Co-op Academy Beckfield (the academy) is part of The Co-op Academies Trust (the Trust). The Trust is the admissions authority for the Academy, and is therefore responsible for ensuring that these arrangements are compliant with the Admissions Code 2021.

This document aims to provide information on how to apply for a place at the academy, how places are allocated, and how to appeal against a decision not to offer your child a place.

This document is based on the following documents from the Department for Education:

→ School Admissions Code 2021

→ School Admission Appeals Code

As an academy, the school is required by its funding agreement to comply with these codes, and with the law relating to admissions as set out in the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.

Consultation

These arrangements were consulted on between 17th December 2021 and 31st January 2022. During this consultation, we asked for feedback from governors, parents, staff, the local authority, neighbouring local authorities and other key stakeholders.

In-line with the requirements set out in the Admissions Code, unless any changes are made in the interim, these arrangements will next be consulted on in December 2028.

Education, Health and Care Plan

All children whose Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) names the school must be admitted. These children will be admitted ahead of any oversubscription criteria being applied.

How to Apply for a Place

This section of the document is separated into the following sections:

Reception admissions
In-year admissions

Reception Admissions

Our Published Admissions Number (PAN) is 30. This means that we admit 30 children into reception each year.

Our academy is part of Leeds City Council coordinated admissions process, and as such, allocation of places for reception is completed by them according to the criteria set out below.

All parents/carers are required to apply to their home Local Authority (LA) regardless of where the academy they are applying for is situated.

For example Leeds residents will apply to Leeds City Council, whilst Bradford residents will apply to Bradford City Council. The LA will liaise with other Admissions Authorities in Bradford and other LAs where required. Leeds City Council will inform parents/carers in writing of the outcome of their application on 16th April or the next working day.

In England, compulsory school age is 5 years old.

Admission to primary school is provided for all children in the September following their fourth birthday. Where a child is offered a place at a school, that child is entitled to a full-time place in the September following their fourth birthday; the child’s parents can defer the date their child is admitted to the school until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age and not beyond the beginning of the final term of the school year for which it was made; and where the parents wish, children may attend part-time until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age.

Information on how to apply can be found here:

Leeds City Council

Bradford City Council

If you live in another area find your local council here

All children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) that names our academy will automatically be given a place before any other applications are considered.

Oversubscription

If we receive more applications than the PAN, places will be allocated according to the following criteria:

Priority 1 – Looked after and previously looked after children

A looked after child is defined as a child who is (one of the following):

in the care of a local authority
being provided with accommodation by a local authority's social services (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989)

A previously looked after child is any child who was previously looked after but stopped being so because they were (one of the following):

adopted, including those adopted from state care outside of England
became subject to a Special Guardianship order
became subject to a Child Arrangements Order

You must submit evidence of your child's previously looked after status (a copy of the court order or adoption birth certificate and evidence of being in local authority care or a letter from the state) with your application.

Priority 2 – Children with exceptional social or medical needs that can only be met at a specific school

This priority is a request for admission to one specific school because your child has exceptional needs that can only be met at that school. It must be supported by professional evidence.

All schools in Leeds have experience of supporting a wide range of social and medical needs. However, in exceptional cases, there may be compelling reasons why a child needs to attend one specific school. This priority can be requested in these cases, and applicants will need to clearly demonstrate the connection between your child's need, the specific school and how that school can meet your child's needs in a way that no other school can. It must be supported by professional evidence. A panel of council officers will review your request for this priority.

A request would not be granted where a parent wishes for their child to attend a school based on the child's abilities, because their friends attend the school or due to childcare arrangements. Any request for this priority must outline why the child's circumstances are exceptional, and why only one school is suitable.

You can find out more about this priority on the City Council’s ‘check if you need to submit extra information’ page.

You must provide the following information with your application:

your child's name, date of birth and address
the name of the school
what precise support your child requires due to their specific needs
why only this school can provide the support needed to meet your child's needs and no other can
what extra support or funding your child currently receives
supporting evidence from an independent professional, such as a medical specialist which confirms exactly what your child's needs are and why, in their view, only one school can meet that need. Without this evidence, your child's needs cannot be considered.

Priority 3 – Children who have a brother or sister attending the school

To get this priority, the sibling must:

live the same address as the child applying
still go to the school when the child applying starts (in September)
be a full, half, step or foster sibling (this priority does not include cousins or other family members sharing a house)

Priority 4 - Other children by straight line distance

If none of the other priorities apply, your application will be considered under this priority.

Tie Breaker

In the case of two or more applications that cannot be separated by the oversubscription criteria outlined above, the school will use the distance between the school and a child’s home as a tie breaker to decide between applicants. Priority will be given to children who live closest to the school. Distance will be measured in a straight line from the child’s home address to the school’s front gates on Tyersal Walk. A child’s home address will be considered to be where he/she is resident for the majority of nights in a normal school week.

Where the distance between two children’s homes and the school is the same, random allocation will be used to decide between them. This process will be independently verified.

Waiting List

A waiting list for reception children is maintained by Leeds Local Authority as part of their co-ordinated admissions process. If your child is not offered a place in reception at our academy, your child’s name will automatically be added to our waiting list. Your child’s name will remain on the waiting list until a) you are offered a place at a higher preference school, b) you are offered a place at our academy, c) the waiting list closes (usually on 31st December).

After the 31st December, you may re-apply for an in-year admission place - please see below. If no spaces are available at the time of application, you will be added to the in-year admissions waiting list for the appropriate year group.

In-Year Admissions

You can apply for a place in any year group at any time. This might happen because you are moving to the area and your child has already started school elsewhere, or because you feel our academy would be a better fit for your child.

You can contact us to find out if we have spaces in specific year groups before you apply. If we don’t have space in the requested year group, you can still apply. If you apply for a place and there are currently no places available, your child’s name will be added to the waiting list. Your child’s name will be kept on the waiting list until the end of the academic year.

To make an ‘in-year’ application, you should complete an ‘in-year’ application form online via your home local authority.

Information on how to apply can be found here:

Leeds City Council

Bradford City Council

If you live in another area find your local council here

The local authority will contact us directly regarding your application, and we will contact you as soon as possible to let you know the outcome of your application.

Children with an EHCP that names our academy will be given a place regardless of whether the year group has spaces or whether there is a waiting list. Please see information on infant class sizes below for more details.

Waiting List

A waiting list for each year group is maintained by Leeds Local Authority as part of their co-ordinated admissions process. If your child is not offered a place at our academy, your child’s name will automatically be added to our waiting list. Your child’s name will remain on the waiting list until a) you are offered a place at a higher preference school, b) you are offered a place at our academy, c) the waiting list closes (end of summer term).

After the end of the academic year, you may re-apply for an in-year admission place. If no spaces are available at the time of application, you will be added to the in-year admissions waiting list for the appropriate year group.

Further Information

Which address to use

When you apply you must use the child's permanent address, where they usually live with their parent(s) or carer(s). You must not use any other address on your application.

Using the address of a childminder, a relative or renting a property for a short period of time in order to secure a school place is considered as a fraudulent application. We will investigate all queries about addresses and we could change the school place offer.

If we find out that an intentionally misleading or false address has been given to get a school place, the school place may be withdrawn even if the child has already started at the school.

Only one address can be used on your application for a school place, and this should be the address where the child lives for the majority of the week. In cases of equal shared care, both parents must agree which address will be used on the application.

Infant Class Sizes

Infant classes (those where the majority of children will reach the age of 5, 6 or 7 during the school year) must not contain more than 30 pupils with a single school teacher.

Additional children may be admitted under limited exceptional circumstances. These children will remain an ‘excepted pupil’ for the time they are in an infant class or until the class numbers fall back to the current infant class size limit.

The excepted children are:

Children admitted outside the normal admissions round with Education, Health and Care Plans specifying the school;
Looked after children and previously looked after children admitted outside the normal admissions round;
Children admitted after initial allocation of places, because of a procedural error made by the admission authority or local authority in the original application process;
Children admitted after an independent appeals panel upholds an appeal;
Children who move into the area outside the normal admissions round for whom there is no other available school within reasonable distance;
Children of UK service personnel admitted outside the normal admissions round;
Children whose twin or sibling from a multiple birth is admitted otherwise than as an excepted pupil;
Children with special educational needs who are normally taught in a special educational needs unit attached to the school, or registered at a special school, who attend some infant classes within the mainstream school.

Admission of Children Outside Their Normal Age Group

Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group, for example, if the child is gifted and talented or has experienced problems such as ill health. In addition, the parents of a summer born child may choose not to send that child to school until the September following their fifth birthday and may request that they are admitted out of their normal age group – to reception rather than year 1.

We will make decisions on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. This will include taking account of the parent’s views; information about the child’s academic, social, and emotional development; where relevant, their medical history and the views of a medical professional; whether they have previously been educated out of their normal age group; and whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely. Our headteacher’s views will also be considered in this decision making process.

If you wish to make an application for your child in these circumstances, please contact the school and arrange a meeting with the headteacher to discuss this further. Following this meeting we will encourage you to apply for a place via the normal application process (via your home local authority) and we will work closely with them to carefully consider your application. Your application, regardless of whether your child is offered a place in their chronological year group or another year group, will be offered based on the criteria used for all applications (e.g. our oversubscription criteria).

Parents/Carers have a statutory right to appeal against the refusal of a place at a school for which they have applied. This right does not apply if they are offered a place at the school, but it is not in their preferred age group.

Making an Appeal

If your child’s application for a place at the school is unsuccessful, you will be informed why admission was refused and given information about the process for hearing appeals. Leeds City Council operates an appeals process for Co-op Academy Beckfield, full details of which are available here.

You can find details of the school’s appeals timetable on our website.

Challenging behaviour

We will not refuse to admit a child on behavioural grounds in the normal admissions round or at any point in the normal year of entry. We may refuse admission in certain cases where the specific criteria listed in the School Admissions Code (paragraph 3.8) apply, i.e. where section 87 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 is engaged.

We may refuse admission for an in-year applicant for a year group that isn’t the normal point of entry, only in such a case that we have good reason to believe that the child may display challenging behaviour that may adversely affect the provision we can offer. In this case, we will refer these pupils to the Fair Access Protocol. We will not refuse admission on these grounds to looked after children, previously looked after children and children with EHC plans listing the school.

Fair Access Protocol

All schools have an active role in admitting pupils under the Fair Access Protocol. The protocol operates outside the boundaries of the Admissions policy. It is a statutory requirement. The aim is to make sure the most vulnerable children are offered a place at a suitable school as quickly as possible, and that no school, including those with places, is asked to take a disproportionate number of vulnerable children.

More information can be found here.