Abbeyfield 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. 1Looked After Children/Previously Looked After Children — A 'looked after child' or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order 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. 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). Proof will be required and must be submitted by the deadline date.
2. 2Vulnerable children — Children from families registered with the National Asylum Support Service; children or families with a serious medical, physical or psychological condition where written evidence is provided at the time of application from a senior clinical medical officer, general practitioner or specialist showing that it would be detrimental to the child or family not to admit to the preferred school. For the purpose of the above criteria the word 'families' is determined as living at the same address at the time of application and also living at the same address on a permanent basis. Proof will be required and must be submitted by the deadline date.
3. 3Designated area siblings and shared area siblings — A child is considered under this criterion if a sibling is attending the school as at the deadline date and where the child lives within the designated area or shared area at the same address as the sibling. The sibling must not be in Year 11, 12 or 13 of the school at the deadline date. Step, half and foster siblings are included in this category.
4. 4Children of a member of staff — Children of a member of staff employed by Abbeyfield School for more than 2 years at the time at which the application is made, living in the same family unit at the same address.
5. 5Other children from the designated area or shared area — Children resident within the designated area or shared area who do not qualify under one of the criteria above. The catchment area index can be found on Wiltshire Council's website.
6. 6Other siblings — A child is considered under this criterion if a sibling is attending the school as at the deadline date and where the child lives at the same address as the sibling. The sibling must not be in Years 11, 12 or 13 at the school as of the deadline date. Step, half and foster siblings are also included in this category.

If two applications tie: If there are more applications than spaces available within any of the above criteria, priority will be given to those students who live nearest to the school; distance will be measured in a straight line between the student's home address and school, using eastings and northings (which are unique for every postal address). In the event of being oversubscribed in any of the above admission criterion to decide between two applications which cannot other be separated, a tiebreak will be employed. A tiebreak will consist of a random unseen allocation as conducted by the Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher.

Students with EHCPs are allocated by Central SEN Services at Wiltshire Council and must be admitted if the school is named in the EHCP; parents should not apply via the normal process. Sixth form entry requires 5 GCSEs at grade 4 or above including English Language and Maths, plus subject-specific criteria.

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.