How to Apply

Transition from Primary to Secondary School

Oldershaw places great importance on ensuring that new students settle in well to life at the school. A series of induction activities are planned to ensure this transition is successfully achieved. The Head of Year 7 makes visits to all of the primary schools attended by our new students to support their arrival at Oldershaw in September. We also run a successful primary liaison programme, which gives students in all of our local primary schools the opportunity to attend a range of events and taster sessions. Please note – transitional and induction activity plans are currently on hold due to the pandemic. 

General principles for the Admission Criteria

For applications in the normal admissions round you should use the application form provided by your home local authority (regardless of which local authority the schools are in). You can use this form to express your preference for a minimum of 3 state-funded schools, in rank order. The school does not need you to complete any additional forms.

You will receive an offer for a school place directly from your local authority.

Applications for Y7-11 will be dealt with on the following basis:

All children whose statement of special educational needs (SEN) or education, health and care (EHC) plan names the school will be admitted before any other places are allocated.

If the school is not over-subscribed, all applicants will be offered a place.

In the event that the school receives more applications than the number of places it has available, places will be given to those children who meet any of the criteria set out below, in order until all places are filled.

1. Highest priority will be given to looked after children and all previously looked after children who apply for a place at the school

2. Children who have an exceptional medical reason or social need. Parents must provide medical or social evidence together with a letter of support from a health or multi-agency professional. The reason for selecting the school must be made clear and the school must be satisfied it can meet those needs.

3. Priority will next be given to children with siblings at the school. Siblings include step siblings, foster siblings, adopted siblings and other children living permanently at the same address. Priority will not be given to children with siblings who are former pupils of the school

4. Children whose home is closest to the school. 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. The distance will be measured by the Local Authority mapping system.

5. Priority will next be given to children of staff at the school, in either of the following circumstances:

a) The member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made, or
b) The member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage

In the case of 2 or more applications that cannot be separated by the oversubscription criteria outlined above, where the distance between 2 children’s homes and the school is the same, random allocation will be used to decide between them. This process will be independently verified.

Each individual case will be judged on its merits and the offer of a place may be withdrawn if it is discovered Misleading information has been provided.

Requests for admission outside the normal age group

Parents are entitled to request a place for their child outside of their normal age group.

Decisions on requests for admission outside the normal age group will be made on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. In accordance with the School Admissions Code, this will include taking account of:

• Parents’ 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
• Whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely
• The principals’ views

Wherever possible, requests for admission outside a child’s normal age group will be processed as part of the main admissions round. They will be considered on the basis of the admission arrangements laid out in this policy, including the oversubscription criteria listed in section 6.

Applications will not be treated as a lower priority if parents have made a request for a child to be admitted outside the normal age group.

Parents will always be informed of the reasons for any decision on the year group a child should be admitted to. Parents do not have a right to appeal if they are offered a place at the school but it is not in their preferred age group.

Y7-11 Appeals

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. Please refer to wirral.gov.uk for the appeals timetable should you wish to appeal, you must set out the grounds for your appeal in writing and send it to following address:

School Appeals

PO Box 290, Brighton Street, Wallasey, CH27 9FQ

Email: secondaryplaces@wirral.gov.uk
Tel. no: 0151 606 2020

If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us, we will be happy to help.

In-year admissions

You can apply for a place for your child at any time outside the normal admissions round. As is the case in the normal admissions round, all children whose statement of SEN or EHC plan names the school will be admitted.

Likewise, if there are spaces available in the year group you are applying for, your child will always be offered a place.

If there are no spaces available at the time of your application, your child’s name will be added to a waiting list for the relevant year group. When a space becomes available it will be filled by one of the pupils on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria listed in section 6.3 of this policy. Priority will not be given to children on the basis that they have been on the waiting list the longest.

Applications for in-year admissions should be sent to the following address:

School Admissions

PO Box 290, Brighton Street, Wallasey, CH27 9FQ

Email: secondaryplaces@wirral.gov.uk Tel. no: 0151 606 2020

If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us, we will be happy to help.