PRIMARY ADMISSIONS TO RECEPTION CLASS 2024/25
To apply for a place at Bishop Bridgeman CE Primary School you must live in Bolton. Bolton Council co-ordinate the admission arrangements for the school. The school liaises with Bolton Council and Manchester Diocesan Board of Education on admissions issues.
If you have a child with a date of birth between 1st September 2019 and 31st August 2020 you child is due to start reception in September 2024.
Read through the booklet
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Admission to Primary School 2024, which gives information about the admission process.
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Read the guidance notes to help you to apply.
Please note that you will need to apply on-line for a school in Bolton. No paper forms are available. If you do not have access to a computer at home you can get access to one at the One Stop Shop in the Town Hall, local libraries and children’s centres.
The website for online applications will close on 14 January 2024. Applications received after this date will be marked as late and will prejudice your child’s application.
School offer day is 14 April 2024. Information will not be provided before this date in any circumstance. Offers will be made by email only.
ADMISSION ARRANGEMENTS FOR ADMISSION TO THE RECEPTION YEAR IN SEPTEMBER 2025
The school’s published admission number (PAN) for admission to the Reception Year in September 2021 is 60. If no more than 60 applications are received for admission to the Reception Year, all applicants will be offered places.
Where demand for admission to the Reception Year exceeds the number of places available the following oversubscription criteria will then apply:
The Governors will admit all children having an Education Health and Care Plan in which Bishop Bridgman CE Primary School is named.
If, after the admission of pupils with an EHCP (in which Bishop Bridgeman is named), there are more applications than the number of places remaining available, then the following criteria will be applied in the order shown, to determine priority for admission:
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A ‘looked after child’ or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order including those who appear to the admission authority to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. A looked after child is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989).
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Children for whom there is a child protection plan or has been within a 12-month period.
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Children with a statement of special educational needs or education, health and care plan in
whose statement Bishop Bridgeman CE Primary School is named.
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Children who regularly attend a church which is a member of Churches Together in Britain
and Ireland, or a local Churches Together organisation. ‘Regularly’ for the purposes of this criterion means at least once a month and Governors will look for confirmation of church attendance where this criterion is to be applied.
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Children who will have an older brother or sister attending Bishop Bridgeman CE Primary School at the time of their admission. This will include full brothers and sisters, adopted, fostered, step and half brothers or sisters living at the same address.
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Children who are registered as attending our nursery.
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Proximity (where you live) – children who live nearest the school (geographical proximity).
Under this category, the remaining places will be offered to children who live nearest Bishop Bridgeman. The distance will be measured in a straight-line using route finder, a computerized mapping system, which measures from the centre of the home property and designated main entrance to the school.
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Children whose medical or social circumstances mean that their needs can only be met at this school. Professional supporting evidence (in writing) from a doctor, psychologist or social worker is required for this criteria to be applied. This evidence must say why the child should attend Bishop Bridgeman CE Primary School rather than any other.
WAITING LIST
Where we have more applications than places, the admissions criteria will be used. Children who are not admitted will have their name placed on a waiting list. The names on this waiting list will be in the order resulting from the application of the admissions criteria. Since the date of application cannot be a criterion for the order of names on the waiting list, late applicants for the school will be slotted into the order according to the extent to which they meet the criteria. Thus it is possible that a child who moves into the area later to have a higher priority than one who has been on the waiting list for some time. If a place becomes available within the admission number, the child whose name is at the top of the list will be offered a place. This is not dependent on whether an appeal has been submitted. This waiting list will operate until the end of the autumn term only (31 December).
APPEALS
Where the governors are unable to offer a place because the school is over- subscribed, parents have the right to appeal to an independent admission appeal panel, set up under the School Standards and Framework Act, 1998, as amended by the Education Act, 2002. Parents will have the opportunity to submit their case to the panel in writing and also to attend in order to present their case. You will normally receive 14 days' notice of the place and time of the hearing.
A leaflet explaining the appeal procedure is obtainable from the School Admission, Bolton Council.
DEFERRED ADMISSIONS
Children are entitled to a full time place in school in the September following their fourth birthday.
Once they have been offered a place at the school, 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 the application was made.
Where 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.
REQUESTS FOR ADMISSION OUTSIDE A CHILD'S NORMAL AGE GROUP
Parents requesting admission out of the normal age group must put their request in writing, addressed to the Principal, together with any supporting evidence that the parent wishes to be taken into account.
The governing body will make decisions on requests for admission outside the normal age group 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; any information provided 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.
The governing body will also take into account the views of the Principal. When informing a parent of their decision on the year group the child should be admitted to, the governing body will set out clearly the reasons for their decision.
Where the governing body agrees to a parent’s request for their child to be admitted out of their normal age group and, as a consequence of that decision, the child will be admitted to a relevant age group (i.e. the age group to which pupils are normally admitted to the school) the local authority and governing body will process the application as part of the main admissions round, unless the parental request is made too late for this to be possible, and on the basis of their determined admission arrangements only, including the application of oversubscription criteria where applicable. The governing body will not give the application lower or higher priority on the basis that the child is being admitted out of their normal age group.
Parents 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.
In-year admissions/admissions to other year groups.
Applications for admission to Reception outside the normal admissions round, or applications for admission to other year groups, should be made to Bolton Council.
SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS
If your child is undergoing Statutory Assessment you will need to complete an application for admission. For further advice contact the Inclusion and Statutory Assessment Service 01204 332207
TRANSFERRING BETWEEN PRIMARY SCHOOLS
Bolton Council is responsible for co-ordinating admissions into all schools for those families resident within Bolton Metropolitan Borough.
This includes:
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Children wishing to change from one school to another within the borough
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Children who have arrived into the borough requiring a school place
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Children wishing to move from an independent school to a school maintained by the Council
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Children resident in the borough but requiring admission to a school in another borough
Parents or carers must complete the application form after reading the notes of guidance. There is also a second form that the current school, if it is in Bolton, must complete.
You must make sure your child’s continues to attend their current school whilst your application is being considered however it is recognised that for families who have moved into Bolton this may not always be possible. You must, in such circumstances, inform the headteacher at their previous school of the arrangements you are making.
SECONDARY SCHOOL ADMISSIONS
Children who are in year 6 will transfer to Secondary School in September 2024. You can now go on to the Bolton Council school admissions website and make an application for a secondary school place.
To apply online please go to www.bolton.gov.uk/admissions . Guidance notes about how to apply online are available on the website.
We would strongly advise you read the information booklet ‘Admission to Secondary School 2023’ carefully and check directly with schools what arrangements there are for open days/virtual school visits.
The booklet is available to read or download at www.bolton.gov.uk/admissions .
You can express a preference for up to three schools online and I would advise you to submit all three preferences.
If you have any problems using the online application form or website or you need assistance and advice about school admissions please contact the Pupil Services team on admissions@bolton.gov.uk .
The closing date for applications is the 31st October 2023.