Address:
Queensway
Swinton
M27 8QE
Telephone: 0161 794 3876
Email: stmarks.rcprimaryschool@salford.gov.uk
Headteacher: Mrs P Garner
School type: Voluntary aided
Total number of places for nursery: 30
Total number of places for reception: 30
Total applications received by offer day for reception: 57
Breakdown of reception offers at offer day (17 April 2023): All applicants in categories 1-11 to a distance of 0.271 miles
Total numbers of reception offers made (including alternative offers): 30
Total reception vacancies: 0
St Mark’s RC Primary School is a Catholic School in the trusteeship of the Diocese of Salford. It is maintained by Salford Local Authority and is a voluntary aided School. The Governing Body is the Admissions Authority and is responsible for taking all decisions on applications for admissions. The co-ordination of admissions arrangements is undertaken by the Local Authority.
For the school’s year commencing September 2024, the Governing Body has determined that the number of children to be admitted to Reception class will be 30.
The school’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.
Admissions to the school will be determined by the Governing Body. Parents must complete a Local Authority Preference Form or apply online via the Salford Council Website. If you wish to have your application considered against the school's religious criteria then you will be asked for supplementary information which will be requested from you, by letter, on receipt of your application. This will include a request for a copy of a baptismal certificate (if applicable). All supplementary information MUST be provided to school before the closing date (as given on the letter requesting the information.)
If there are fewer than 30 applications, all applicants will be offered places. If there are more applications than the number of places available, the following oversubscription criteria will be applied using this order of priority:
All children whose statement of Special Educational Needs (SEN) or Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan names the school must be admitted.
a. Parents must complete a common application form and express all their preferences for primary school admission. The closing date for all applicants is 15 January 2024. The closing date for admissions and the offer of a place is in line with the Salford Local Authority co-ordinated admissions arrangements. All applicants will be considered at the same time by the admissions committee after the closing date for admissions (as supplied by the Local Authority.)
b. All applicants will be considered by the governors at the same time in a fair way according to the published criteria.
c. Parents will be informed of the governors’ decision by Salford Local Authority in April. An offer of a place does not guarantee a place for siblings in subsequent years.
d. It is the duty of governors to comply with class size limits. This means that the school cannot operate classes in Reception and Key Stage 1 of more than 30 children. The Governing Body may exceed the regulations for twins and children from multiple births where one of the children is the 30th child admitted. This also applies to in-year applicants who are looked after/previously looked after, children of UK service personnel.
e. If the school is oversubscribed, a waiting list will be maintained for the full autumn term in the academic year of admission. It will be ordered according to the admission criteria.
f. If in any category there are more applications than places available, priority will be given on the basis of proximity to the school. This will be digitally measured using the Local Authority system which measures distance from the address point of the home to the centre point of the school in miles. Those living closer to the school will receive the higher priority.
In the case of an equal distance measurement a random draw will be held by the Local Authority.
g. The governing body reserves the right to withdraw the offer of a school place where false evidence is received in relation to baptism, sibling connections or places of residence.
h. Each Roman Catholic applicant will be required to produce a baptismal certificate. Those who have difficulty obtaining written evidence of baptism for a good reason, may still be considered as baptised Catholics but only after they have been referred to the Parish Priest who, after consulting with the Salford Diocesan Authority will decide how the question of baptism is to be resolved and how written evidence is to be produced in accordance with the law of the Church.
i. Evidence of other Christian baptism will be required. (Copy of Baptismal Certificate required with application)
j. For Criteria 6 to be applied the Catholic parent / guardian will need to provide a copy of their own Catholic Baptismal Certificate.
k. All applicants will be required to provide proof of address i.e. up-to-date utility bill and council tax bill (within the last 3 months).
Home address is considered to be the address where the child normally lives. Where care is split and a child moves between two addresses, the household in receipt of the child benefit would normally be the address used but the admission authority body reserves the right to request other evidence as fit the individual circumstance. Applicants should not state the address of another relative or person who has daily care of the child.
l. 'Sibling' is defined in these arrangements as full, half or step brothers and sisters, adopted and foster brothers and sisters who are living at the same address and are part of the same family unit. This does not include cousins or other family relationships.
m. A Looked after Child is a child who is (1) in the care of a Local Authority, or (2) being provided with accommodation by a Local Authority in the exercise of their Social Services functions (under section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989. A previously looked After Child is one who immediately moved on from that status after becoming subject to an adoption, residence or special guardianship order.
n. The admission of a non-Catholic child in a year when there are vacancies remaining after the demand from Catholics is met does not guarantee a place for a sibling in a year where the Catholic demand is greater.
o. A waiting list for children who have not been offered a place will be kept and will be ranked according to the Admission Criteria. The waiting list does not consider the date the application was received or the length of time a child's name has been on the waiting list. This means that a child's position on the list may change if another applicant is refused a place and their child has higher priority in the admissions criteria.
p. For ‘In Year’ applications received outside the normal admissions round, if places are available they will be offered to those who apply. If there are places available but more applicants than places then the published oversubscription criteria will be applied.
q. If a child is a “summer born child”, parents may request that the date their child is admitted to school is deferred to later in the school year. However, the child must start school before the end of that school year. If a parent wishes their child to be educated out of their normal school year (kept back a year), they must discuss this with the school before applying. However, the final decision on this rests with the headteacher.
r. Parents may request that their child attend school part-time until he/she reaches his/her fifth birthday.
s. Late applications will be considered in accordance with the published admissions criteria after applications received by the closing date.
t. If an application for admission has been turned down by the governing body parents can appeal to an independent appeals panel. This appeal must be sent in writing to the clerk to the governors at the school within 20 days of notification of refusal. The parents must give their reasons for appealing in writing and the decision of the appeals panel is binding on the governors and parents.
u. Twins/Triplets etc. Where there are twins seeking admission and there is only a single place left within the admission number, then the governing body will exercise as much flexibility as possible. If places for twins or all triplets, etc cannot be offered, the family will be advised accordingly. This may also apply to siblings who are in the same year group. If only a single place can be offered for twins, then the Local Authority’s system for a random draw will decide which pupil receives an offer.
Where the admission number is reached before all the children in any given criterion have been allocated places, then all children within that criterion (but not those in higher criterion whose places will be assured) will be ranked according to distance from the school as described in note f.
Those children living nearest to the school will be allocated places until the admission number is reached. The distance measure is calculated by the Local Authority using a computer programme which measures distance from the address point of the home to the centre point of the school in miles.