St Mary and St Chad CofE First 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. 19.1 Children 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 who appear to have been in state care outside England and ceased to be in care as a result of being adopted.
2. 29.2 Medical grounds or exceptional circumstances AND hardship — Children who satisfy both of the following tests: • Test 1: The child is distinguished from the majority of applicants either on individual medical grounds or by other exceptional circumstances. o Medical grounds must be supported by a medical report provided at the point of application, clearly justifying why it is better for the child’s health to attend the preferred PVAT school. o Exceptional circumstances must relate to the individual child (not the parent/carer) and be supported by a professional report (e.g. social worker), justifying why it is better for the child to attend the preferred PVAT school. • Test 2: The child would suffer hardship if unable to attend the preferred PVAT school. Hardship means severe suffering, not merely difficulty or inconvenience, and must be evidenced at the time of application.
3. 39.3 Elder sibling attending the preferred school — Children with an elder sibling attending the preferred school at the time of admission. For these purposes, a sibling is defined as a child living at the same address who shares one or both natural parents, is related by a parent’s marriage, is adopted or fostered by a common parent, or is an unrelated child living at the same address whose parents live as partners.
4. 49.4 Living within the defined catchment or cluster area — (Except The Rural Enterprise Academy) Children living within the defined catchment or cluster area of the preferred PVAT school.
5. 59.5 Children of staff — Children of staff employed at the preferred school: • where the member of staff has been employed on a permanent contract for at least two years at the closing date for applications; or • where the member of staff is recruited to fill a post for which there is a demonstrable skills shortage. (School Admissions Code, para. 1.39)
6. 69.6 Feeder-school criterion (Penkridge Middle / Wolgarston High only; not applicable to a first school) — • For Penkridge Middle School (Year 5): children in Year 4 attending one of the feeder First Schools at the time of application. • For Wolgarston High School (Year 9): children in Year 8 attending one of the feeder Middle Schools at the time of application.
7. 79.7 Other children by straight-line distance from the main gate — Other children, arranged in order of priority according to the distance of their home address from the main gate of the preferred school, measured in a straight line using the Local Authority’s Geographical Information System.

If two applications tie: Where it is not possible to accommodate all children within a category, distance will be used as a tiebreaker. Applicants who cannot be offered a place will be advised of their right of appeal and provided with information about alternative schools with available places. | • Where two or more applicants cannot be separated by the oversubscription criteria (e.g. same block of flats, multiple births), places will be allocated by random selection. This process will be independently supervised.

Admission Arrangements for the Academic Year 2027/2028 Policy (Penk Valley Academy Trust) (the school's own arrangements, read 1 Oct 2026). Places split: none (single ordered list) Distance: 9.7 Other children, arranged in order of priority according to the distance of their home address from the main gate of the preferred school, measured in a straight line using the Local Authority’s Geographical Information System. | • Distances are measured using the Local Authority’s Geographical Information System (GIS), based on Ordnance Survey data, from the child’s home address to the school’s main gate.

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.