Godly Lane, Sowerby Bridge, HX6 4QR
01422822596

Admissions 

St John’s is the community school for Rishworth and seeks to meet the needs of the locality through co-operation with parents/guardians, the Local Education Authority and the Diocese of Leeds.

The policy aims to maximise, within the agreed accommodation limit, the number of children admitted to the school while maintaining the quality of their education by avoiding overcrowding in classrooms and premises, and overloading of teachers. The production of this policy has taken account of the school’s Mission Statement particularly in relation to the Christian principles and values on which the school is based.

 

Admissions to Reception class

A child may be admitted to the Reception class provided that their fifth birthday falls between 1st September of the year of admission and 31st August of the following year, both dates inclusive.

The number of children that can be admitted to the Reception Class each year is currently 20. This number has been calculated according to the capacity of the school, which the law defines and has been agreed with Calderdale LA.

The criteria below will be used in order of priority when allocating places.

Priority 1

A. Pupils who are in Public Care or children who were previously looked after but ceased to be so because they became adopted or became subject to a residence or special guardianship order, including children who were in state care outside of England prior to being adopted.

Priority 2

A. Children with brothers and sisters registered as pupils of the school at the proposed date of admission AND whose parents regularly and frequently worship at St Bartholomew's or St John's Churches. (In all cases a supporting letter from the Parish Priest will be required as evidence – see notes).

B. Children with brothers and sisters registered as pupils of the school at the proposed date of admission AND whose parents regularly and frequently worship at other Churches whose denomination is not necessarily Church of England.

(In all cases a supporting letter from the Parish Priest will be required as evidence - see notes)

C. Children with brothers and sisters registered as pupils of the school at the proposed date of admission.

Priority 3

A. Children whose parents live within the parish and regularly and frequently worship at St Bartholomew's or St John's Churches. (In all cases a supporting letter from the Parish Priest will be required as evidence – see notes).

B. Children whose parents live within the parish and regularly and frequently worship at other Churches whose denomination is not necessarily Church of England.

(In all cases a supporting letter from the Parish Priest will be required as evidence – see notes).

Priority 4

Proximity of the child's house to the school, as measured by a straight line measurement from the pupil’s home to the closest designated school gate.

Distances will be calculated using the LA’s Geographical Information System. To ensure consistency applies, all measurements will be carried out by the LA’s GIS system and no other method of measuring distance will be considered.

Each property has a coordinate taken from Ordnance Survey ADDRESS-POINT data. This is the point which distance measurements will be taken from.

NOTES In order to qualify under the sibling criterion one of the following conditions must exist:

· Brother and/or sister to be permanently resident at the same address;

· Stepbrother and/or stepsister to be permanently resident at the same address (to include half brothers/sisters).

The child’s ordinary place of residence will be deemed to be a residential property at which the person or persons with parental responsibility for the child resides at the closing date for receiving applications for admission to school.

Where more than one person holds parental responsibility and those persons reside in separate properties, the child’s ordinary place of residence will be deemed to be that property at which the child resides for the greater part of the week, including weekends.

For families of service personnel with a confirmed posting, or crown servants returning from overseas, a place will be allocated in advance of the family arriving in the area (as long as one is available), provided the application is accompanied by an official letter that declares a relocation date and the parents provide some evidence of their intended address.

In order to qualify as a regular and frequent worshipper of St John’s or St Bartholomew's Churches (under priority 2A or 3A), it is the applicant’s responsibility to provide supporting evidence to St John’s/St Bartholomew’s parish priest who will then produce a supporting letter for their application.
In order to qualify as a regular and frequent worshipper of other Churches, whose denomination is not necessarily Church of England (under priority 2B or 3B), it is the applicant’s responsibility to provide supporting evidence from their minister to St John’s/St Bartholomew’s parish priest who will then produce a supporting letter for their application.


With reference to the definition of a regular and frequent worshipper, please note the following definitions:


A regular and frequent worshipper is a person who:
worships at least twice per month and has done so for the 12 months prior to the closing date for applications. The worshipper could be the child or one or more parent(s)/guardian(s).
or
usually attends a monthly service and is regularly involved in a weekday church activity including an element of worship and has done so for the 12 months prior to the closing date for applications. The worshipper could be the child or one or
more parents/guardians.

Pandemic amendment:

‘In the event that during the period specified for attendance at worship the church has been closed for public worship and has not provided alternative premises for that worship, the requirements of these admissions arrangements in relation to attendance will only apply to the period when the church or alternative premises have been available for public worship’

Please find a copy of our current Prospectus 2023-2024 below.

NameFormat
Files
StJohns-Prospectus-2023.24.pdf .pdf

In Year Admissions

If you are interested in your child(ren) joining us at St John's we would be delighted to talk to you in more detail about this and arrange a tour if required.  Please contact the school office on either 01422 822596 or admin@stjohnsrishworth.org.uk 

If we have a space available in a particular year group, and we receive an application to fill that place, the applicant will be advised and the process will begin to complete the school transfer.   

If a place is requested in a year group which is full at the time of enquiry, the applicants' details will be placed on our waiting list.  If/when a place became available in that year group all families would be contacted to determine their current needs with application forms requested for completion at that stage.  A deadline would be set for applications to be received and the standard admissions process would be followed to determine which child would successfully acquire the place.  

 Further details can be found in the "In Year Admissions" policy within the policies tab. 

If you would like to express an interest in your child attending St John’s Primary School, please contact the school office on either 01422 822596 or admin@stjohnsrishworth.org.uk.

Please note that an expression of interest does not guarantee a place at St John’s Primary School.