Collegiate Academy Trust Admissions Policy for Year 7 for Shireland Collegiate Academy

The Admissions Authority for Shireland Collegiate Academy is the Collegiate Academy Trust. The Governing Body will comply with the national co-ordinated admissions scheme for Sandwell which requires all parents to complete a preference form provided by the LA. In completing this form Shireland Collegiate Academy must be chosen as one of the 6 preferences on the LA form. To apply for Shireland Collegiate Academy parents of prospective students will be required to complete a registration form. Students wishing to be considered for a place based on aptitude for performing arts must indicate this on the Shireland Collegiate Academy registration form. If the application is not successful based on arts aptitude the application will then be automatically considered using the remaining criteria. Parents should be aware that a registration form must be returned to the Shireland Collegiate Academy, Waterloo Road, Smethwick, West Midlands B66 4ND.

The Academy will liaise with Sandwell Local Authority and other neighbouring Local Authorities in line with the national co-ordinated admissions arrangements during the process.

The Collegiate Academy Trust will use norm referenced banding to achieve an intake representative of the ability profile of applicants. Once a test has been attended, the students will be placed into 5 equal sized bands. After the admission of pupils with statements of Special Educational Needs where the Academy is named on the Statement, the criteria will be applied in the order in which they are set out below:

	Children in Public Care and children who were previously in Public Care but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a residence order or special guardianship order)
	A total of 18 applicants (10% of the total number of places) with an aptitude for the Arts. (The word aptitude means a gift or talent. It denotes a potential or propensity to develop an ability given appropriate teaching or preparation. In other words, aptitude plus preparation equals future ability.)
	Siblings (brother or sister at the Academy at the time of admission)
	Thereafter, on the basis of distance between their home address and the central point to the Academy. (Distance will be calculated according to a straight line measurement between the applicant’s home and the central point calculated at the Academy as measured by an external consultant.)

Preference forms received after the closing date will be considered where the Collegiate Academy Trust identifies that exceptional circumstances apply.

Preference forms received after places have been offered will be kept on file and form the basis of the "Applications to transfer to year 7".

Those who are offered a place at the Academy will be informed by the home LA. Those not offered admission will be informed and will have been offered a place at an alternative school by the home LA.

Arrangements for Appeals Panels

Parents will have the right of appeal to an independent Appeals Panel if they are dissatisfied with an admission decision. The appeal panel will be independent of the Academy. The arrangements for appeals will be in line with the Code on School Admissions Appeals published by the Department for Education. The determination of the Appeals Panel will be made in accordance with the Code on School Admissions Appeals and is binding on all parties.

Waiting Lists

Subject to any provisions regarding waiting lists in the LA’s co-ordinated admissions scheme the Academy will operate a waiting list. Where, in any year the Academy receives more applications for places than there are places available a waiting list will operate until the end of the first term of the school year. This will be maintained by the LA and it will be open to any parent to ask for his or her child’s name to be placed on the waiting list following an unsuccessful application. Children’s positions on waiting lists will be determined solely in accordance with the oversubscription criteria set out above. Where places become vacant they will be allocated to children on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. Banding will apply to the waiting list.