications are managed by Stoke-on-Trent City Council. We have a Published Admission Number (PAN) of 30 for our reception year group. Places will be offered up to but not exceeding the PAN. Regulations also require that reception and infant classes must have no more than 30 pupils to each qualified teacher.

Parents may apply for a place by visiting Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s website: https://www.stoke.gov.uk/info/20033/school_admissions/132/primary_school_admissions

It is the academy’s policy to try and meet parents’ wishes where possible, however in some cases there may be more applications than there are places available.

If the total number of preferences for admission to our academy exceeds the Published Admission Number of 30 (PAN), the following order of priority is used to allocate the available places:

1. Children in care and children who ceased to be in care because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special 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.
2. Children living in the catchment area of the academy who have an older brother or sister attending at the time of admission.
3. Other children living within the catchment area of the academy
4. Children living outside the catchment area of the academy who have an elder brother or sister at the academy at the time of admission.
5. Children who live nearest to the academy as determined by a straight line measurement from the child’s home address point to the main entrance of the academy.

If priorities have to be decided within any of these categories, children will be placed in order of priority using distance from their home to the main entrance of the academy as measured by straight line. Where distance is equal for two or more applications, a tie-breaker will be applied whereby places will be determined by random allocation. The Council will also consider any reasons put forward by parents in support of their preference. These reasons should be supported with evidence wherever possible. If the reasons concern the child’s health or social wellbeing, the evidence should be provided by a medical practitioner or other social care professional. If the Council considers that the reasons for a place at a particular academy are sufficiently strong, it will place the child on the academy list at the top of the criterion of which they have been ranked.

We also have to comply with the Infant Class Sizes Regulations which say that infant classes must not exceed 30 pupils. If an infant class is full, a waiting list based on the above criteria will be held until the end of December of that academic year. All unsuccessful applicants will be placed on a waiting list – and will remain on the list until the list closes, a place becomes available or the family ask to be removed from the waiting list.

For admission purposes, an older brother or sister is defined as a child who lives at the same address and who is the brother/sister, half-brother/sister (i.e. share one common parent), or step brother/sister (i.e. related by parent’s marriage/civil partnership) of the child for whom the place is being requested. It also includes any other child living at the same residence under the terms of a Residence Order.

Special arrangements will apply if there is space for only one of a set of twins or triplets or other multiple births. In this circumstance we will admit above the published admission number (PAN) unless it is impossible to accommodate siblings in such a way, when the parents will be asked to make a decision on behalf of the family.

Admission outside the normal age-group

Parents may request that places be made available outside the normal age group (eg, if a child is summer-born, gifted and talented, or has experienced problems such as ill-health, etc). A decision will be taken by the academy on the basis of the circumstances of the case.

Part-time provision

Parents can request that their child takes up the place part time until the child reaches compulsory school age.

Appeals

Where applicants are unsuccessful in securing a place, an appeal against the decision can be made to an independent appeals panel set up by the City Council.

Where it is not possible to accommodate all children applying for places within a particular category then we will allocate the available places in accordance with the remaining criteria. If for instance, all the catchment area children cannot be accommodated, children who are resident within the catchment area will be arranged in order of priority according to the remaining criteria.

Additional Notes

In accordance with legislation, children who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) that names the academy as being the most appropriate to meet the child’s needs must be admitted. This will reduce the amount of places available to other applicants.

Only those holding parental responsibility for the named child are able to make an application and they will be required to make a declaration to this effect as part of the application process. Ordinarily it is expected that this person resides at the same address as the child and is referred to as the parent for admission purposes. Where parental responsibility is equally shared, the child’s parents should determine which parent should submit the application.

Only one application can be made for each child. It is expected that parents will agree on school preferences for a child before an application is made. The Council is not in a position to intervene in disputes between parents over school applications and will request that these are resolved privately. If parents cannot agree and neither has obtained a court order stating who should be making the application/what the preference(s) should be, the Council will accept an application from the parent in receipt of Child Benefit for the child. If Child Benefit is not claimed, the address at which the child is registered at the GP will be used.

Late Applications

Any application submitted after the closing date is deemed to be late and must be submitted using a paper application form. It is not possible to make an on-line application after the closing date.

Late applications will be considered alongside those received by the closing date only in the event of one of the following:

1. The family moved into the area after the deadline for the receipt of applications;
2. Exceptional circumstances, stated in writing with evidence, prevented the form from arriving on time;
3. An error on our part;
4. The application is received before the applications have been ranked.

Such considerations will be the exception rather than the rule. Otherwise, late applications will be considered at the end of the allocation process. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that their application is submitted on time.

When submitting an application there may be a need to provide supporting evidence. The Council cannot accept responsibility for any application or evidence that is not submitted correctly via the on-line system or is lost in the postal system. Correctly submitted on-line applications generate an electronic receipt, which must be retained by the applicant. If posting an application, it is recommended that the form is sent by recorded delivery.

Withdrawal of places

Once parents have been notified of an offer of an academy place, the Council will withdraw the offer only in exceptional circumstances, such as:

1. If the offer was made based on fraudulent or misleading information on the application form e.g. a false claim to residence within a catchment area.
2. Where a place was offered in error.

In-year Admissions

Where applications for places are made outside the normal admissions round, these should be made directly to the academy. During the school year only limited places are available. There is no guarantee of a place at our academy, even if we are the catchment school.

If the academy is already full in the relevant year group, the application will be refused.

We will make appropriate arrangements with the Council for data sharing and pupil tracking.

The Council uses a Geographical Information system to calculate home to school distances. This determines coordinates of the applicant’s home address using the Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and OS Address Point data.

By local agreement, waiting lists will be maintained until the end of the relevant academic year. A position on a waiting list is not fixed and applicants may move up and down the list. Inclusion on the list does not guarantee the ultimate provision of a place at this academy.

The applicant’s home address is the child’s along with their parent’s main and genuine place of residence at the time of the allocation of places. Where a pupil lives with separated parents, with shared responsibilities, each for part of the school week, the home address will be the one at which the pupil is resident for the greatest part of the week. Where this is equally shared, the home address used will be that used in relation to Child Benefit at the time of the allocation of places.

The Council will notify all applicants of the outcome of their application for a school place on the specified offer date (refer to the admissions timetable available on their website: https://admissions.stoke.gov.uk/CitizenPortal_LIVE/en). All decision letters will be issued by second class post. However applicants who choose to make an online application will receive an email confirming their decision on the offer date.

Review Date: 10/24

This policy will be reviewed annually by the Academy Governing Council.

Date approved by the Academy Governing Council: