Admissions arrangements and appeals

Admission arrangements include the admission rules for schools in our trust and the procedures which will be followed for admission to school.

Admission arrangements must be decided upon every year - this is known as 'determining' the admission arrangements.

Admission authorities (the local authority or the school's governing body/academy trust) must determine their admission arrangements by 28 February each year.

Determined Admissions Arrangements for 2025-2026
The Trust Board have determined Admissions Arrangements for 2025-26. Please see full document:

Determined Admissions Arrangements for 2026-2027
The Trust Board have determined Admissions Arrangements for 2026-27. Please see full document:

Admissions appeals

If you are refused a place at your preferred school the letter from North Somerset will explain why, and you will be given the right to appeal. You should read the North Somerset appeals guidance

School admissions code

School admission arrangements are the overall rules (including the procedure, criteria and supplementary information) used in the allocation of school places. They must comply with the School Admissions Code. 

The aim of the code is to ensure that all school places at maintained schools and academies are allocated in an open and fair way, and parents can easily understand how school places will be allocated.

Admission Appeals Timetable 2024/25

If you are refused a place at your preferred school the letter from North Somerset will explain why, and you will be given the right to appeal. You should read the North Somerset Appeals Guidance available through the link below:

Admission appeal process | North Somerset Council (n-somerset.gov.uk)

Over subscription procedures

If a school receives more applications than the admission number, the oversubscription criteria will be used to determine who will be allocated places. All applications will be ranked in accordance with the criteria given in order of priority

1. Looked after or children previously looked after  at the time of application and children who were previously in Care but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order) immediately following having been in Care.
2.  Children whose brother or sister will be attending the school at the time of admission.
3. Children living closest to the school.

Within each criterion, priority will be given to children living closest to the school measured in a direct line.

Definitions 

Looked after or previously looked after children

Looked after children or children who were previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, residence or special guardianship order. This includes any child/young person who is subject to a Full Care Order, an interim Care Order, accommodated under Section 22(1) of the Children Act1989, is remanded or detained into local authority accommodation under Criminal Law or who has been placed for adoption.

In the case of previously looked after children, a copy of the adoption order, residence order or special guardianship order and a letter from the local authority that last looked after the child confirming that he or she was looked after immediately prior to that order should be submitted with the application form.

Siblings

Siblings are children with a brother or sister already at the school who will still be in attendance at the time the sibling enters the school. Siblings (brothers or sisters) are considered to be those children who live at the same address and either:

1. Have one or both natural parents in common; or
2. Are related by a parent’s marriage; or
3. Are adopted or fostered by a common parent.

Unrelated children living at the same address, whose parents are living as partners, are also considered to be siblings.

Distance

Distances are calculated on the basis of a straight line measurement between the applicant’s home address and the school’s front gate on Milton Park Road. North Somerset Council uses a computerised system which measures all distances in metres. Ordnance Survey supplies the co-ordinates that are used to plot an applicant’s home address within this system