All pupils will be admitted if the admission number has not been reached.

However, if we receive more applications than we have places available, applications will be considered against the oversubscription criteria, which are listed in priority order.

Any child for whom the school is named in a Statement of Special Educational Needs / Individual Development Plan (IDP) will be admitted before the application of the oversubscription criteria.

Criteria

Criteria to be applied in order of priority by the local authority for admission to nursery, primary and secondary schools:

  1. Looked after children or previously looked after children
  2. Children who have exceptional medical, or educational needs, which in the opinion of the Admissions Authority justify admission to a particular school
  3. Children for whom the preferred school is the nearest suitable school to the pupil’s home address, giving higher priority to pupils who also meet criteria (4) below
  4. Pupils who will have a sister or brother attending the preferred school on the expected admission date. The ‘sibling rule’ will only be applied for the statutory period of education (up to Year 11)
  5. Other children for whom criteria 1-4 above do not apply

If there are more applications than places in any of the above categories a ‘tie breaker’ will be applied and the places will be allocated in distance order giving priority to those living nearest to the school, the LA consistently uses distances that are measured on a GIS mapping system.

If the authority is unable to comply with the parental preference(s) expressed then the parent will be asked to consider available places at alternative schools.

Nearest suitable school 

For the allocation of places, the nearest suitable school is interpreted as:

  • the LA maintained school nearest to the child’s home measured from child’s home address to the school by the shortest walking route
  • the nearest Welsh medium school to the child’s home measured from child’s home address to the school by the shortest walking route; where parents wish their children to receive their education through the medium of Welsh
  • the nearest denominational school where parents wish to have their children educated in a denominational school

When making a decision about the ‘nearest suitable school’ the local authority will accept only the pupil’s home address and not that, for example, of childminder, friend or grandparents.