IMPORTANT

This draft has been prepared on the basis of the official records currently available, which identify Wood Lane Primary School as a Foundation School. Staffordshire County Council coordinates normal-age applications, but the school's Governing Body is currently identified as the admission authority. If a formal legal change of category or admission authority has taken place since the records were last updated, this document must be amended before publication.

1. Introduction and status

Wood Lane Primary School is a maintained primary school in Staffordshire, providing education for children aged 3 to 11. These proposed arrangements explain how applications for Reception places for September 2028 will be considered where the number of applications exceeds the number of available places.

The current Department for Education Get Information About Schools record identifies Wood Lane Primary School (URN 124057) as a Foundation School. Staffordshire County Council's published admissions information states that Foundation Schools are their own admission authorities. Staffordshire County Council nevertheless coordinates applications at the normal age of entry for maintained schools, including Foundation Schools.

Accordingly, this draft identifies the Governing Body as the admission authority on the basis of the records currently published. This must be checked against any formal order or instrument changing the school's legal category or admission authority before the arrangements are determined.

2. Application process

For normal Reception admission, parents resident in Staffordshire must apply through Staffordshire County Council's coordinated admissions process. Parents may name up to three school preferences and should rank them in their true order of preference. Applications must be submitted by the national primary closing date published by the Local Authority for the 2028/2029 round.

Staffordshire County Council coordinates the process and issues the single offer on behalf of the relevant admission authority. Where supporting evidence is required under these criteria, parents must submit it by the application deadline or within any further period expressly allowed by the admission authority.

Online applications and current application guidance are available at www.staffordshire.gov.uk/admissions.

3. Published Admission Number

The proposed Reception Published Admission Number (PAN) is 15. This figure is carried forward from the school's existing arrangements and the Staffordshire school information currently showing a PAN of 15 for September 2027 entry. The 2028/2029 PAN must be checked against the final Staffordshire proposed PAN schedule and formally confirmed before determination. A PAN is the number of pupils the school intends to admit to the relevant year group.

4. Normal age of entry and Reception

The normal point of entry is Reception. Full-time places are available in September of the academic year in which a child becomes five. Parents may request deferred or part-time admission in accordance with section 12 of these arrangements and the School Admissions Code.

5. Oversubscription criteria

If the number of applications for Reception exceeds the PAN, places will be allocated in the following order. The criteria are proposed to follow Staffordshire County Council's published general oversubscription order for community and voluntary controlled primary schools, adapted by omitting the religious-attendance criterion, which does not apply to Wood Lane's recorded non-religious character.

1. Children in care and previously looked-after children

Children in care and children who ceased to be in care because they were adopted, became subject to a child arrangements order or a special guardianship order. This includes children who appear to the admission authority to have been in state care outside England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.

2. Children with exceptional medical or other exceptional circumstances AND hardship

A child must satisfy both tests below. Meeting only one test is insufficient.

Test 1 – Medical or exceptional circumstances: the child is distinguished from the great majority of other applicants either on their own medical grounds requiring regular and sustained medical treatment, or by other extreme exceptional circumstances. Medical grounds must be supported by a medical report obtained by the applicant and provided with the application. It must explain why, for health reasons only, it is better for the child's health to attend Wood Lane rather than another school. Other exceptional circumstances must relate to the individual child and be relevant to Wood Lane; they must not be based solely on the economic or social circumstances of the parent/carer. They should be supported by a recent professional report, obtained by the applicant and submitted with the application, explaining why the circumstances are exceptional and why attendance at Wood Lane is considered best for the child.

Test 2 – Hardship: the child would suffer hardship if unable to attend Wood Lane rather than another school. Hardship means severe suffering of any kind, not merely difficulty, inconvenience or mild to moderate emotional distress, likely to be experienced because the child attends a different school. Applicants must provide detailed information about the type and severity of the likely hardship; this may be included in the professional report.

3. Siblings

Children who have an elder brother or sister attending Wood Lane Primary School who will still be attending the school at the proposed admission date. For this criterion, the children must live at the same home address for the majority of the school week and either have one or both natural parents in common; be related by a parent's marriage; be adopted or fostered by a common parent; or be unrelated children who live at the same address whose parents live as partners.

4. Children living in the catchment area

Children whose home address is within the defined catchment area for Wood Lane Primary School. The current official catchment map must be used. A copy may be obtained from Staffordshire County Council or the school. Residence in the catchment area does not guarantee a place if the school is oversubscribed.

5. Other children – distance

All other children will be prioritised by the straight-line distance from the child's home address to the school's main entrance, calculated using Staffordshire County Council's geographical information system and the relevant Ordnance Survey address data.

6. Tie-break and allocation within criteria

Where not all applicants in a criterion can be offered a place, the remaining criteria will be applied in order. For example, where there are more catchment-area applicants than places, the distance criterion will be used to rank applicants within that category. If applicants cannot be distinguished using the published criteria, including where they live in the same block of flats, the available place(s) will be allocated by random selection, independently verified by an officer outside the School Admissions Service.

7. Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan

A child whose Education, Health and Care Plan names Wood Lane Primary School must be admitted. Such admissions are made under the statutory SEND framework and count towards the school's available places.

8. Home address and address changes

The home address is the child's and parent/carer's main and genuine principal place of residence at the time of allocation, where the child normally and regularly lives. An address at which a child stays with friends or relatives for reasons other than legal guardianship will not be accepted.

Where parents share responsibility and the child lives at both addresses, documentary evidence may be requested. The address used will normally be the address where the child spends the majority of the school week. Parents must notify Staffordshire County Council promptly of a change of address. A proposed move will only be taken into account for allocation where sufficient evidence of a permanent move is provided by the deadline set in Staffordshire's final 2028/2029 arrangements. An offer based on an address that is not the child's normal and permanent home may be withdrawn.

9. Children of UK service personnel

An application for a child of UK service personnel (including crown servants) may be considered in advance of the family's arrival where the application is accompanied by an official letter confirming a relocation date. Where an intended home address is provided and supported by evidence, it may be used for applying the oversubscription criteria. Where an intended address cannot be evidenced, a unit or quartering address may be used where the parent requests this, in accordance with the applicable national guidance and Staffordshire arrangements.

10. Nursery provision

Nursery admissions are separate from Reception admissions and are not determined by this Reception policy. Nursery places are allocated under the school's separate nursery arrangements and the applicable early years funding rules. Attendance at Wood Lane nursery does not guarantee a Reception place and does not give priority for Reception admission. Parents must make a separate Reception application through Staffordshire County Council.

11. Deferred entry and part-time attendance

Parents may request that their child starts Reception later in the academic year or attends part-time until compulsory school age. A deferred start cannot be later than the beginning of the final term of the academic year for which the application was made, nor later than the point at which the child reaches compulsory school age. Parents should discuss the request with the school.

12. Admission outside the normal age group

Parents may request admission outside the child's normal age group, including a request for a summer-born child to enter Reception a year later. The request should be made to the admission authority and supported by the reasons and evidence the parent wishes to be considered. The admission authority will decide each request individually, considering the child's academic, social and emotional development; medical history where relevant; the views of medical professionals; previous education; whether the child may naturally have fallen into a lower age group due to premature birth; the parents' views; and the headteacher's views. Parents do not have the right to insist that a child is admitted to a particular year group.

13. Waiting list

Unsuccessful applicants may request to be placed on the waiting list. The list will be ranked in accordance with the oversubscription criteria and not by the date the application was received or the date the child's name was added. A child's position may change when applications are added or circumstances change.

The proposed arrangement is to maintain the Reception waiting list until 31 December 2028. There will be a two-week period after the national offer date during which available places will not be reallocated, in line with Staffordshire's proposed coordinated arrangements. Children who are subject to a local authority direction to admit or are allocated under the Fair Access Protocol take precedence over children on the waiting list. Inclusion on a waiting list does not guarantee an offer.

Because Wood Lane is currently recorded as a Foundation School, the Governing Body as admission authority must formally adopt the waiting-list arrangements and ensure they are consistent with the School Admissions Code and the final coordinated scheme.

14. Late applications

Late applications will be dealt with in accordance with Staffordshire County Council's coordinated scheme and the national timetable. Wherever practicable, late applications will be considered alongside those received on time. Where places have already been allocated or are shortly to be allocated, late applications may be considered after applications received by the published closing date. A late application does not remove the right of appeal or the right to request a place on the waiting list.

15. Appeals

Parents whose application is refused have the right to appeal to an independent admission appeal panel. Appeals will be conducted in accordance with the School Admission Appeals Code. The refusal notification will explain how to appeal and the relevant deadline. Where infant class size legislation applies, the panel will apply the statutory infant class size appeal tests.

16. In-year admissions

The normal Reception application process is coordinated by Staffordshire County Council. In-year admissions are not part of the coordinated normal-age process. Under Staffordshire's published scheme, applications for a Foundation School are made directly to the school/admission authority, and the school must notify the Local Authority of the application and outcome within the required period. The school will process in-year applications in accordance with these determined arrangements and the School Admissions Code.

17. Fair Access Protocol

Wood Lane will participate in Staffordshire County Council's Fair Access Protocol. A child allocated under the protocol may be admitted outside the normal admissions arrangements. Such children take precedence over children on the waiting list, as required by the protocol and statutory guidance.

18. Repeat applications

Parents do not normally have the right to a second appeal for the same school and the same academic year unless there has been a significant and material change in the circumstances of the parent, child or school, and a further application is accepted.

19. Equalities and inclusion

Applications will be considered fairly and consistently in accordance with the published criteria and applicable law. The school will not unlawfully discriminate on grounds protected by the Equality Act 2010. Children with SEND but without an EHCP naming the school will be considered under the same published oversubscription criteria, with reasonable adjustments and duties applied as required by law.

20. Determination and publication

Following consultation, the admission authority will consider all responses, determine the arrangements by 28 February 2027 and publish the determined arrangements by 15 March 2027. Any objection alleging that the determined arrangements do not comply with the School Admissions Code may be made to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator within the applicable time limit.

Consultation information

This consultation is about the proposed admission arrangements for Reception entry in September 2028. It is separate from Staffordshire County Council's coordinated application process.

Proposed consultation period

2 November 2026 to 14 December 2026 inclusive (six weeks). This date range is proposed so that the school-specific consultation, if opened on 2 November, provides at least six weeks for responses and falls within the statutory consultation window of 1 October to 31 January.

Who should be consulted

Parents of children between the ages of two and eighteen;

Other persons in the relevant area who, in the admission authority's opinion, have an interest in the proposed arrangements;

All other admission authorities within the relevant area;

The Local Authority;

Any neighbouring local authorities where required by the relevant-area arrangements; and

Staff and other interested stakeholders as part of the school's consultation.

How to respond

Please send comments by 5pm on 14 December 2026 to the school using the contact details published on the school's website. A copy may also be sent to Staffordshire County Council's School Admissions and Transport Service at admissionsconsultation@staffordshire.gov.uk or School Admissions and Transport, Staffordshire County Council, 2 Staffordshire Place, Tipping Street, Stafford, ST16 2DH.

The admission authority will consider all responses before determining the arrangements. The consultation record should include the dates, consultees contacted, method of consultation, responses received and the admission authority's response to material points raised.

Consultation response form

Name (optional): ______________________________________________

Organisation / relationship to the school (optional): __________________________

Do you support the proposed arrangements? ☐ Yes ☐ No ☐ Not sure

Comments or suggested changes:

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Please return by 5pm on 14 December 2026.