Moorside 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. 1Children in care / previously in care — Children in care and children who ceased to be in care because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order), including those children who appear (to the admission authority) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted see additional note * below.
2. 2Medical or exceptional circumstances with hardship — Children who satisfy both of the following tests: Test 1: the child is distinguished from the great majority of applicants either on their own medical grounds or by other exceptional circumstances... Test 2: the child would suffer hardship if they were unable to attend the preferred school. Hardship means severe suffering of any kind, not merely difficulty or inconvenience, which is likely to be experienced as a result of the child attending a different school. Applicants must provide detailed information about both the type and severity of any likely hardship at the time of application.
3. 3Sibling attending the school — Children who have an elder sibling in attendance at the preferred school and who will still be attending the school at the proposed admission date; (For admission purposes, a brother or sister is a child who lives at the same address and either: have one or both natural parents in common; are related by a parents marriage; are adopted or fostered by a common parent or are unrelated children who live at the same address, whose parents live as partners.)
4. 4Children living within catchment area — Children living within the catchment area of the preferred school see additional note ** below
5. 5Children from major contributory primary schools — Children who attend certain primary schools defined as major contributory schools see additional note *** below
6. 6Children of staff at the school — Children of staff at Moorside High School where the member of staff has been: employed for two or more years at the time of application, or recruited to fill a vacancy for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage
7. 7Distance from home to school — Other children arranged in order of priority according to how near their home addresses are to the main gate of the school, determined by a straight-line measurement as calculated by the local authority's geographical information system. see additional note **** below

If two applications tie: If we cannot distinguish between applicants using the criteria listed, such as in the case of children who live in the same block of flats, then the child or children who will be offered the available spaces will be randomly selected. This process will be independently verified.

Where it is not possible to accommodate all children applying for places within a particular category then the local authority will allocate the available places in accordance with the remaining criteria. If all catchment area children cannot be accommodated, children resident within catchment will be arranged in order of priority according to remaining criteria (5 and then 6). CATCHMENT: Children living within the catchment area of the preferred school see additional note ** below Transcribed from the school's own determined admission arrangements as published by Staffordshire County Council. Children with an EHCP naming the school are admitted first; that is a statutory duty, 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.