Admission

Gaskell Community Primary School is a very happy, friendly and caring school located in the Halliwell area of Bolton. The school has a population of 435 pupils and is of a size to offer many opportunities through clubs and other out of school activities, but is still small enough to retain a family feel where every child is known to all members of staff.

Aims

to ensure a smooth transition from school to school;
to provide the child with a safe, basic knowledge about the school in order to develop their confidence;
to develop and maintain a close working relationship with parents at all times;
to assess the individual child’s capabilities and stage of development in order to plan a suitable programme of work for them;
to familiarise the children and the parents with the whole school and its environment;
to make all new families very welcome as they join our school’s community.

We have a standard admission number of 60 in each year group within the School accepting children from Nursery to Year 6. Parents with children who are eligible for admission and who move into the area may have their children admitted to the school at any time during the school year, depending on the places available.

Nursery

Parents need to contact the school as soon as possible to secure a place at the school’s Nursery which caters for 39 children in the morning and a further 39 children in the afternoon. Full-time places are also available. Your child will start Nursery in the term following their 3rd birthday and is entitled to 15 free hours of education taken in five mornings/afternoon sessions of 3 hours.

Bolton metropolitan borough council

Proposed admission policy for community and voluntary-controlled primary schools 2021-2022

Gaskell cp school published/proposed admission numbers for admission

SEPTEMBER 2021: 6

The Council will admit all children with a statement of special educational needs, in whose statement the school is named The proposed policy for admission to community and controlled primary schools for 2021-2022 is as follows.

If the school is over-subscribed the following criteria will be applied to all applications in priority order.

Children in Public Care (Looked After Children) including adopted children who were previously in care and children who leave care under a special guardianship or residence order. A looked after child is a child who is (a) in the care of the local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social functions (see definition in Section 22 (1) of the Children Act 1989)

Other children who are considered as “vulnerable” whose application for the preferred school is supported by the Assistant Director for Social Care. This will include;

Children for whom there is a child protection plan or has been within a 12 month period.
Children who have had a period in care within 2 years of the admission application and are still receiving social care services
Children who are considered to be at significant risk of becoming looked after
Children who are living in temporary accommodation due to fleeing violence and the area for rehousing has been identified
Children who will have older siblings in years Reception to Year 6 of the preferred school at the time of application and at the date of admission. Sibling includes full, step, half, foster and adopted brothers and sisters living at the same address.
Children who have strong Church connections where the school is a Church school.

Parents must complete the supplementary form attached to the application form as evidence that the family and the child are active worshipping members at the church to which the school is affiliated. Active worshipping members of the church will be those persons who worship at least once a month sustained over a period of a year prior to the closing date for applications.

Children who suffer from some medical condition or disability, which makes it, better for them to attend that school rather than another. Places will only be offered under this criterion if the child has a certified medical condition with strong professional supporting evidence confirming that existing exceptional problems with the child’s health would be seriously exacerbated if a place were not made at the preferred school. Parents applying under this criteria must provide a letter from the child’s GP/Consultant setting out the reasons why the school is the most suitable school and details of the child’s medical condition.

Medical evidence must be submitted by 31st October 2021. Evidence received after this date will not be taken into consideration

Proximity (Where you live).

Shortest walking distance to the preferred school minus shortest walking distance to the nearest/next nearest school plus 100 to create a ranking value. The lower the ranking value the higher the priority for a place.

The nearest/next nearest school will include all community, voluntary-controlled, foundation, free and academy schools whether in the Bolton Borough or not.

If any categories are oversubscribed then geographical proximity (as set out in category 6 above) will be used as a tiebreaker. If the proximity value is equal then random allocation will be used as a tie-breaker.

The shortest walking route will be that determined by the Local Authority using only those public rights of way recognised within the measuring system. This will be measured using Routefinder, a computerised mapping system which uses the ordnance survey integrated network which measures from the point on the highway nearest to the centre of the home property and the designated main entrance to the school. In the event of a tie-break within a block of flats, those living furthest from the communal entrance will be given priority.

Where a single place remains at a school and the application being considered is for twins (etc.) the Council will allocate above the admission number to accommodate each child.

Late Application

LATE APPLICATIONS RECEIVED AFTER THE CLOSING DATE BUT BEFORE PLACES ARE ALLOCATED

The closing date will as far as possible be strictly observed. Late applications will only be considered after all the applications received by the closing date have been considered. Places will, however, be allocated and parents/carers will receive notification on 16th April 2022.

Only in exceptional circumstances where evidence is available will late applications be considered on time. These may include the following:

parents who removed into the borough after the closing date

parents/carers were abroad for the whole period between the publication of the LA’s admission booklet and the closing date for the application form

Parental/carer/child illness which required hospitalisation for the major part of the period between the publication of the LA’s admission booklet and the closing date for the application form.

APPLICATIONS RECEIVED AFTER THE ALLOCATION DATE

The LA will continue to manage the co-ordinated admission arrangements after the allocation date.

The LA form and any relevant documents will be passed on to the appropriate admissions authority for consideration. The LA will retain responsibility for informing parents/carers about the outcome of their application. If admission is refused to the preferred Borough school(s) or academy, an appeal form(s) will be sent with the letter, which will inform parents/carers of the alternative school to be offered.

WAITING LISTS AND CHANGE OF PREFERENCES

WAITING LIST

There is no obligation on admission authorities to maintain waiting lists and it is for individual admission authorities to consider if they wish to maintain a waiting list. Where a waiting list is maintained, the admission authority must use the existing oversubscription criteria to rank the children.

Bolton LA maintains waiting lists for admission to the borough schools and academies and for 2022 admissions this will be held until the end of the summer term 2022. Details of children who have not been offered a place at their preferred school(s), including late applicants will automatically be placed on the waiting list.

The waiting list will be compiled using the relevant published oversubscription criteria. As no distinction will be made between applications received on time and late applications, the waiting list will remain fluid.

The LA will maintain the waiting list until the end of the Summer term 2022. Procedures for changing schools after this period are outlined in the policy relating to in year admissions.

A parent cannot add their name to the waiting list for a school that was not one of their original three preferences but can change their preferences after offer date if necessary.