Quick links:
Process of application
Secondary Places in Year 7
Criteria for Year 7 admissions
Operation of waiting lists
Arrangements for appeals panels

 

Process of application

Applications for Year 7 are co-ordinated through the applicant's home local authority and parents must complete the CAF issued by their home borough. Parents will be required to complete a supplementary information form to provide information not captured on the LEA's application form that relates to the religious criteria for admission. The supplementary form must be returned to the Academy by the closing date for admissions.

 

Secondary Places in Year 7

21 October - The CAF to be completed and returned to the Lewisham LEA to administer; the supplementary information form to be completed and returned to the Academy. In the case of Lewisham residents this will be on Lewisham's CAF; in the case of other applicants it will be on their home LEA's CAF and will be sent to Lewisham via the Pan London Register.

1 March - offers of secondary places are notified in writing to parents by the home LEA.

 

Criteria for Year 7 Admissions

After the admission of students with Statements of Special Educational Needs where the St Matthew Academy is named on the statement, the remaining places will be allocated in the following order:

 

1. Pupils transferring from Year 6 of the St Matthew Academy
2. Catholic Children in public care 1 and children looked after 1 by Catholic families;
3. Baptised Catholic children 2;
4. Other children in public care;
5. Baptised Eastern Orthodox children 3;
6. Children of other Christian denominations whose applications are supported by a Minister of Religion;
7. Children of other faiths whose applications are supported by a Religious Leader of a designated place of worship;
8. Other applicants.

 

If it is necessary to distinguish between applicants within any of the above categories, places will be allocated first to those applicants who have a sibling 4 who will be attending the Academy at the proposed date of admission of the applicant. After siblings, the remaining places will be allocated to those whose home addresses are closest to the Academy, as measured by straight line distance from the main entrance of the Academy to the main entrance to the child's normal place of residence. If it is necessary to distinguish between two applicants with a sibling connection, this will be done on the basis of closeness to the Academy as determined by straight line distance as described above. For the purposes of the criteria set out above the following definitions will apply:

 

1. Children in public care (Looked After Children) are children who are in the care or interim care of a local authority pursuant to S31 & S38 of the Children Act 1989 who are accommodated by a local authority, pursuant to S20 of the Children Act 1989.
2. Baptised Catholic children are those with a certificate of baptism from a Roman Catholic parish or a parish of an Oriental Rite Church in communion with the See of Rome and those Roman Catholic Catechumens who have a certificate of enrolment in the Catechumenate.
3. Eastern Orthodox children are those with a certificate of baptism from an Eastern Orthodox parish.
4. A sibling is a person who has the same natural father or mother or legal guardian as a student on the roll of the academy at the time of admission and who shares permanent domicile with that parent/legal guardian and that student.

 

Operation of waiting lists

Subject to any provisions regarding waiting lists in the LEA's co-ordinated admission scheme, the Academy will operate a waiting list. Where in any year the St Matthew Academy receives more applications for places than there are places available, a waiting list will operate until a month after the normal annual admission date. This will be maintained by the St Matthew Academy 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 position on the waiting list will be determined solely in accordance with the oversubscription criteria set out in paragraphs 4(a) & 4(b). Where places become vacant they will be allocated to children on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria.

 

Arrangements for appeals panels

Parents will have the right of appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel if they are dissatisfied with an admission decision of the St Matthew Academy. The Appeal Panel will be independent of the Academy. The arrangements for Appeals will be in line with the Code of Practice on School Admission Appeals published by the Department for Education and Skills as it applies to Foundation and Voluntary Aided schools. The determination of the appeal panel will be made in accordance with the Code of Practice on School Admission Appeals and is binding on all parties. The Academy will prepare guidance for parents about how the appeals process will work and provide parents with a named contact who can answer any enquiries parents may have about the process.