Arrangements for admission to 11-16 Provision
The admission arrangements for Wilmington Academy for the academic year 2024 – 25 and, subject to any changes approved or required by the Secretary of State, for subsequent years are:
- Wilmington Academy has an agreed admission number of 240 students. The Academy will accordingly admit up to 240 students in the relevant age group each year if sufficient applications are received.
- Wilmington Academy may set a higher admission number as its Published Admission Number for any specific year. Students will not be admitted above the Published Admission Number unless exceptional circumstances apply and such circumstances shall be reported to the Secretary of State.
Process of application
Applications for places at the Academy will be made in accordance with Kent County Council’s coordinated admission arrangements and will be made on the Secondary Common Application Form (SCAF) provided and administered by the Kent County Council. Wilmington Academy will use the following timetable for applications each year (exact dates within the months may vary from year to year), which whenever possible, will fit in with the common timetable agreed by Kent County Council or its Admissions Forum.
- By September – Wilmington Academy will publish via its prospectus and website information about the arrangements for admission, including oversubscription criteria, for the following September (i.e. in 2024 for admission in 2025). This will include details of open evenings and other opportunities for prospective students and their parents to visit the school. The Academy will also provide information to the Local Authority for inclusion in the composite prospectus, as required;
- October/November – SCAF to be completed and returned to the Local Authority to administer;
- The Local Authority sends applications to the Academy;
- The Academy sends list of students to be offered places to Local Authority;
- February – the Local Authority applies agreed scheme for own schools, informing other Local Authorities of offers to be made to their residents;
- 1st March offers made to parents.
Consideration of Applications
Wilmington Academy will consider all applications for places. Where fewer than the published admission number of 240 for the relevant year groups are received, Wilmington will offer places to all those who have applied.
Applications for Children to be Taught Outside their Expected Year Group
Requests for admission outside of the normal age group should be made to the Principal as early as possible in the admissions round associated with the child’s date of birth. This allows the academy and admissions authority sufficient time to make a decision before the closing date. Parents are not expected to provide evidence to support their request, however where provided it must be specific to the child in question and may include medical or Educational Psychologist reports. There is no legal requirement for this medical or educational evidence to be secured from an appropriate professional, however, failure to provide this may impede the academy’s ability to agree to a request for admission outside of the normal age group. Parents are required to complete an application for the normal point of entry at the same time, in case their request is declined. Deferred applications must be made via paper CAF to the Local Authority, with written confirmation from the academy Principal attached. Deferred applications will be processed in the same way as all applications for the cohort in the following admissions round, and offers will be made in accordance with the academy’s oversubscription criteria.
Procedures where the Wilmington Academy is oversubscribed
Admissions to Year 7
Where the number of applications for admission of 240 is greater than the published admission number, applications will be considered against the criteria set out below. After the admission of students with Statements of Special Educational Needs / Education, Health and Care Plans (ECHPs) where the Wilmington Academy is named on the statement, the criteria will be applied in the order in which they are set out below:
As a result of admissions for students with Statements of Special Educational
Needs/Education, Health and Care Plans (ECHPs), the published admissions number will be reduced accordingly.
- Looked After Children or previously Looked After Children – A Looked After Child is one who is (a) in the care of a Local Authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see definition in section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989). A previously looked after child means such children who were adopted (or subject to child arrangements orders or special guardianship orders) immediately following having been looked after and those children who appear to the admission authority to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. A child is regarded as having been in state care outside of England if they were in the care of or were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation, or any other provider of care whose sole or main purpose is to benefit society.
- Admission of students whose siblings currently attend the school and who will continue to do so at the time of entry. For this criterion brother or sister means children who live as brother and sister in the same house, including natural brothers or sisters, adopted siblings, step-brothers or sisters, foster brothers or sisters. Children residing in the same households as part of an extended family, such as cousins, will not be treated as siblings. If siblings from multiple births (twins, triplets, etc.) apply for the Academy and the Academy would reach its Published Admission Number (PAN) after admitting one or more, but before admitting all of those siblings, the Academy will offer a place to each of the siblings, even if doing so takes the Academy above its PAN.
- Health and Special Access Reasons – Medical, health, social and special access reasons will be applied in accordance with Wilmington Academy’s legal obligations, in particular those under the Equality Act 2010. Priority will be given to those children whose mental or physical impairment means they have a demonstrable and significant need to attend Wilmington Academy. Equally this priority will apply to children whose parents’/guardians’ physical or mental health or social needs mean that they have a demonstrable and significant need to attend the Academy. Such claims will need to be supported by written evidence from a suitably qualified, independent registered medical or other practitioner, at the time of original application, who can demonstrate a special connection between these needs and Wilmington Academy.
- 30 places will be available to children attending a Leigh Academies Trust primary academy. Applications will only be given priority in this category if the Leigh Trust Secondary Academy to which they are applying is closest to their home. If oversubscribed in this category it will be the 30 closest to the academy that will be admitted. We use the distance between the child’s permanent home address and the Academy, measured as the distance between the child’s permanent home address and the school, measured in a straight line using the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) address point data. Distances are measured from a point defined as within the child’s home to a point defined as within the school as specified by NLPG. The same address point on the school site is used for everybody. Priority will be given to those living closest being given priority. If more than one applicant lives in a multi-occupancy building (e.g. flats) priority will be given to the applicant whose door number is the lowest numerically and/or alphabetically. Where parents live at separate addresses, and have joint custody, the address used will be the one where the child spends the main part of the academy week (i.e. Sunday night to Thursday night inclusive).
- Nearness of children’s homes to the Academy – we use the same method of measurement as detailed in d).
- In the unlikely event that two or more children in all other ways have equal eligibility for the last available place at the school, the names will be issued a number and drawn randomly to decide which child should be given the place.
Operation of waiting lists
Subject to any provisions regarding waiting lists in Kent County Councilʼs coordinated admission scheme, Wilmington Academy will operate a waiting list, until 31st December 2023. Where in any year the Academy receives more applications for places than there are places available, a waiting list will operate. This will be maintained by Wilmington Academy and it will be open to any parent to ask for his or her childʼs name to be placed on the waiting list, following an unsuccessful application. A childʼs position on the waiting list will be determined solely in accordance with the oversubscription criteria set out in paragraph 3a-3e above. Where places become vacant they will be allocated to children on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria.
Arrangements for admission to Post-16 Provision
Wilmington Academy will publish specific criteria in relation to minimum entrance
requirements for Post 16 and for the range of courses available based upon GCSE grades or other measures of prior attainment, conduct and behaviour. Conduct and behaviour will be garnered from relevant academic references. These criteria are the same for internal and external applicants. The academic entry criteria will be published in the autumn immediately preceding the year of admissions (September 2024) for September 2025 admissions. The criteria will be included within the Post 16 prospectus and the Academy’s website.