St Stephen's Church of England Primary School

When there are more applications than places for 2026-27 (Reception), places are offered in this order of priority. Meeting a higher criterion beats meeting a lower one.

1. 1Criterion 1: Children and Young People in Care and previous Children and Young People in Care — Children and young people in care are children who are in (a)in the care of the local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of the social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989) at the time the application is made to school. 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) immediately following having been looked after and 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. Supporting evidence: If the child is in the care of a local authority or provided with accommodation by that authority this must be indicated on the common application form and evidence (e.g. evidence of child in care from the placement authority) to support this claim must be submitted with the common application form. If the child has previously been in the care of a local authority or provided with accommodation by them and has subsequently been adopted, or is subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order this must be indicated on the common application form and evidence (e.g. adoption certificate/copy of court order) to support this claim must be submitted with the common application form. For children in state care outside of England who ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted the relevant legal document(s)must be supplied.
2. 2Criterion 1(a): Year 2-3 — Where a child is attending the corresponding infant school i.e. a child attending Christ Church, Church of England Infant School will be allocated Christ Church, Church of England Junior School.
3. 3Criterion 2: Medical/Social — Whether there are specific medical or social circumstances that can be met only by the child’s attendance at the preferred school (see paragraph on medical/social claims on page 65). Please note that only in very exceptional cases are places allocated in respect of child’s/parent’s medical/social grounds.
4. 4Criterion 3: Siblings — Whether siblings attend the school (or the associated Infant/ Junior School) and will be attending the school (or the associated Infant/Junior School) in September 2026. (See definition of a sibling - page 64)
5. 5Criterion 4: Religion — To a child who has religious reasons for attending the preferred voluntary controlled school and for whom it can be demonstrated that s/he has current strong religious connections (see page 66). These reasons will only be taken into consideration if the preferred school is the nearest Church of England (voluntary-aided or voluntary controlled) school to the child’s home address (measured by a straight line from the home address to the school).
6. 6Criterion 5: Children whose parent/carer is a member of staff employed at the school — This applies where the parent/carer has been employed by the school for two or more years at the time at which the application of admission to the school is made, and/or where the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post at the school for which there is a demonstrable skills shortage. This criteria applies to allpermanent staff members, and excludes staff employed on a casual/temporary contract.
7. 7Criterion 6: Distance — How close the child lives (see definition of child’s home address on page 66) to the school requested, with those living closest to the school getting the highest priority. The distance from the applicant’s home and school is taken in a straight line between the respective school and the child’s home address. The distance is measured using the Local Authority’s software. If there are a limited number of spaces available and we cannot distinguish between applicants using the above criteria, children who live in the same block of flats will be offered the available spaces randomly selected by drawing lots.

Introducing Primary Education 2026/2027, Appendix 2 (Community schools, voluntary-controlled schools and academies – admission arrangements). The council lists this academy among those that follow these arrangements. How are community and voluntary-controlled school applications ranked? Provided that the number of requests for places at your preferred community or voluntary-controlled school does not exceed the school’s published admission number, a place could potentially be allocated. If the number of requests is greater than the school’s published admission number (PAN), applications will be prioritised in accordance with the Authority’s admission criteria for over-subscribed community and voluntary-controlled schools. Priority will be given to children as follows (OVER-SUBSCRIPTION CRITERIA FOR INFANT RECEPTION/YEAR 2-3). NB Tiebreaker: If there is an insufficient number of places to accommodate all the children of a particular criterion the next criterion will be used to assess the applications concerned in order to determine the allocation of places. Special Educational Needs: Children with EHCP are given overall priority to the named school. This will reduce the number of places at the school which are available for allocation in accordance with the above 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.