Admissions

The school admission policy is rigorously applied and pupils are admitted up to the agreed Published Admission Number, which for the 2020/21 academic year will be 165.

If there are more applications than places, admission to St Damian’s RC Science College will be subject to the oversubscription criteria in the order of priority set out below.

Statemented Pupils

If the college is named in a Statement of special educational needs, the Governing Body has a duty to admit the child to the school.

The duty to apply these arrangements rests with the Governors of the College. All preferences listed on the Local Authority Preference Form will be considered on an equal basis with the following set of oversubscription criteria forming a priority order where there are more applications for admissions than the college has places available.

1. Children who are looked after or children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a residence order or special guardianship order).

2. Baptised Roman Catholic children with exceptional medical or social needs. (Where evidence is provided from a child’s doctor or other agency that he/she has exceptional needs which mean that admission to a particular school is essential, reference will be made to the Community Health Physician, Social Services, or Educational Psychologist, as appropriate. A panel of governors will make a decision as to whether to admit a child under this criterion using the evidence provided. All information provided will be treated in the strictest confidence.)

3. Baptised Roman Catholic children who live in a designated Parish.

4. Baptised Roman Catholic children who attend a designated Roman Catholic Primary School.

5. Baptised Roman Catholic children who will have a brother or sister attending the school at the time of admission.

6. Other Baptised Roman Catholic children.

7. Other children with exceptional medical or social needs. (Where evidence is provided from a child’s doctor or other agency that he/she has exceptional needs which mean that admission to a particular school is essential, reference will be made to the Community Health Physician, Social Services, or Educational Psychologist, as appropriate. A panel of governors will make a decision as to whether to admit a child under this criterion using the evidence provided. All information provided will be treated in the strictest confidence.)

8. Other children who will have a brother or sister attending the school at the time of admission.

9. Other children who attend a designated Roman Catholic Primary School.

10. Other children.

Tie Breaker Definition:

If in any category there are more applications than places available, priority will be given on the basis of proximity to the school.

Distance will be measured as a straight line from the child's home address, using the address point assigned by The National Land and Property Gazetteer, to the main gate to the school property.  Measurements will be made using the local authority’s school admissions data mapping software, which employs a Geographical Information System based on Ordnance Survey. In the event of distances being the same for 2 or more applications where this distance would be the last place/s to be allocated, the place will be allocated to the pupil that is nearer using walking distance as measured using the local authority’s school admissions data mapping software.

The address from which distance will be measured will be the permanent residential address, at the time of application, of the parent with whom the child is normally resident. Where a child lives with parents with shared responsibility, each for part of a week, the home address is the address from which the child travels to school for the majority of school days per week. If the number of days is exactly equal the home address will be that of the parent who receives the Child Benefit.

Designated Parishes (Criterion 3):

The Designated Parishes for St Damian’s RC Science College are:

St Joseph’s, Mossley

St Anne’s, Ashton

St Stephen’s, Droylsden

St Christopher’s, Ashton

Maps showing Parish boundaries can be consulted in the appropriate parish.

Designated Primary Schools (Criteria 4 and 9):

The Designated Primary Schools for St Damian’s RC Science College are:

St Christopher’s RC Primary School, Ashton

Our Lady of Mount Carmel RC Primary School, Ashton

St Stephen’s RC Primary School, Droylsden

St Joseph’s RC Primary School, Mossley

Notes

The governing body is the admissions authority. The admissions committee is composed of the following governors: chair of governors, parish priest, head teacher, parent governor & independent clerk.

All applications for entry into Tameside schools in 2020 should be completed online and copies of “Moving On” will be available via download from the Tameside website. The online application process will enable parents to apply for up to 6 schools as equal preference. The closing date for all applicants is 31 October 2019. All applicants will be considered by the governors at the same time in a fair way according to the published criteria.

Parents will be informed of the governors’ decision by the LA on 2nd March 2020. An offer of a place does not guarantee a place for brothers and sisters in subsequent years.

"Roman Catholic" means a person/child who has been baptised into the Roman Catholic faith. Parents who wish their application to be considered under criteria 1-6 are required to submit a Supplementary Information Form (SIF) with their application which is available from the high school or the Local Authority.

The term ‘brothers and sisters’ will be taken to include step brothers and sisters, foster children and children of partners living in the same household. In cases where twins, triplets or other multiple birth siblings would be split between St Damian’s RC Science College and another school when allocations take place, siblings will be offered a place at St Damian’s RC Science College, if that is the parents’ wish.

Late applications will be considered after all those that were received by the deadline.

Parents are asked to read and confirm receipt of the Governors’ published admission policy. Any changes to the policy will be circulated to all applicants on file for subsequent years.

Waiting List: If the school is oversubscribed the governors will maintain a waiting list. The waiting list will operate until the end of the autumn term 2020 for those parents who have submitted an appeal or who have opted to go on the list.  All pupils on the waiting list will be ranked according to the oversubscription criteria. Places will be offered, should any become available, to the highest ranked application received by the date the place becomes available. If new or late applications have a higher priority under the oversubscription criteria, they will be ranked higher than those who have been on the list for some time. A significant change of circumstances, such as a change of address, will be taken into account: evidence must be provided. Children who have been referred under the local authority’s Fair Access protocol or who are the subject of a direction by the local authority to admit must be given precedence over any other children on the waiting list.

Appeal to an Independent Appeals Panel:  Any parent or guardian who is dissatisfied with the refusal of a school place has the right of appeal to an Independent Appeals Panel. Parents/Guardians will be sent details of the appeal procedures with the letter refusing a place. Parents must be allowed at least twenty school days from the date of notification that their application was unsuccessful to submit that appeal.

If you wish to appeal, your written appeal request should be sent to:

Chair of Governors

c/o St Damian’s RC Science College

Lees Road

Ashton Under Lyne 

OL6  8BH

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Supplementary Information Form - Section 17