St Peter's CofE Primary School

When there are more applications than places for 2025-26 (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 — Looked after children and all previously looked after children, 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. Previously looked after children are 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
2. 2Children in receipt of the service premium — Children who are in receipt of the service premium. (The service premium is a separate grant paid to schools and local authorities to support children whose parent(s) are currently serving or have previously served in the armed forces.) Pupils attract the premium if they meet the following criteria: one of their parents is serving in the regular armed forces; they have been registered as a 'service child' in the school census at any point since 2011; one of their parents died while serving in the armed forces and the pupil receives a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) or the War Pensions Scheme (WPS)
3. 3Children of families who worship within The Parish of the Good Shepherd — Children of families who worship within The Parish of the Good Shepherd, Ashton-Under-Lyne. The child must have attended a Church within the Parish of the Good Shepherd, thirteen times or more in the year immediately before the application. Verification will be required from the minister or church official [see supplementary form*]. Churches within The Parish of the Good Shepherd are: St. Peter's, Holy Trinity, St. Michael & All Angels, St. James, St. Gabriel. In the event that during the period specified for attendance at worship the church has been closed for public worship and has not provided alternative premises for that worship, the requirements of these [admissions] arrangements in relation to attendance will only apply to the period when the church or alternative premises have been available for public worship. Consequently, the minimum of 13 attendances will be reduced pro rata (by 1) for each four week period for which the church has been closed.
4. 4Children of members of staff at St. Peter's Primary School — Children whose parents are members of staff at St. Peter's Primary School, where: i. the member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made, and/or ii. the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.
5. 5Children of families who worship at other Christian Churches — Children of families who worship at other Christian Churches. The child must have attended another church in the membership of 'Churches Together in Britain and Ireland' thirteen times or more in the year immediately before the application. Verification will be required from the minister or church official [see supplementary form*]. A list of Churches in membership of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland can be viewed at www.ctbi.org.uk. In the event that during the period specified for attendance at worship the church has been closed for public worship and has not provided alternative premises for that worship, the requirements of these [admissions] arrangements in relation to attendance will only apply to the period when the church or alternative premises have been available for public worship. Consequently, the minimum of 13 attendances will be reduced pro rata (by 1) for each four week period for which the church has been closed.
6. 6Other exceptional medical or family circumstances — Other exceptional medical or family circumstances, for which evidence will be required. Evidence must be provided from a doctor or other agency that he/she has exceptional medical needs which means that admission to a particular school is essential, reference will normally be made to the Community Health Physician, Social Services or the Educational Psychologist, as appropriate. Governors will make a decision as to whether to admit a child under this criteria using the evidence provided. If evidence is not provided the Governors will not give higher priority under this criteria. All information provided will be treated in the strictest confidence.
7. 7Siblings — Siblings: this will apply where the applicant has one or more brothers or sisters attending the school at the time of application, who will still be attending at the time of admission. The sibling criterion includes; natural sisters/brothers; half-sisters/brothers; step sisters/brothers; adopted sisters/brothers; sisters/brothers of fostered children, and in each case living at the same address. This allows for the admittance of children whose siblings will still be attending the preferred school.
8. 8Any other children – nearest by distance — Any other children: Priority will be given to children who live nearest the school. Distance will be measured as a straight line from the child's home address, using the address point assigned by the National Land and Property Gazetteer, to the main gate to the school property. Measurements will be made using the local authority's school admissions data mapping software, which employs a Geographical Information System based on Ordinance Survey. The address from which distance will be measured will be the permanent residential address, at the time of application, of the parent with whom the child is normally resident. Where a child lives with parents with shared responsibility, each for part of a week, the home address is the address from which the child travels to school for the majority of school days per week. If the number of days is exactly equal the home address will be that of the parent who receives the Child Benefit.

If two applications tie: If there is oversubscription in any of the criteria, then distance from home address to school will be used to determine the allocation of places. If this does not distinguish between two or more applicants with equal priority for the remaining place, random allocation will be used as the final tie-breaker. This will be supervised by someone independent of the school.

The policy also states that in the event of distances being the same for 2 or more applications where this distance would be the last place/s to be allocated, the place will be allocated to the pupil that is nearer using walking distance as measured using the local authority's school admissions data mapping software.

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.