St Oswald's Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary 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. 1Looked after and previously looked after children — Children who are either currently or have previously been ‘looked after’. This applies to all children who are currently or have previously been, in the care of a local authority; all children who have been adopted from local authority care, subject to an adoption, residence or special guardianship order; and all children who appear to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of adoption, residence or special guardianship order. It is the responsibility of parent/carers, or the child’s social worker to provide the information to the admission authority that this criterion applies.
2. 2Catchment area with sibling — Children who live within the catchment area normally served by the preferred school, with a sibling at the preferred school at the time of admission. Catchment areas are designated by the LA and are made available to parent/carers online at www.york.gov.uk, and upon request from the Education Support Services team. Siblings are defined as brothers or sisters living in the same house, as their primary place of residence (including half-, step- and foster-brothers or sisters). The LA uses the address provided in the application, and using GIS software, determines which catchment area an address, and therefore a child, resides in. This address must be the address at which the child is ordinarily resident. Further detailed advice on addresses is contained within the Guide for Parents: www.york.gov.uk/guideforparents. It is the responsibility of parent/carers to include with their application the name of any sibling(s) where this criterion applies for checking by the LA.
3. 3Catchment area — Children who live within the catchment area normally served by the preferred school. Catchment areas are designated by the LA and are made available to parent/carers online at www.york.gov.uk, and upon request from the Education Support Services team. The LA uses the address provided in the application, and using GIS software, determines which catchment area an address, and therefore a child, resides in. This address must be the address at which the child is ordinarily resident. Further detailed advice on addresses is contained within Guide for Parents: www.york.gov.uk/guideforparents.
4. 4Exceptional social or medical needs — Children considered by the admission authority to have exceptional social or medical needs which makes the preferred school the most suitable school for the child. The admission authority may consult with other medical or educational professionals for a further opinion as to whether the child should be allocated a place at the preferred school due to a particular medical condition or social need. A medical condition alone does not guarantee ESM criteria. It is the responsibility of parent/carers to provide the additional information where they believe this criterion applies. To be given priority on this basis, the admission authority would have to be satisfied that the child’s needs were such that the preferred school would be the most suitable school for the child. Admissions officers defer these considerations and decisions to a panel of children’s services officers, in areas such as safeguarding and education social care. This ‘Exceptional Social and Medical (ESM) Panel’ considers any documentation provided by parent/carers and assesses whether these needs are ‘exceptional’ in nature. Admissions officers have no decision-making role in this process and only identify those applications to be considered by the ESM Panel and request further information from parent/carers. Those applications with supporting information that the ESM Panel determines are ‘exceptional’ would have to be where only the preferred school could meet the child’s need.
5. 5Sibling — Children with a sibling at the preferred school at the time of admission. Siblings are defined as brothers or sisters living in the same house, as their primary place of residence (including half-, step and foster-brothers or sisters). It is the responsibility of parent/carers to include with their application the name of any sibling(s) where this criterion applies for checking by the LA.
6. 6Distance from the school — Children who live closest to the preferred school using the nearest available safe walking route. Distances are measured by a GIS mapping system from the child’s home address to the closest entrance of the school. Distances are measured using a system of walking routes rather than straight line distances to better reflect the length of the journey from home to school. Within a contiguous urban area these routes are those that are properly paved and lit alongside roads and other walkways and do not include the York outer ring road. Outside a contiguous urban area, for example for applications from outside the City of York area, these distances continue to be measured along the road network. Where there are fewer places than children in an oversubscription priority as above, in order to decide to whom places will be allocated, the following tie-breakers will be applied: • first, to the child(ren) who also fulfil the next highest priority; • second, to the child(ren) living closest to the school as defined in priority 6; • and third, if the measurement of the distance from home to school above does not distinguish between two or more applicants with equal priority, random allocation will be used as the final tie-breaker, and independently verified. Where the application of the above would lead to a place being made available for a child of multiple birth, but not their multiple birth sibling(s), we will work within the Admissions Code in order to make a place available for the sibling(s) wherever reasonably possible.

If two applications tie: Distance by the nearest available safe walking route, measured with a GIS mapping system.

City of York Council is the admission authority for its community and voluntary controlled schools. Every such school has a designated catchment area. York measures distance by the nearest available SAFE WALKING ROUTE, not in a straight line. Academies, voluntary aided and foundation schools set their own 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.