School admission appeals

Every school in Merthyr Tydfil has an admission number which is set by reference to the school’s capacity to accommodate pupils. The following information relates to admission arrangements for community schools, admission arrangements for voluntary aided church schools can be found in the schools admission booklet or directly from the schools themselves.

A child will normally be offered admission to a community school of the parent/carer’s preference unless the admission number has been reached. Where applications exceed places the local authority will admit children in the following order of priority:

The highest priority will be given by the LA to children who are a 'Child Looked After' at the time of the child's admission to the school.

In line with recent changes in legislation, the authority will give children looked after priority when schools are oversubscribed, subject to the following exceptions:

• Schools designated as having a religious character must give higher priority to children looked after of the faith of the school over children of that faith. They should also give higher priority to relevant children looked after not of that faith than to other children not of the faith.
• Schools which have provision for selection by ability must give higher priority to children looked after who have been selected by ability over other children who have been selected by ability. Children looked after who have not been allocated a place on the basis of ability must be given priority over other children who have not been allocated a place on that basis.
• Schools which make provision for selection by banding must give priority to relevant children looked after within each band over another child who is eligible for a school within that band.
• Children resident in the designated catchment area of the school.
• Children recommended for placement for medical psychological reasons (these must be confirmed by the LA’s professional advisers)
• Children with siblings (brothers and sisters) living in the same household attending the school in September 2023. If when applying the oversubscription criteria the last child to be admitted is one of a multiple birth i.g. twin or triplet then the authority will also consider admitting the other sibling (s), but will have due regard to class size legislation.
• Where places remain after all children in the above categories have been allocated a place, or where there is a need to differentiate between children in these categories, places will be allocated on the basis of distance between home and school (as identified by the authority’s ‘mapping schools’ electronic system in relation to the shortest available walking route between the school gate and the child’s front door) children living closest being given the highest priority.

In the vast majority of cases children are offered places at their parents/carers first choice of school. However, if a child is unable to gain admission to a preferred school, parents/carers may appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel. This panel will judge whether the school is full and, if that is the case, whether the parent/carers plea is so strong that the child should still be offered a place.

Please ring the Contact Centre for advice 01685 725000.