Admission of New Pupils

Please contact the school to arrange a visit. We love to be able to show prospective parents and pupils around our school. Following the visit, if your child is already in education you will be given an 'In Year Transfer Form' to complete and return. If your child is starting school in Reception next academic year, you will need to complete the starting school application form and return it to School Admissions, Shropshire Council (full address below).

If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us and ask.

Contact School Admissions

school-admissions@shropshire.gov.uk

0345 678 9008

Shropshire Council

Shirehall

Abbey Foregate

Shrewsbury

SY2 6ND

In- Year Admissions

Admission to the academy during the academic year depends on whether a further admission would prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources at the school or not. Applications must be made directly to the academy on a form available from the academy. Admissions outside the normal age group will be managed by the Local Academy Board of Bishop’s Castle Primary School as indicated below.

• If an admission would not prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources, and there is no child on the relevant waiting list with a higher priority (according to the over-subscription criteria 1-8 above), a place will be offered.
• In-year admissions, or admissions at the beginning of academy years other than Reception, will only be considered by the school up to half a term [using the three-term year] in advance of the desired date for entry. For example, for entry in January, the application will not be considered until after the October half-term break. Bishop’s Castle Primary School does not have a normal point of entry to Year 3 – applications for entry at the beginning of Year 3 are treated as indicated in this section.

In-Year Admissions Process

This outlines the procedure for parents who wish to apply for a place for their child at Bishop’s Castle Primary School, “in-year”, that is other than where they are to start school in the Reception Class at the beginning of the academic year.

If you are applying for a Reception place in the normal admissions round1 or you are applying late2 for your child please see our Admissions Policy).

The School will coordinate its own in-year admissions and applications, should be made as described below, and not to the Local Authority, as is the case for normal admission round and late applications.  If you are considering moving your child to Bishop’s Castle Primary School, you are welcome to contact the school office to arrange a date and time to have a tour around, if you wish. Please note, this does not guarantee that a place will be available, and the online application procedure below must be followed:

• Request an admissions form from the school, or complete an online version https://shropshire.gov.uk/media/14074/mid-term-in-year-application-form.pdf
• Send, or email, the completed form to the school (admin@bishopscastle-pri.shropshire.sch.uk)
• We will then contact you in writing to let you know whether a place is available, or not. If you are offered a place at our school, the offer letter will then instruct you to make direct contact with us to arrange a mutually convenient start date. If it is not possible to offer a place at our school, then we will inform you, in writing, as to the reason for the refusal, as well as informing you of your right of appeal. The relevant Local authority will also be informed.
• At Bishop’s Castle Primary School, we do maintain a waiting list for in-year admissions. If your application has been unsuccessful and we have been unable to offer a place, you are welcome to 1 before the 15 January deadline for the Local Authority to offer a place on National Offer Day (16 April or the next working day) 2 Applications for Reception that are made before the first day of the first term of the academic year but have not been made in time for the Local Authority to offer a place on National Offer Day 5 contact the school office if you wish your child to be included. Priority on the waiting list is determined according to our over-subscription criteria (see Admissions Policy) and not the date a child is added to the list. If a place were then to become available, we would notify the School Admissions Team and they will notify parents of the vacancy on behalf of school.
•  A waiting list is maintained until 31 December for Reception, see 2.15 School Admissions Code. Thereafter, waiting lists are maintained until the end of each term.
•  Parents will need to reapply if they wish to be included on the list for the following term.

Welcoming New Pupils

We will invite you to participate in the school induction programme spending some time with us in an informal way. This gentle introduction should make your child’s first day at school a little less daunting and your own day less anxious.

The children are invited into school for ‘taster’ sessions (these will be a mixture of mornings and afternoons) with their new class and class teacher so they can become familiar with the layout of the classroom and school and also have the opportunity to meet some of the people who work in their new environment. They will also be invited to lunch on one or two of these sessions.

In addition our Foundation Stage teacher visits all of the children in their pre-school setting prior to them starting school with us.