North Oxfordshire Academy

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 — Children who are 'looked after' (LAC) by a Local Authority at the time of application, and all 'previously looked after' children (PLAC), including those who appear to have been in state care outside England (IAPLAC) and ceased to be in state care having been adopted.
2. 2Children of United Learning staff — Children of United Learning staff where the member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time of application, and/or recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.
3. 3Feeder school, in catchment, sibling — Children who attend one of the designated feeder schools in the partnership and live in the catchment area and have a brother or sister on roll at the time of application who will still be attending at the time of entry.
4. 4In catchment, sibling — Children who live in the catchment area and have a brother or sister on roll at the time of application who will still be attending at the time of entry.
5. 5Feeder school, in catchment — Children who attend one of the designated feeder schools in the partnership and live in the catchment area.
6. 6In catchment — Children who live in the catchment area.
7. 7Feeder school, sibling, outside catchment — Children who attend one of the designated feeder schools in the partnership and have a brother or sister on roll at the time of application who will still be attending at the time of entry but live outside the catchment area.
8. 8Sibling, outside catchment — Children who have a brother or sister on roll at the time of application who will still be attending at the time of entry but live outside the catchment area.
9. 9Feeder school, outside catchment — Children who attend one of the designated feeder schools in the partnership but live outside the catchment area.
10. 10Outside catchment, not at feeder school — Children who do not attend one of the designated feeder schools in the partnership and live outside the catchment area.

If two applications tie: Within all categories, priority is always given to children who live closest to North Oxfordshire Academy by the direct straight-line route as defined on the Directorate's Geographic Information System. If this distance tie-break produces an identical result for two or more applicants who live at different addresses and are not children of a multiple birth, the Local Authority uses random allocation.

Children who have an EHC Plan naming the school in Section I must always be admitted; the document explicitly states 'this is not an oversubscription criterion'. Within-category priority is always by straight-line distance, operating as a running tie-break across every criterion, not only as a final tie-break. The same ranked criteria also govern Year 12 entry, except that criteria 3, 5, 7, 9 and 10 (all relating to designated feeder schools) do not apply to Year 12 applicants, per the document's explicit statement - see the separate Year 12 entry.

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.