Admissions

Current Admissions Policy

St Bede’s Inter-Church School is a joint Church of England/Roman Catholic foundation, and its purpose is to serve Church of England and Roman Catholic families who live within travelling distance of the school.  The school also welcomes pupils from committed Christian families of other denominations and from families of other faiths or no faith. 

The governing body of St Bede’s Inter-Church School is the admissions authority for the school. This means that the governing body sets and applies the admissions policy for the school.  All decisions regarding the admission of children into the school are made by a sub-committee of the governing body. 

For admission into Year 7 each September, the Local Authority, on behalf of the governing body, will offer places to 180 children.  This is the Published Admission Number (PAN) for that year group. If more than 180 applications are received, then the oversubscription criteria will be applied to determine priority for places.  In the event that your child is not offered a place, you have the right of appeal and details of how to appeal can be obtained from the school after the 1st March.   A waiting list for places is maintained by Cambridgeshire County Council for any student who has not been offered a place but still wishes to be considered during the first term of Year 7. 

Any child with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) where St Bede’s has been cited as the named school will be admitted.

 All preferences will be treated equally, but priority will first be given to Looked after children and children who were previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to adoption, a child arrangements order, or special guardianship order1, together with children who appear to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.2

After this, applications will be ranked according to the school’s oversubscription criteria in the order stated below: 

1. Children of members of staff, providing that they have been employed for a minimum of two years and/or are recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skills shortage.                                         
2. Children from Church of England / Roman Catholic families who are baptised or otherwise recognised as a full member of the Anglican / Roman Catholic Church and whose status is confirmed3 as such by their priest or minister. 
3. Children from families belonging to other Churches that are members of ‘Churches Together in England’, the ‘Evangelical Alliance’ or ‘Partner Churches of Affinity’ whose membership status is confirmediv as such by their priest, minister or elder.  
4. Children from families who belong to any other world faiths and whose status is confirmedv as such by their spiritual leader.             
5. Any other children 

Within each of the above categories, priority ranking will be given to a) children who have a sibling4 in the school at the time of admission into the school, then b) to children who live nearest to the school by straight line distance from their home address. 

In the event of a tie for the 180th place, then lots will be drawn for the place by a person who is independent of the admissions committee. If the tie is between twins or multiple birth siblings, then all will be admitted to the school. 

The application process for admissions into Year 7 is co-ordinated by Cambridgeshire Local Authority (LA), which acts on behalf of the governing body to offer places at the school. Parents should submit a Common Application Form, available from their child's primary school or from the LA Admissions Team, no later than 31st October. Offer letters will be issued by the LA in March. Late applications (those submitted between November and September) will be handled by the LA Admissions Team. 

For full information about the process, formal definitions of terms used in this Admissions Policy and support with individual queries about admissions applications, please visit the Cambridgeshire County Council Admissions website (three pages in total). 

All parents wishing to apply under the school's religious criteria (2/3/4) must also complete the Supplementary Information Form (SIF). This must be returned directly to the school on or before the LA application deadline or, for mid-phase applications, at the same time as the school's application form is submitted. 

Any child who is refused a place at the school has a right of appeal to an Independent Appeals Panel. The panel is made up of three people who are independent of the governing body and the local authority. They will take into consideration all the circumstances of the case put before them, and any decision they make is binding on the governing body and the parents concerned. Any parent wishing to appeal should put their case in writing to Cambridgeshire Country Council using the following website:

https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/children-and-families/schools-learning/apply-for-a-school-place/admission-appeals