St. Thomas More Catholic Primary School adheres to the Schools Admissions Code and the Schools Admission Appeals Code. The admissions process is part of the Birmingham Local Authority Co-ordinated Scheme.  The School’s Admission Number for the school year in 2023/24 is 45.

If you would like your child to attend our school, please see full details of our admission arrangements below. 

APPLICATIONS FOR CHILDREN TO BE ADMITTED INTO A CLASS OUTSIDE OF THEIR NORMAL AGE GROUP

If parents wish for their child to be considered for admission to a class outside of their normal age group, they should make an application for the normal age group in the first instance.  Parents should then submit a formal request to the Governing Body.  This request should be in the form of a written letter of application outlining the reasons why you wish for your child to be considered to be admitted into a class outside of their normal age group, and enclosing any supportive evidence and documentation that you wish to be taken into account as part of that request. 

The Governing Body will consider applications submitted and advise the parents of the outcome of their application before the national offer day, having taken into account the information provided by the parents, the child’s best interests and the views of the Headteacher.

If parents are considering submitting an application for their child to be admitted into a class outside of their normal age group, it is strongly recommended that they also read the DFE Guidance which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-school-admission

APPEALS

Parents who wish to appeal against the decision of the Governing Body to refuse their child a place in the school may apply in writing to Chair. Appeals will be heard by an independent panel.

REPEAT APPLICATIONS

Any parent can apply for a place for their child at any time outside the admissions round. Parents do not have the right to a second appeal in respect of the same school for the same academic year unless, in exceptional circumstances, the admissions authority has accepted a second application from the appellant because of a significant and material change in the circumstances of the parent, child or school but still refused admission.

LATE APPLICATIONS

Late applications will be dealt with according to the Local Authority co-ordinated admissions scheme.

CHANGE IN PREFERENCES

Once individuals with parental responsibility have submitted their preference, they will not be allowed to change them without an exceptional change in circumstances, for example, if the family has recently moved address or an older sibling has changed schools. All requests to change preferences should be made in writing to the home Local Authority. Where a change of preference is submitted for an oversubscribed school, without an exceptional change in their circumstances, then the application will be refused.

WAITING LISTS

Parents whose children have not been offered their preferred school will be informed of their right of appeal and will be added to their preferred schools waiting list.

The Local Authority will send voluntary aided and foundation schools their waiting lists following the offer of school places.

Waiting lists for admission will remain open until 31^st December and will then be discarded. Parents may apply for their child’s name to be reinstated until the end of the academic year when the list will be discarded.

Waiting lists will not be fixed following the offer of places. They are subject to change. This means that a child’s waiting list position during the year could go up or down. Any late applicants accepted will be added to the school’s list in accordance with the school’s oversubscription criteria.

Inclusion on a school’s waiting list does not mean that a place will eventually become available. It may be that those already offered places may accept them, thereby filling all available places.

Children who are the subject of a direction by a local authority to admit or who are allocated to a school in accordance with a Fair Access Protocol take precedence over those on a waiting list.

IN YEAR FAIR ACCESS PROTOCOL

The Governing Body is required to participate in the Local Authority’s Fair Access Protocol for admission of previously excluded or hard to place children.

APPLICATIONS OTHER THAN THE NORMAL INTAKE TO RECEPTION CLASS. (In-year applications) An application should be made to the Governing Body at the school.

There is no charge or cost related to the admission of a child to this school.

DEFINITION OF A “BAPTISED CATHOLIC”

A “Baptised Catholic” is one who:

• Has been baptised into full communion (Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 837) with the Catholic Church by the Rites of Baptism of one of the various ritual Churches in communion with the See of Rome (i.e. Latin Rite, Byzantine Rite, Coptic, Syriac, etc, Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1203). Written evidence* of this baptism can be obtained by recourse to the Baptismal registers of the church in which the baptism took place (Cf. Code of Canon law, 877 & 878).

Or

• Has been validly baptised in a separated ecclesial community and subsequently received into full communion with the Catholic Church by the Right of Reception of Baptised Christians into the Full Communion of the Catholic Church. Written evidence of their baptism and reception into full communion with the Catholic Church can be obtained by recourse to the Register of Receptions, or in some cases, a sub-section of the Baptismal Registers of the church in which the Rite of Reception took place (Cf. Rite of Christian Initiation, 399).

WRITTEN EVIDENCE OF BAPTISM

The Governing Body will require written evidence in the form of a Certificate of Baptism or Certificate of Reception before applications for school places can be considered for categories of “Baptised Catholics”. A Certificate of Baptism or Reception is to include: the full name, date of birth, date of Baptism or Reception, and parent(s) name(s). The certificate must also show that it is copied from records kept by the place of Baptism or Reception.

Those who would have difficulty obtaining written evidence of Catholic Baptism/Reception for a good reason, may still be considered as baptised Catholics but only after they have been referred to their parish priest who, after consulting the Vicar General, will decide how the question of Baptism/Reception is to be resolved and how written evidence is to be produced in accordance with the law of the Church.

Those who would be considered to have good reason for not obtaining written evidence would include those who cannot contact the place of Baptism/Reception due to persecution or fear, the destruction of the church and the original records, or where Baptism/Reception was administered validly but not in the Parish church where records are kept.

The Governing Body may request extra supporting evidence when the written documents that are produced do not clarify the fact that a person was baptised or received into the Catholic Church (i.e. where the name and address of the Church is not on the certificate or where the name of the Church does not state whether it is a Catholic Church or not).