Thomas Mills High School & Sixth Form

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 and previously looked after children — Looked after children (children in care) and previously looked after children (children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order, immediately following having been looked after, including those 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).
2. 2Sibling link — Sibling: where the child has a sibling in the school or a sibling has already been offered a place at the school, and where the sibling will still be attending the school at the time of admission but not in a specialist unit or a specialist resource base for Hearing Impaired provision, a nursery or in the sixth form. Priority will be given, where necessary, to applications where there is the smallest already attending the school, or who has been offered a place at the time of application.
3. 3Residence in the school's catchment area — Children who are ordinarily resident in the catchment area and who live nearest to the school. calculated electronically by Suffolk County Council using data provided jointly by the Post Office and Ordnance Survey. The data plots the co-ordinates of each property and provides the address-point between which the straight line distance is measured and reported to three decimal places. Where there is more than one home within a single building (for example apartments) we will measure to a single point within that building irrespective of where those homes are located. 2
4. 4Sibling link — criterion 3 above. Sibling tie-breaker Priority will be given, where necessary, to applications where there is the smallest age gap in calendar school, or who has been offered a place at the time of application. In the unlikely event that two applicants competing for a single place at a school have the same number of days difference in age from their closest aged sibling, the place will be offered to one applicant on the basis of lots drawn by someone independent of the school. Distance tie-breaker It is possible that the PAN of the school will be reached in any one of the categories set out above. For this reason, all applications will be prioritised according to the criteria described. Decisions will be made about the offer of places in accordance with those priorities. If it is necessary to use a tie- breaker to distinguish between two or more applications, a distance criterion will be used. We will give priority to the applicants who live nearest to the school as measured by a straight line. In the unlikely event that two applicants competing for a single place at a school live the same distance from the school, the place will be offered to one applicant on the basis of lots drawn by someone independent of the school. Twins, triplets and other multiple births If the final place available is offered to a twin, triplet or other multiple birth and the remaining sibling(s) would ordinarily be refused, we will offer places to the remaining sibling(s). Where a sibling of a twin, triplet or other multiple birth has a school named on their EHC plan, we will from the date of issue of the EHC plan treat their twin, triplets or other multiple births under the sibling oversubscription criterion for the named school. This does not apply to siblings of children in a specialist unit or a specialist resource base for Hearing Impaired provision or a nursery, because they do not meet the sibling definition in the oversubscription criteria. Late applications All applications received by the Local Authority after the deadline will be considered to be late applications. Late applications will be considered after those received on time. If you were unable to apply by the closing date, and the Local Authority agree that there are very exceptional reasons for an application being late, it will be considered as on time if it is received by the exceptional late date in the Co-ordinated Admissions Scheme and evidence is provided with your application. This only applies in circumstances outside your control which made it impossible for the application to have been made on time. Further information is available from the Local Authority on 0345 600 0981 or at www.suffolk.gov.uk/admissions. Admission of children outside their normal age group It is expected that children will normally be educated within their normal age group (chronological year group). However, we will make decisions on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned in line with the School Admissions Code. You can make a request to the school in writing. This will need to include, where relevant, any 3 supporting information about why the child should be admitted out of their normal age group. has previously been educated out of their normal age group; and whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely. Any evidence in respect of these or any other reasons can be submitted. Where relevant, consideration can be given to the treatment such as: a speech and language therapist an occupational therapist a social worker a paediatrician We will make a decision on the request, taking into account the views of the headteacher. Parents and carers are not expected to get evidence that they do not already have. We will write to you with the outcome including the reasons for the decision. If the request is refused, you we be given the details of how to complain to the school. A CAF1 application form must be sent to Suffolk County Council along with the decision letter from the school and other relevant evidence by the national closing date. Even if the request is agreed there is no guarantee there will be a place available. Waiting lists The school will operate a waiting list for Year 7 where the school receives more applications for places than there are places available, the waiting list will operate until 31 December. criteria. Where places become vacant, they will be allocated to children on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. The waiting list will be reordered in accordance with the oversubscription criteria whenever anyone is added to or leaves the waiting list. Appeals All applicants refused a place have a right of appeal to an independent appeal panel constituted and operated in accordance with the School Admission Appeals Code. Information on how to make an appeal will be provided in the letter refusing your child a school place. Notes: Parent For the purposes of education law, Section 576 of the Education Act 1996 defines a 'parent' as: all natural (biological) parents, whether they are married or not; any person who, although not a natural parent, has parental responsibility for a child or 4 young person (this could be a step-parent, guardian or other relative); any person who, although not a natural parent, has care of a child or young person. A person has care of a child or young person if they are the person with whom the child lives and who looks after the child, irrespective of what their relationship is with the child. Sibling of the parent/carer; and children who are fostered into the family. In all these cases, the child and their sibling will both be living at the same address (that is where the child is ordinarily resident) in a single family unit. This means that children from different family units, where those separate families are living together at the same address, are not considered siblings under this criterion. Ordinarily resident By ordinarily resident we mean the place where your child usually lives. We consider this to be where they sleep overnight. We may need proof of this address. If you use another address to give the impression that your child lives at a different address to where they are ordinarily resident, such as a we consider this to be a fraudulent application. Where a child lives at two or more addresses, each for part of the week, the address at which the child is ordinarily resident will be considered to be the address that the child lives at for most of the week (excluding weekends and school holidays). arrangements at the time of application. In cases where the child spends an equal proportion of the school week at two or more different addresses, evidence of which is to be considered the main contact address will be required to support the application. Agreement in writing by the parents will be required to state which address is to be used as the ordinarily resident address. This address will then be used when processing all school preferences expressed. It is not acceptable to use one address for one school preference and another address for another school preference. If we are aware of a parental dispute affecting the application, we may not be able to deal with the application and you may need to seek independent legal advice in order to resolve the matter. Looked after children A 'looked after child' is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989). Previously looked after children Previously looked after children includes children who were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 (section 12 adoption orders) and children who were adopted under the Adoption and Childrens Act 2002 (section 46 adoption orders). Child arrangements orders are defined in section 8 of the Children Act 1989, as amended by section 12 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Child arrangements orders replace residence orders and any residence order in force prior to 22 April 2014 is deemed to be a child arrangements order. 5 Children adopted from state care outside of England A child is regarded as having been in state care outside of England if they were in the care of or were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation, or any other provider of care whose sole or main purpose is to benefit society and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. Catchment area The catchment area list and/or map are available at www.suffolk.gov.uk/admissions or by calling Admissions for Year 12 The admissions number for Year 12 is 140. Policy amended July 2024 with the following points: Operational Capacity. Where a year group recruits below PAN, the school has to consider the best use of resources and this includes financial resources. In some cases, an operational capacity will be set which may be below the PAN. SEPTEMBER 2022 ENTRY: The year group that started Year Seven in 2022 was below PAN, 168. It has remained below PAN in Year Eight reaching 145 students. This has led to a corresponding drop in funding and the school has reduced staffing levels as a result. The school has organised its teaching groups around this number and as a result it is no longer effective, efficient or desirable to go beyond a reasonable number which has been set as 150. On average this allows for five teaching groups of 30 students. The constraints to many of the classrooms make it unlikely that groups of 31 or above are achievable either. 150 has therefore been set as an Operational PAN or Operational Capacity. Applications above the Operational PAN are likely to be rejected for the reasons set out above. The above point also applies to the SEPTEMBER 2024 entry and an operational capacity of 150 has been set. Policy amended May 2025 with the following points: SEPTEMBER 2023 ENTRY: The year group that started year seven in 2023 has remained below PAN. The mid-year admissions are not funded and therefore the school has had to operate with reduced staffing levels. As option subjects have now been set and teaching groups organised it is no longer effective, efficient or desirable to go beyond the number which has been set as 160. Some core subjects have only 5 teaching groups and the average class size can be above 30. 160 is operational PAN or operational capacity. Applications above the operational PAN are likely to be rejected for the reasons set out above. Update From the 1st September 2025 we have decided to return to the published number to admit, which is 168. Following a consultation exercise, teachers will be able to teach an extra lesson, and this will accommodate additional classes, although funding per pupil will follow in September 2026. Interest in the year group has increased which suggests the extra places will get allocated. 6

Read 2026-09-12 from Suffolk County Council's published list of school details, admission policies and supplementary information forms for 2027/2028, which hosts every Suffolk school's policy on the council's own site. CORRECTION 2026-09-13: this row was written on 12 September with the right admission number, notes and source but an empty rule list — every rule came out blank. The rules below were re-read from the same published document. The rules were re-read from the same published policy this row already cites.

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.