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Sign in or register for an accountAddress:
Cutnook Lane
Irlam
M44 6GX
Telephone: 0161 464 0695
Email: office@mossvalleyacademy.uk
Executive Headteacher: Mr D Nightingale
Head of School: Ms K Pugh
School type: Academy
Total number of places for nursery: 25
Total number of places for reception: 25
Total applications received by offer day for reception: 24
Breakdown of reception offers at offer day (16 April 2026): All applicants offered
Total numbers of reception offers made: 20
Total reception vacancies: 5
Where a school receives more applications than places available, the following oversubscription criteria will be applied once places have first been allocated to children who have a statement of special education need or an Education, Health and Care Plan which names the school.
This includes children who have ceased to be looked after because they were adopted or became subject to a special residency/child arrangements order or special guardianship order.
As defined by the Children Act (1989), i.e. those who are unlikely to achieve or maintain or to have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining a reasonable standard of health or development or a child/children whose health or development would be further impaired without the provision of services by the local authority. Confirmation of the child’s needs will be required from their social worker.
If claiming exceptional medical reasons, these must be stated at the time of application and parents/ carers must ask an appropriately qualified medical professional to complete the medical information form giving evidence that the child’s medical needs can only be met at the preferred school. Claims for admission on the basis of medical grounds will not be considered if submitted after a decision on the original application has been made unless evidence can be provided that the medical condition has only been diagnosed since the allocation of places.
At the date when the pupil is to be admitted. This includes stepchildren and foster children living with the same family at the same address. Other children may be considered under the sibling criterion provided proof is available to demonstrate that the children are permanently resident at the same address and part of the same family unit. (The authority accepts that in some family units the children may not be natural brothers and/or sisters).
The distance will be measured in a straight line using LLPG (Local Land and Property Gazetteer) information to measure the distance between the address point of the child’s home address and the centre of the school in miles. Those children whose home address is closest to the school will be those who get priority for places.
If you are interested in applying for a place in our Nursery class, it can be done online.
If you wish to apply for our Reception class, this can also be done online.
Parents can apply for a place for their child at any time outside the normal admissions round. As is the case in the normal admissions round, all children whose EHC plans name the school will be admitted.
Likewise, if there are spaces available in the year group you are applying for, your child will be offered a place.
If there are no spaces available at the time of your application, your child’s name will be added to a waiting list for the relevant year group. When a space becomes available, it will be filled by 1 of the pupils on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria listed in section 6.3 of this policy. Priority will not be given to children on the basis that they have been on the waiting list the longest.
Parents will be notified of the outcome of their in-year application in writing within 15 school days.
Applications for in-year admissions should be sent to the following address:
School Admissions Team Children's Services Second Floor Unity House Salford Civic Centre Chorley Road Swinton M27 5AW
Telephone 0161 793 2500
Email school.admissions@salford.gov.uk 6.
Parents are entitled to request a place for their child outside of their normal age group.
Applications for admissions should be sent to the following address:
School Admissions Team Children's Services Second Floor Unity House Salford Civic Centre Chorley Road Swinton M27 5AW
Telephone 0161 909 6508
Email school.admissions@salford.gov.uk
Decisions on requests for admission outside the normal age group will be made on the basis of the circumstances of each case and 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 in section 6. 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.
7.1 Admission number The school has an agreed admission number of 30 pupils for entry in Nursery and then again agreed admission number of 30 pupils for entry in Reception up to year 6.
7.2 Challenging behaviour 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.
7.3 Fair Access Protocol We participate in Salford City Council’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.
7.4 SEND and ECHP Entry Entry to our Orchard and Acorn provision should be made through Salford SEN department and via the Salford hub.
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:
Get details of the school’s appeals timetable.
This policy will be reviewed and approved by the governing body every year. Whenever changes to admission arrangements are proposed (except where the change is an increase to the agreed admission number), the governing board will publicly consult on these changes. If nothing changes, it will publicly consult on the school’s admission arrangements at least once every 7 years.
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This page was last updated on 28 August 2026