St Paul's Catholic School

St Paul's Catholic School
St Paul's student throwing shot

Admissions Criteria

Admissions Criteria and Arrangements for Admission to Year 7 for September 2011

 

In Year 7 Governors will admit pupils using the following criteria in strict precedence once the deadline for admissions applications has been reached:-

 

  • A. Catholic Children in Care. Parents or Carers must provide a copy of the child's baptismal certificate.
  • B. Catholic children who belong to families vouched for by their Parish Priest as practising their religion. Parents must provide a copy of their child's baptismal certificate. (Parish Priests may vouch for catechumens under this criterion.)
  • C. Other Children in Care.
  • D. Members of other Christian Churches whose parents seek a specifically Christian element in their child's secondary education, whose application is supported by a letter from the vicar or minister of the church they attend. The letter must say that the family are known to practise their religion and that the vicar or minister is happy for the child to be educated in a Catholic school. (There will be 24 places available to applicants in this category initially. If there are any places still available after allocations are made in Category E then further places will be made available in this category up to the Published Admission Number).
  • E. Other Catholic children not known to their Parish Priest whose application is supported by a copy of their baptismal certificate.
  • F. Any other child.

 

 Within each criterion places will be allocated in the following order:-

1. Siblings of pupils who will be on roll in September 2011.

2. In any situation where the application of the above criteria results in more children with an equal right to admission to the school than the number of available places, the tie-break will be made a lottery. The names of those with an equal right to admission will be allocated to numbered counters. These will then be drawn and the order in which they are drawn will give the order of priority for the allocation of the places available. The places will be allocated, in order, up to the number of places available. This process will be carried out under the supervision of an independent observer from the Pupil Services Section of Milton Keynes Council.

 

Children with Statements of Special Educational Needs naming St. Paul's Catholic School will be given priority for admission within the normal admission round at 11+.  This includes children with Statements of Special Educational Needs for whom a place in the visually impaired provision or the communication provision is deemed appropriate.  The communication provision at St. Paul's caters for pupils with Asperger's Syndrome and pupils who are on the autistic spectrum.  If St. Paul's Catholic school is named on a child's Statement of Special Educational Needs, or an application is made on behalf of the child, this will show that parents are happy for their child to join St. Paul's and that they are in sympathy with the ethos of the school.

 

The Published Admissions Number for the intake year group is 240 pupils.

 

Admissions process for admission to Year 7 in September 2011

 

The admissions process is largely administered by Milton Keynes Council through its co-ordinated Admissions Scheme for admission to Secondary Schools.

  • The application form must be returned to Milton Keynes Council, or completed on-line, by Friday 29 October 2010.
  • The Registrar of St. Paul's will send a copy of the St. Paul's request for supplementary information. This must be returned to the school by Monday 29 November 2010.
  • Parents will be notified of the school place allocated to their child on 1 March 2011 by Milton Keynes Council.
  • Parents have the opportunity to appeal to the Governors against a decision not to admit their child. The letter they receive will contain a date by which any appeal must be made.
  • If the Governors appeal is unsuccessful parents have the right to appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel.

 

Definitions of Terms used in the Policy

 

  • 1. A Catholic child is a child baptised according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church.
  • 2. 'Practising' means attending Mass weekly for Roman Catholic families. Parents will indicate their parish on the school's supplementary sheet. A list of parishioners will be sent to each parish priest who will vouch for them if they meet this definition of religious practice.
  • 3. By 'parent' we mean:
  • both natural parents
  • any person who, although not a natural parent, has parental responsibility for a child; or
  • any person who, although not a natural parent, has care of the child.
  • 4. By sibling we mean children living with the same household. Typically this will be brother(s) and sister(s) or children with the same person having parental responsibility.
  • 5. By 'Children in care' we mean a child in public care.
  • 6. By 'The area served by the Deanery of St. Paul' we mean areas that are served by the following parishes: Christ the King Kents Hill, Our Lady of Lourdes Coffee Hall, Sacred Heart Leighton Buzzard, St Augustine Heelands, St Bede Newport Pagnell, St Bernadine of Siena Buckingham, St Edward the Confessor Shenley Church End, St Francis de Sales Wolverton, St Mary Woburn Sands, St Mary Magdalene Stony Stratford, St Thomas Acquinas Bletchley
  • 7. By 'Milton Keynes Unitary Authority' we mean the area within the geographical boundaries of the Authority.