ADMISSIONS
If you would like to arrange an in-year transfer to our school, you must ring Wigan Council Admissions on 01942 489013.
To view information about admissions from Wigan Council, click the button below.
Holy Family Catholic Primary School is a Catholic School in the trusteeship of the Diocese of Salford.
It is maintained by Wigan Council and is a voluntary aided school. The Governing board is the
admissions authority and is responsible for taking all decisions on applications for admissions. The co- ordination of admissions arrangements is undertaken by the Local Authority.
For the school’s year commencing September 2027, the governing board has determined that the
number of children to be admitted to Reception 2027 will be 20.
The school’s role is to participate in the mission of the Catholic Church by providing a curriculum,
including Catholic religious education and worship, which will help children to grow in their
understanding of the Good News and in the practice of their faith. The school will help the children
develop fully as human beings and prepare them to undertake their responsibilities as Catholics in
society. The school requires all parents applying for a place here to understand and respect this ethos
and its importance to the school community. This does not affect the rights of parents who are not of
the Catholic faith to apply for a place here.
Admissions to the school will be determined by the governing board. Parents must complete a Local
Authority Preference Form or apply online via the website:
www.wigan.gov.uk/Resident/Education/Schools/School-Admissions/Primary-schools.aspx
If you wish to have your application considered against the school's religious criteria then you must
ALSO complete the supplementary form which is available from the school.
If there are fewer than 20 applications, all applicants will be offered places. If there are more
applications than the number of places available, the following oversubscription criteria will be applied
once places have first been allocated to pupils who have an education health and care plan which names
the school:
Oversubscription Criteria:
1. Baptised Catholic Looked After Children, Baptised Catholic previously Looked After Children and Baptised
Catholic Children who appear to the Local Authority to have been in state care outside of England and
ceased to be in state care because they were adopted.
2. Baptised Catholic children who have a sibling in the school at the time of admission.
3. Baptised Catholic children resident in the parish of Holy Family
4. Looked After Children, previously Looked After Children and Children who appear to the Local
Authority to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care because they
were adopted.
5. Other Baptised Catholic Children.
6. Other children who have a sibling in the school at the time of admission.
7. All remaining applicants.
If it is not possible to offer places for all applications within any criterion above, priority will be given
to those living closest to the school measured by a straight line from the child’s home address to a
central point at the school using a Geographical Information System (GIS) which is based on ordnance
survey. In the event of distances being the same for 2 or more applicants, places will be allocated by a
system to randomly pick who will be offered a place. A copy of the policy is available on request from
the local authority.
Notes for Applicants:
a. All applications will be considered at the same time and after the closing date for admissions
which is 15th January 2027. Applications received after this date will be treated as a late
application and will not be considered until after the main allocation of places has taken place.
b. 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 under
section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989. A previously Looked After Child is one who immediately
moved on from that status after becoming subject to an adoption, residence or special
guardianship order. Children who appear to the Local Authority to have been in a state care
outside of England and ceased to be in state care because they were adopted. A child is regarded
as having been in state care in a place outside of England if they were accommodated by a public
authority, a religious organisation or any other provider of care whose sole purpose is to benefit
society. Applications must be supported with appropriate evidence that the child has been
adopted from state care.
c. For a child to be considered as a Catholic evidence of a Catholic Baptism or reception into the
Catholic Church is required. Written evidence of reception into the Catholic Church can be
obtained by referring to the Register of Receptions, or in some cases a sub-section of the
Baptismal Registers of the Church in which the Rite of Reception took place. If, for example, a
child has been baptised in the Church of England and the parents are subsequently admitted to
the Catholic Church through the RCIA programme, the child must also be admitted to the
Church by the Rite of Reception.
The governing board will require written evidence in the form of a Certificate of Reception
before applications for school places can be considered for categories of ‘Baptised Catholics’. A
Certificate of Reception is to include full name, date of birth, date of reception and parent(s)
name(s). The certificate must also show that it is copied from the records kept by the place of
reception.
Those who have difficulty obtaining written evidence of baptism for a good reason, may still be
considered as baptised Catholics but only after they have been referred to the parish priest who,
after consulting with the Director of Education or officers of the DDFE will decide how
the question of baptism is to be resolved and how written evidence is to be produced in
accordance with the law of the Church.
d. ‘Sibling’ is defined in these arrangements as full, half or stepbrothers and sisters, adopted and
foster brothers and sisters who are living at the same address and are part of the same family
unit. This does not include cousins or other family relationships.
e. Home Address is considered to be the address where the child normally lives. Where care is
split and a child moves between two addresses, the household in receipt of the child benefit
would normally be the address used but the admission authority body reserves the right to
request other evidence as fit the individual circumstance. Applicants should not state the
address of another relative or person who has daily care of the child.
f. A waiting list for children who have not been offered a place will be kept and will be ranked
according to the admission criteria. The waiting list does not consider the date the application was
received or the length of time a child's name has been on the waiting list. This means that a child's
position on the list may change if another applicant is refused a place and their child has higher
priority in the admissions criteria. This waiting list will be kept until 31st December 2027.
g . For ‘In Year’ applications received outside the normal admissions round, if places are available
they will be offered to those who apply. If there are places available but more applicants than
places then the published oversubscription criteria will be applied.
An application can be made for a place for a child at any time outside the admission round and
the child will be admitted where there are available places. Application should be made to Holy
Family Catholic Primary School by contacting the school office – 01942 246376
www.aspullholyfamily.co.uk
Parents will be notified of the outcome of their application within 10 school days, but no more
than 15 school days of receipt of the application
Where there are places available but more applications than places, the published
oversubscription criteria, as set out above, will be applied.
If there are no places available, the child will be added to the waiting list (see g above).
You will be advised of the outcome of your application in writing, and you have the right of
appeal to an independent appeal panel.
If an application for admission has been turned down by the Governing Board, parents may
appeal to an independent appeals panel. Parents must be allowed at least twenty school days
from the date of notification that their application was unsuccessful to submit that appeal.
Parents must give reasons for appealing in writing and the decision of the appeals panel is
binding on the governors.
h. The governing board reserve the right to withdraw the offer of a school place where false
evidence is received in relation to the application.
i. It is the duty of governors to comply with regulations on class size limits for children aged between
rising five and seven. The governing board may exceed the regulations for twins and children from
multiple births where one of the children is the 20th child admitted. This also applies to in-year
applicants who are looked after/previously looked after children of UK service personnel or
children who move into the area for whom there is no other school available within a reasonable
distance.
j. If a child is a ‘summer born child’, parents may request that the date their child is admitted to
school is deferred to later in the school year. However, the child must start school before the end
of that school year. If a parent wishes their child to be educated out of their normal school year
(kept back a year), they must discuss this with the school before applying. However, the final
decision on this rests with the headteacher.
k. Parents may request that their child attend school part-time until he/she reaches his/her fifth
birthday.
IN YEAR APPLICATIONS INFORMATION
For ‘In Year’ applications received outside the normal admissions round, if places are available they will be offered to those who apply. If there are places available but more applicants than places then the published oversubscription criteria will be applied.
An application can be made for a place for a child at any time outside the admission round and the child will be admitted where there are available places. Application should be made to Holy Family Catholic Primary School by contacting the school office – 01942 246376 www.aspullholyfamily.co.uk
Parents will be notified of the outcome of their application within 10 school days, but no more than 15 school days of receipt of the application
Where there are places available but more applications than places, the published oversubscription criteria, as set out above, will be applied.
If there are no places available, the child will be added to the waiting list (see g above).
You will be advised of the outcome of your application in writing, and you have the right of appeal to an independent appeal panel.
If an application for admission has been turned down by the Governing Board, parents may appeal to an independent appeals panel. Parents must be allowed at least twenty school days from the date of notification that their application was unsuccessful to submit that appeal. Parents must give reasons for appealing in writing and the decision of the appeals panel is binding on the governors.
