Rainow Primary School

When there are more applications than places for 2027-28 (Reception), places are offered in this order of priority. Meeting a higher criterion beats meeting a lower one.

1. 1‘Cared for Children’ and Children who were ‘Previously Cared for’ — ‘Cared for Children’ and Children who were ‘Previously Cared for’.  A ‘cared for child’ is a child who is in the care of a local authority or provided with accommodation by that local authority (as defined in section 22 of the Children Act 1989).  Children previously ‘cared for’ are children who were ‘cared for’ as defined above, but immediately after being ‘cared for’ became subject to an adoption, child arrangements order (formerly residence order), or special guardianship order. A child arrangements order is an order settling the arrangements to be made as to the person with whom the child is to live under section 8 of the Children Act 1989 amended by Children and Families Act 2014. 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). This includes children who appear to (in the view of Cheshire East) have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.
2. 2Siblings – pupils with brothers or sisters — Siblings – pupils with brothers or sisters, step-brothers or step-sisters, foster brother or sisters, half-brothers or half-sisters, adopted brothers or adopted sisters living together as part of one household (for the majority of the school week) already attending the preferred school (in years Reception through to Year 10) and expected to continue at the school in the following school year (i.e., at the time of admission).
3. 3Children resident within the designated catchment area of the school — Children resident within the designated catchment area of the school. Children will be classed within this criterion if they and their parent(s) are resident within the area served by the school.
4. 4Children attending a school nominated as a feeder primary school for admissions purposes — Children attending a school nominated as a feeder primary school for admissions purposes (Applies to Secondary Schools only). See appendix
5. 5Pupils living nearest to the school measured using the National Land and Property Gazetteer — Pupils living nearest to the school measured using the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) which measures straight line distances in miles from the school’s co-ordinate point to the place of the child’s residence co- ordinate point. Where a school cannot accommodate all pupils qualifying under one of the criteria stated above, the next criterion will be applied to determine priority for admission. For example, if a school cannot accommodate all children resident within the catchment area (criterion 3), the priority will be in the order of: OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE Page | 4  Resident in the catchment area (criterion 3) attending a feeder school (4) and living nearest to the school (5)  Resident in the catchment area (criterion 3) not attending a feeder school (4) and living nearest to the school (5)

If two applications tie: Straight-line distance in miles from the school co-ordinate point to the child’s residence co-ordinate point (National Land and Property Gazetteer).

Cheshire East Council is the admission authority for its community and voluntary controlled schools and determines one set of oversubscription criteria covering them all. Criterion 3 is residence in the school's designated catchment area; criterion 4 (secondary only) is attendance at a named feeder primary.

Published by the admission authority. Meeting a criterion never guarantees a place — it sets the order places are offered in. Full detail, other entry points and previous years are on the Admissions tab.