Walbottle Village 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. 1Looked after and previously looked after children — Children who are currently looked after by a local authority (in care) in the UK, children who were previously looked after by a local authority in the UK or who appear to the admissions authority to have been in a state care outside of the UK, and immediately afterwards became subject to an adoption, residence (child arrangements) order or special guardianship order. Evidence of the appropriate order must be submitted before the closing date for applications.
2. 2Exceptional medical or psychological grounds — Children with an exceptional medical reason that means they can only attend the specific school (for example, where the child or one or both parents has a disability that means that the child can only attend this school). Strong supporting evidence must be provided from a healthcare professional who is independent of both the family and the school. The evidence must relate specifically to this school and must clearly demonstrate why it is the only school that can meet the child's needs.
3. 3Sibling link — Children with a brother or sister (a sibling) who will be on roll at the school on the date that the child will be admitted in September 2027. Sibling can be a brother or sister, half brother or sister, adopted brother or sister, step brother or sister, or the child of the parent or carer’s partner, as long as the children live at the same address. However, please note that children attending the nursery class or other Early Education or childcare provision attached to the school will not be given priority as sibling links.
4. 4Children of staff — Children or step-children of members of staff employed directly by the school on a part or full time basis for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made, or members of staff who have been recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.
5. 5Distance from the school — Children living nearest to the school as measured in a straight line distance from a single fixed central point at the school to a point in the centre of the home address of the child, using the Local Land and Property Gazetteer and British National Grid Easting and Northing co- ordinates. Parents and carers should note that the allocation of Reception places does not take into account attendance at any specific nursery class or school. Children in the nursery class of the school will not be given priority nor are they guaranteed a Reception place in the main school. Additional notes • In the event that more than one child has an equal right to an available place the place will be offered based on random allocation. • Parents/carers have two weeks to respond to an offer of a school place. If an acceptance is not received it may be assumed that a place is no longer required and the offer may be withdrawn. • Parents who share responsibility for the care of their child are expected to reach agreement between them. In the event of a dispute all applications will be placed on hold and will not be processed until: • one joint application is made; or • written agreement is provided from both parents; or • a Court Order is obtained confirming which parent’s application carried precedence. • When stating the choice of school, parents/carers must give the child’s permanent address at the time of application. The address of childminders or other family members who may share in the care of the child must not be quoted as the home address. • If the child lives at more than one address Monday to Friday (for example due to a separation) the address used should be where the child lives most of the time during the school week. Only one address can be used. If the child lives at two addresses, Newcastle City Council will decide which address to use based on child benefit, child tax credit, Court Orders and/or GP registration. Waiting lists For applications for Reception places, waiting lists will be kept until the end of December 2027 and will then be cleared. Waiting lists will be ranked using the oversubscription criteria regardless of the date the application was received. From January and then on a termly basis, waiting lists will be cleared and parents will need to re-apply each term if they still want their child to be considered for a place at the school. Right of appeal Parents/carers who are refused a place for their child have a statutory right of appeal to an independent appeals panel. Please contact the School Appeals Team for information (phone 0191 277 7427 or email schoolappeals@newcastle.gov.uk). Information is also available at www.newcastle.gov.uk In Year Admissions Decisions about in year admissions are made by the school’s Trust Board although any applications must be submitted directly to your home Local Authority. If an application is received, a place is available and there is no waiting list, a place will be offered immediately. If an application is received and there is no place available the child will be placed on a waiting list. If there is more than one child on the waiting list and a place then becomes available the Trust Board will rank all applications and the place will be offered to the applicant ranked highest using the criteria set out previously. Children are expected to take up the school place within 10 school days of the offer being made. Definitions • A Looked After Child is a child who is in the care of a local authority in accordance with section 22 of the Children Act 1989 at the time the application for admission to school is made and whom the local authority has confirmed will still be looked after at the date of admission. • An Adoption Order is an order made under section 46 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002. • A Child Arrangements Order (previously known as a Residence Order) is an order outlining the arrangements as to the person with whom the child will live. • A Special Guardianship Order is an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian or guardians. Nursery Applications Valour Academy will deal with all Nursery admissions/applications directly. NOT through Newcastle City Council. An application can be requested in person, online, via post or via telephone. Offers: For September intake, offer letters will be posted out no later than May. Waiting List: All applicants that applied on time who are not initially offered a place on offer day will be kept on a waiting list. We will then contact you if a place becomes available. Please note that places on waiting lists can change as new applications are received. By law we must rank every new application fairly against the oversubscription criteria stated above, regardless of the date it was received. Your child may therefore move up and down the list over time, so we are unable to give you any firm indication of how long it will be before we may be able to offer a place. Late Applications: Late applications will be dealt with after all on-time applications have been processed and places allocated. Late applicants will not be made an offer on offer day. They will be offered as part of the second waiting list process. Over Subscription Criteria – Nursery This applies to Nursery ONLY. When Nursery is over-subscribed we will prioritise the admission by the following criteria –

Transcribed verbatim from the school's own published determined admission policy. A child with an Education, Health and Care Plan naming the school must be admitted; that is not an oversubscription criterion.

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.