Please note that within these criteria the term parent is used to refer to parents or legal guardians.
Arrangements for admission to 11-16 Provision
The admission arrangements for Mascalls Academy for the academic year 2025-2026 and, subject to any changes approved or required by the Secretary of State, for subsequent years are:
- Mascalls 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.
- Mascalls 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 co-ordinated admission arrangements and will be made on the Secondary Common Application Form (SCAF) provided and administered by the Kent County Council. Mascalls Academy will use the timetable for applications each year to fit in with the common timetable agreed by Kent County Council or its Admissions Forum. The closing date for applications is 31st October 2024.
Consideration of applications
Mascalls Academy will consider all applications for places. Where fewer than the published admission number of 240 for the relevant year groups are received, Mascalls Academy 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 SCAF 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.
Oversubscription Criteria
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 Education, Health and Care Plans (ECHPs) where Mascalls Academy is named on the statement, the criteria will be applied in the order in which they are set out below:
- Looked After Children and previously Looked After Children.
A looked after child is a child 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 the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989) at the time of making an application to a school.
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. - Students who have a sibling on roll at the time of admission to the academy.
In this context a sibling is defined as children who live as brother or sister in the same house, including natural brothers and sisters, adopted siblings, half-brothers or sisters, step-brothers or sisters and foster brothers and sisters. - Health and Special Access (to be determined by school)
Children whose mental or physical impairment means they have a demonstrable and significant need to attend a particular school. 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 a particular school. Such claims will need to be supported by written evidence from a suitably qualified medical or other practitioner who can demonstrate a special connection between these needs and the particular school. - Child of a Staff Member
The son or daughter of a member of staff who has been recruited to fill a vacant post at the academy for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage. For this criteria son or a daughter means a child who lives in the same house as the member of staff, including a natural son or daughter, an adopted child, stepson or daughter, or foster child. Children residing in the same households as part of an extended family, such as cousins, will not be eligible under this criterion. The Academy reserves the right to ask for proof of relationship. - Trust primaries
40 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 Academies Trust secondary academy to which they are applying is the closest to their home. If oversubscribed in this category it will be the 40 closest to the academy that will be admitted - Nearness of children’s homes to Mascalls Academy
We use the distance between the child’s permanent home address (defined in KCC’s annual admissions prospectus) and the school, measured in a straight line using the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) address point. 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. When we apply the distance criterion for the school, these straight-line measurements are used to determine how close each applicant’s address is to the school. Where applications are made from properties or abodes that are not registered to the NLPG, including new build properties, KCC may be required to use planning sites or other relevant coordinates. In exceptional circumstances where alternative coordinates are not available, measurements will be determined by a Senior Admissions Officer and confirmed by the Head of Service.
Tie-Breaker
In the event of two applications that cannot otherwise be separated, a clear and fair tiebreaker will be applied by randomly ranking one application ahead of the other.
Late Applications
All applications received by Kent County Council after the deadline will be considered to be late applications. Late applications will be considered after those received on time.
Operations of Waiting Lists
Mascalls Academy will operate a waiting list for each year group, where in any year the academy receives more applications for places than there are places available. This will be maintained by Mascalls Academy and it will be open to any parent to ask for his or her child’s name to be placed on the waiting list, following an unsuccessful application. Children’s position on the waiting list will be determined solely in accordance with the oversubscription criteria set out above. Where places become vacant they will be allocated to children on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. The waiting list will be reordered in accordance with the oversubscription criteria whenever anyone is added or leaves the waiting list.
Entry to Year 12
Mascalls Academy will publish specific criteria in relation to minimum entrance requirements for the Sixth Form and for the range of courses available based upon GCSE grades or other measures of prior attainment. These criteria are the same for internal and external transfers. The academic entry criteria will be published in the autumn immediately preceding the year of admissions (that is 2024) for 2025 admissions. The criteria will be included within the academy’s prospectus and details of these are also available on the academy website. Priority will be given to existing pupils transferring from Year 11 at Mascalls Academy. Oversubscription policy for Year 12 will be the same as for all applicants to all other year groups as stated above.
General Information
After a place has been offered the school reserves the right to withdraw the place in the following circumstances:
- when a parent has failed to respond to an offer within a reasonable time, or
- when a parent has failed to notify the school of important changes to the application information, or
- the admission authority offered the place on the basis of fraudulent or intentionally misleading application from the parent.
The school uses an Independent Appeals panel to consider appeals against non-admission. Details of the arrangements and appeals will be published each year. Parents have a right to appeal against refusal of a place in accordance with the School Admissions Appeals Code.
Requests for admission outside of the normal age group should be made to the Headteacher.
Late or Casual In Year Admissions to Years 7 – 11
The PAN for Years 7 to 11 is 240. Applications for places can be made directly to the Admissions Officer at the Academy.
In the event that places are not available, applicants will be placed on a waiting list held by the Academy for any year in which there is oversubscription. When places become available they will be allocated according to the oversubscription criteria set out above.