Admissions Process & Policy

If you are interested in applying for a place for your child at St Thomas More Catholic Primary School, you can apply for a place at our school in the school year that your son or daughter turns 5 years old. We cater for children from Reception through to Year 6 in our Main School and for younger children from 3 years of age at our Pre-School.  

For children attending the school’s pre-school, application to the Reception year of the school must be made in the normal way, to the Local Authority.  Attendance at the school’s pre-school does not automatically guarantee that a place will be offered at the school.

All information on how to apply for a place at St Thomas More Catholic Primary School, including contact details for the school and Local Authority, is contained in our Admissions Policy which you can download following the link below.

If however you would like to speak to us to arrange a visit to meet the Head Teacher and other members of staff prior to applying for a place, please contact the School Office to arrange a mutually convenient appointment for you to come along to our school. Call 01242 513339 to make arrangements.

Gloucestershire Local Authority is responsible for all the allocation of school places for children joining Reception.  The Governors are responsible for ranking the applications according to the Admissions Policy of that year.

The deadline for applications is midnight on 15th January 2024.

Applying for a school place during the school year (in-year applications)

Gloucestershire County Council In-Year Admissions Guidance Booklet

In Year Admissions In Year applications are those applications made during the academic year for a school place in Reception (FS) through to Year 6.   To apply for a place at St Thomas More Catholic Primary School Parent/Carer(s) should contact the school directly in the first instance. The child’s Parent/Carer(s) will need to complete an In Year Admissions Common Application Form and send it to the School Office.  The In Year Admissions Common Application Form  is available on the County Council website. Further advice can be sought from the In Year Team

If applying under one of the faith based criteria, a copy of the child's Birth Certificate, Certificate of Baptism or letter from a member of the clergy should also be submitted.  A proof of address are also required to support your application.  This can be read in more detail in the Admissions Policy of that year.

If the School is oversubscribed in a year group, where Parent/Carer(s) request it, the child’s name will be added to a waiting list for 2 months from the latest request to be on the In Year waiting list that will be kept in order of the over-subscription criteria.  It is the Parent/Carer(s) responsibility to contact the school every 2 months. Each added child to the list will require the list to be ranked again in line with the above published over-subscription criteria.

Please read the documents on the County Council website  regarding applying for a place during the academic year and download and fill in the In Year Application form below:  

Pre-School

For children attending the school’s pre-school, application to the Reception year of the school must be made in the normal way, to the Local Authority.  Attendance at the school’s pre-school does not automatically guarantee that a place will be offered at the school.

Primary School Admission Appeals

It is very important that a fair and independent process is in place for parents to appeal against decisions made by an admissions authority.  Parents can also ask for their child to be admitted to any school in any school term. For example if a family has recently moved home. However, only one appeal per child for a particular school is allowed in each school year.  If you are looking for schools in the local area, then please follow the link below to see what school(s) are closest to your home address (using a straight line distance)

Find-a-School

Types of appeal

There are two types of school admission appeal: ‘Infant Class Size’ appeals and ‘Efficient Use of Resources’ appeals.  An independent Appeal Panel considers ‘Infant Class Size’ appeals differently from other year groups.  ‘Infant Class Size’ restrictions are rules that apply to all appeals for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2.  These rules apply if your child’s admission has been refused because the class has reached its legal limit of 30 children per school teacher.  There are extremely limited grounds on which an ‘Infant Class Size’ appeal may be upheld.  For ‘Efficient Use of Resources’ appeals, the independent Appeal Panel will weigh up whether or not your circumstances outweigh the admission authority’s circumstances.

The appeal process following a decision by the Governors of a Voluntary Aided, Foundation School or Academy

If you want to appeal against a decision by the Governors of a Voluntary Aided, Foundation School, Trust or Academy you will need to contact the school directly. These schools are responsible for organising their own appeals and setting their own timetable.

Timetable

Appeals resulting from year of entry or transfer applications for admission to Community or Voluntary Controlled Schools in Gloucestershire for September 2022 will be heard according to the following timetable:

Allocation day for Primary Schools: Monday 17th April 2023

Deadline for lodging appeals (for community and voluntary controlled Primary Schools: 26th May 2023 (however appeals lodged after this date must be heard within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged)

Appeals lodged after these deadline dates will be heard within 40 school days of the appeal deadline or 30 school days of being lodged, whichever is the later date. Most school appeals will be heard before and after the school summer holidays where possible.

Further advice

For further advice on making an appeal for Reception 2023 entry, please contact the Co-ordinated Admissions Team:

• Email: school.admissions@gloucestershire.gov.uk
• Telephone: 01452 425407
• For further advice on making an appeal for an In-Year place, please contact the In-Year Team:

• Email: inyear.admissions@gloucestershire.gov.uk
• Telephone: 01452 426015