St Bede's Inter-Church School

Entry Criteria

St Bede’s is a joint Church of England/Roman Catholic foundation, and its purpose is to serve Church of England/Roman Catholic families who live within travelling distance of the school. If there is room, the school also welcomes pupils from committed Christian families of other denominations and from families of other faiths who accept the aims and ethos of this Christian school. The Governing Body of Cambridge Secondary School is the admission authority for the school. This means that it is the Governing Body that 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 in September 2008, the LA, on behalf of the Governing Body, will offer places to 152 children. This is the Published Admission Number (PAN) for that year group. In the event that more than 152 applications are received, the oversubscription criteria will be applied to determine priority for places.

All preferences will be treated equally, but first priority will be given to Looked After Children. Any child with a Statement 1 that names the school will be admitted. When the school is oversubscribed, students will be admitted in the order of priority stated below:

Children from Church of England/Roman Catholic families whose application is supported2 by their priest or minister
Children from families belonging to other Churches that are members of ‘Churches Together in Britain and Ireland’ whose application is supported 2 by their priest or minister
Children from families belonging to other Christian churches whose application is supported 2 by their Church minister or leader
Children attending Roman Catholic (Aided) or Church of England (Aided or Controlled) primary schools
Children from families practising other world faiths whose application is supported by their spiritual leader
Children from other families in sympathy with the aims and ethos of this Christian school.

Within each of the above categories priority will be given firstly to those children who at the time of admission have a sibling 3 at the school and secondly to those children who live nearest to the school 4.

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 10 November 2006. Offer letters will be issued by the LA on 1 March 2007. Late applications (those submitted between 11 November 2006 and 8 September 2007) will be handled by the Admissions Team.

All parents wishing to apply under the school’s religious criteria must also complete the attached Supplementary Information Form. This must be returned to the School by the LA application deadline or, for mid-phase applications, at the same time as the school’s application form is submitted.

To apply for a place after the start of term or in any other year group, please contact the School or the LA Admissions Team for an application form. LA Admissions Team contact 01223 717391 / 01223 712755 or email admissions@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Parents wishing to visit the school prior to submitting an application are welcome to do so, though it may not always be possible to organise this at short notice. Visits are not interviews and do not affect any decision regarding the availability of a place. Please contact the school to make arrangements. Tel. 01223 568816 or email office@stbedes.cambs.sch.uk

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 education 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 the Chair of Governors, who will ask for an Independent Panel to be convened.

When an application is refused, the child’s details are automatically placed on a reserve list for the year group, ranked according to the oversubscription criteria. As part of the co-ordinated scheme for secondary admissions, the LA Admissions Team holds the initial reserve list on behalf of the governing body until the end of the first week of the autumn term in the initial year of intake. The governing body then manages the reserve list until the end of the autumn term. Where mid-year applications are received, children’s details will be held on the reserve list for a period of one term following the term of application.

Parents will be contacted immediately if a place becomes available for their child, but should be aware that their child’s place on a reserve list may change if an application is subsequently received that meets a higher criterion than their own.

1 Children with a statement of special educational need which names the school or for whom this is the only school that can meet their long-term medical needs.

2 Support is defined as the family’s Christian commitment being recognised within the parish of the priest or minister. The school may seek further clarification from the priest or minister if such recognition is unclear.

3 Sibling is defined as a child either living in the same home or blood related but living at a different address.

4 Distance to school is measured according to the shortest straight line distance.