John Masefield High School

When there are more applications than places for 2027-28 (Year 7), places are offered in this order of priority. Meeting a higher criterion beats meeting a lower one.

1. 1Looked after / previously looked after children — Looked after children and all previously looked after children who have since been adopted, or became subject to a child arrangement order or a special guardianship order, including those who appear to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.
2. 2Catchment area — Students living within the defined catchment area of JMHS. The home address is the only or main permanent residential address at the closing date for applications; where a child resides at two addresses for equal time, parents must decide which address to use.
3. 3Siblings — Siblings of students attending the school, where the sibling is already attending at the time of application and still attending at the time of admission. Includes half-siblings, step-siblings and legally adopted children, who must also live at the same home address.
4. 4Exceptional circumstances — Students with exceptional medical, social or compassionate grounds for admission whose parents can show entry to JMHS is necessary for the child's wellbeing, supported by a medical certificate or other appropriate information, preferably from an independent source.
5. 5Nearest by distance — Students who live nearest the school by the shortest straight-line distance, calculated using Herefordshire Council's Routefinder Pro routing software.
6. 6Pupil premium / service premium — Students eligible for pupil premium (Section 14, Education Act 2002, for disadvantaged children) or service premium (same section, for pastoral needs of children of Armed Services personnel).
7. 7Children of staff — Children of staff directly employed by JMHS, where the staff member has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time of application, and/or recruited to fill a vacant post with a demonstrable skill shortage.
8. 8Feeder primary schools — Children attending one of the feeder primary schools: Ashperton Primary School, Bosbury CE Primary School, Colwall CE Primary School, Cradley CE Primary School, Eastnor Parochial Primary School, Ledbury Primary School and Much Marcle CE Primary School.
9. 9Any other child — Any other child.

If two applications tie: In the case of two or more applications that cannot be separated by the oversubscription criteria above, the school uses random allocation to decide between applicants.

Students with a Statement of Educational Needs or an EHCP naming JMHS are normally allocated a place first, ahead of the numbered priority order (not itself one of the numbered criteria). The document's PAN sentence literally states 'The number of new student admissions for the year commencing September 2026 ... will be 150', even though the policy is titled 'Admission Policy for 2027-2028' throughout (heading, review date, etc.) — this appears to be an unupdated figure from the prior year's document, reproduced here as printed; cohort_start_year is set to 2027 based on the document's own repeated title. JMHS retains the right to refuse admission to students excluded from two or more other schools, for two years from the date of the last exclusion.

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.