Admissions 2026 - 27

Admissions Policy 2026 - 2027

St Willibrord’s role is to participate in the mission of the Catholic Church by providing a curriculum, including Catholic religious education and worship, which will help children to grow in their understanding of the Good News and in the practice of their faith.  The school will help the children develop fully as human beings and prepare them to undertake their responsibilities as Catholics in society.  The school requires all parents applying for a place here to understand and respect this ethos and its importance to the school community.  This does not affect the rights of parents who are not of the Catholic faith to apply for a place here. 

As the Admissions Authority for St Willibrord’s RC Primary School in Manchester, the Governing Body is required to draft, consult on and determine their admission arrangements. Where there are more applicants than places available the Governing Body will apply the admission arrangements in order to decide which applicants will be offered places. 

Admission arrangements for voluntary aided schools, foundation schools, free schools and academies are set by their Governing Body, who are the Admission Authority for their establishment. They are responsible for drafting, consulting on and determining their admission arrangements. 

Our full policy for admissions for 2027-28 can be found via the below link

Admissions Policy

In Year Admissions

In Year applications will be made directly to the school. All children whose Education, Health and Care plan names the school must be admitted. 

An application form can be obtained by either:

• Online applications - Application form
• Email - admin@st-willibrords.manchester.sch.uk
• Telephone - 0161 223 9345

If there are available places in a class then a child will be admitted to the school following an application for a place. A decision regarding an application for a school place will be made within 15 school days. All children whose education, health and care (EHC) plans name the school will be admitted before any other places are allocated.

Decisions on requests for admission outside the normal age group will be made on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. In accordance with the School Admissions Code, this will include taking account of:

•    Parents’ views
•    Information 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
•    Whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely
•    The headteacher’s views

Wherever possible, requests for admission outside a child’s normal age group will be processed as part of the main admissions round. They will be considered on the basis of the admission arrangements laid out in this policy, including the oversubscription criteria listed. Applications will not be treated as a lower priority if parents have made a request for a child to be admitted outside the normal age group.

Parents will always be informed of the reasons for any decision on the year group a child should be admitted to. Parents do not have a right to appeal if they are offered a place at the school but it is not in their preferred age group.

If the admission of a further child would prejudice the provision of efficient education or efficient use of resources within a year group then a refusal of a place may be given. Written reasons for this refusal would be provided within 15 school days of the application. 

We will not refuse to admit a child on behavioural grounds in the normal admissions round or at any point in the normal year of entry. We may refuse admission in certain cases where the specific criteria listed in the School Admissions Code (paragraph 3.8) apply, i.e. where section 87 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 is engaged. 

We may refuse admission for an in-year applicant for a year group that isn’t the normal point of entry, only in such a case that we have good reason to believe that the child may display challenging behaviour that may adversely affect the provision we can offer. In this case, we will refer these pupils to the Fair Access Protocol. We will not refuse admission on these grounds to looked after children, previously looked after children and children with EHC plans listing the school. 

Appeals

If your child’s application for a place at the school is unsuccessful, you will be informed why admission was refused and given information about the process for hearing appeals. 

If you wish to appeal, you must set out the grounds for your appeal in writing and send it to the following address:

Email - contact@st-willibrords.manchester.sch.uk

Post - St. Willibrord’s RC Primary School, Vale Street, Clayton, Manchester. M11 4WR

We participate in Manchester LA’s Fair Access Protocol. This helps ensure that all children, including those who are unplaced and vulnerable, or having difficulty in securing a school place in-year, get access to a school place as quickly as possible.

Admission Appeals Timetable

St Willibrord's RC Primary School

September 2027 entry (2027-28 admissions)

 

St Willibrord's RC Primary School is a voluntary aided school. The Governing Body is the admission authority and is responsible for ensuring that admission appeals are arranged in accordance with the School Admission Appeals Code. Manchester City Council's Independent Education Appeals Service provides the independent appeal service for voluntary aided schools in Manchester, including the online School Appeals Portal.

Reception appeals for September 2027 entry

National Offer Day: Friday 16 April 2027

Deadline for accepting or refusing the offered place: Friday 30 April 2027

Deadline for lodging an appeal following an on-time Reception application: Monday 17 May 2027

Appeals submitted by the deadline will be heard within 40 school days of the appeal deadline.

Appeal hearing arrangements

Parents and carers will normally receive written notification of the date and arrangements for the appeal hearing at least 14 school days before the hearing. This exceeds the statutory minimum of 10 school days.

The admission authority will submit its written case and supporting evidence in sufficient time for the Independent Education Appeals Service to prepare and circulate the appeal papers.

Appellants should submit supporting evidence with their appeal wherever possible. Any further evidence must be submitted by the deadline stated by the Independent Education Appeals Service in the hearing arrangements. Evidence received after that deadline may not be considered if the independent appeal panel decides that accepting it would cause delay or unfairness.

The Independent Education Appeals Service will make the admission authority's appeal statement and hearing papers available in advance of the hearing; Manchester's current guidance states that the appeal statement is normally placed on the appeals portal approximately 8 school days before the hearing.

The clerk will send the panel's written decision within 5 school days of the hearing wherever possible.

Late appeals and in-year appeals

Appeals submitted after the normal-round deadline will still be heard. Late normal-round appeals should be heard within 40 school days of the published appeal deadline where possible, or within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged.

Appeals relating to in-year applications will be heard within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged.

How to appeal

Manchester City Council provides an online School Appeals Portal for admission appeals. Parents and carers can create an account and submit their appeal, reasons and supporting evidence online at:

School Appeals Portal

If you need help accessing the appeals process, please contact the school office:

Email: contact@st-willibrords.manchester.sch.uk

Telephone: 0161 223 9345

Post: St Willibrord's RC Primary School, Vale Street, Clayton, Manchester, M11 4WR

Important information

An admission appeal is heard by an independent appeal panel. The panel is independent of the school and the admission authority. Parents may accept an alternative school place and remain on a waiting list while pursuing an appeal for St Willibrord's.

For Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, infant class size legislation may limit the circumstances in which an appeal can be upheld where admission would result in a class exceeding 30 pupils.

Sources and review

Key dates for September 2027 entry are taken from Manchester City Council's School Admissions Application Timetable. Appeal process requirements follow the School Admission Appeals Code 2022 and Manchester City Council's Independent Education Appeals Service guidance.

This timetable should be reviewed annually and the updated timetable published on the school website by 28 February each year.

Oversubscription Criteria

If the school has available places in a class, but receives more applications for places than are available then the oversubscription criteria as detailed below will be applied.
 

1. Baptised Roman Catholic Looked After Children and previously Looked After Children. Baptised Roman Catholic Children who were looked after or in state care outside of England. A child is regarded as having been in state care in a place outside of England if they were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation or another professional provider of care; 
2. Children with exceptional medical/social needs
3. A sibling of a child who has been placed in the school’s specialist provision
4. Baptised Roman Catholic children who will have a brother or sister attending the school at the time of admission to the Reception Class and resident in the former parish of St. Willibrord’s boundary. (this does not include a child in Nursery)
5. Baptised Roman Catholic children resident in the former parish boundary of St. Willibrord’s.
6. Baptised Roman Catholic children who will have a brother or sister attending the school at the time of admission to the Reception Class and resident in the wider parish of The Holy Spirit’s boundary. (this does not include a child in Nursery)
7. Baptised Roman Catholic children resident in the wider parish boundary of The Holy Spirit.
8. Other baptised Roman Catholic children who will have a brother or sister attending the school at the time of admission to the Reception Class (this does not include the Nursery Class) and are resident in another parish.
9. Other baptised Roman Catholic children who are resident in another Parish.
10. Other Looked After Children and previously Looked After Children.
11. Other children with a brother or sister attending the school at the time of the admission to the Reception Class (this does not include the Nursery Class).
12. Other children.
     

Within each category applicants will be prioritised according to the distance between the child’s permanent address and the school. Distance will be measured in a straight line from the centre point of the child’s permanent home address to the centre point of the school as defined by Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG), and using the Local Authority’s computerised measuring system, with those living closer to the school receiving higher priority. 

Notes: 

Baptised Roman Catholic

• A valid Roman Catholic Baptismal Certificate must be presented to the school. If a certificate is not presented the application will be treated as not being for a Catholic child. 
• ‘Catholic’ means
• Holding a certificate of baptism signed by a priest of the Latin Catholic Church;
• Holding a certificate of reception of baptised Christians into the Latin Catholic Church

Sibling 

• A sibling is defined as a brother or sister attending St Willibrord’s school when the applicant will take up the place and living at the same address. This includes adopted siblings, step siblings and foster children; 
• Siblings who are in a nursery class of the primary school will not give the applicant a sibling priority.

Category 2 - Exceptional medical/social needs 

• A panel of Local Authority officers will consider Category 2 applications on behalf of the Director of Children’s Services. 
• If a parent has chosen a particular school because the child has exceptional social or medical circumstances or the parent is disabled, this should be indicated with the reasons for choosing the school. Parents must also provide a letter from a doctor or social worker as supporting evidence. The LA will then send a category 2 application form allowing the parent to state in full the exceptional social/medical reasons why the child should attend this school. 
• If supporting evidence is not supplied with a category 2 application the application will be refused. 

Tie Break

• In the case of 2 or more applications that cannot be separated by the oversubscription criteria outlined above, the school will use the distance between the school and a child’s home as a tie breaker to decide between applicants. Priority will be given to children who live closest to the school. Distance will be measured in a straight line from the child’s home address to the school’s front gates on Vale Street, Clayton, M11 4WR. A child’s home address will be considered to be where he/she is resident for the majority of nights in a normal school week.
• Where the distance between 2 children’s homes and the school is the same, random allocation will be used to decide between them. This process will be independently verified. 

Waiting Lists 

Waiting lists will be held in criteria order according to the oversubscription criteria. Waiting lists will not be operated on a “first come, first served” basis. The amount of time an applicant is on a waiting list will not affect their position on it. 

For In Year applications, waiting lists will be held for the term in which the application was made. At the end of the term all applicants will be contacted to be asked if they wish to remain on the school’s waiting list. Details of the waiting list process will be on the application forms and on the offer letters sent to applicants. 

This Admission Policy will have the full agreement of Salford Diocese and the governors of St Willibrord’s RC Primary School and will follow all relevant procedures for consultation.