Admissions

Parents or guardians considering applying for a place at Ainsdale St John’s are warmly invited to visit the school and meet the Headteacher.

Please call the school office on 01704 578427  to arrange a tour of the school. 

We would urge you to read our admissions criteria for further information on how to apply for  a place in school.

The booklets, ‘Parent’s Guide’ and ‘Admissions Information’ are available for  parents to view/download at www.sefton.gov.uk/admissions

The online application is available on the Citizens Portal from 1st September until mid January.

Admission Appeals Information - Applications for Reception

Infant Class Size Appeals - Reception, Year 1 & Year 2
Government legislation requires that any infant age group classes (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2) should not accommodate more than 30 pupils with a single qualified schoolteacher. The Authority will refuse admission to any child, if admitting the child would take the class over the limit of 30 children. There are very limited exceptions to this.

An appeal against such a decision can only be allowed if the appeal panel is satisfied that either:
• The decision to refuse admission was not one which a reasonable admission authority would have made in the circumstances of the case; or
• The child would have been offered a place if the Local Authority’s admission arrangements had been implemented properly.

In this context, ‘reasonable’ has the legal meaning of ‘not perverse,’ therefore the threshold for finding that an Admission Authority’s decision to refuse admission was not one that a reasonable authority would have made is high and must be: ‘Beyond the range of responses open to a reasonable decision maker or a decision which is so outrageous in its defiance of logic or of accepted moral standards that no sensible person who had applied his mind to the question could have arrived at it.’

With such appeals, the appeal panel will simply hear the Authority’s explanation as to why a place had been refused followed by your reasons for saying that the appeal should be allowed on one of the grounds referred to above before making their decision.

What happens if I decide to appeal?
You should submit the relevant application for appeal to the appropriate admission authority by the date specified in the refusal notification that you have received. You may wish to submit other documents e.g., medical, educational, or other professional reports or letters and these should be included with your appeal form wherever possible. 

Do not delay in submitting your appeal form if you are waiting for other documents as these can be sent at a later date. The Admission Authority will provide all relevant documents to the Clerk to the Independent Appeal Panel.

For In Year admissions ‘relevant documents’ would usually include any information provided to the local authority by the child’s current school. This may include behaviour and attendance reports. The Clerk will then arrange for your appeal to be heard. Where there are a number of appeals for the same school, the appeal panel will make every effort to hear all appeals together, possibly over a period of several days. 

If an appellant wishes to submit further evidence which was not included with their initial appeal, they must make sure that it is received within a reasonable time prior to the hearing date (normally three working days). Any additional evidence or information received too late may not be able to be considered at the appeal hearing. The appeal panel must decide whether it should be considered, taking into account its significance and the effect of a possible need to adjourn the hearing.

When will my appeal be heard?
Appeals within the ‘normal admissions round’ - Reception children (starting primary school for the first time) and children transferring from primary to secondary school (Year 7 entry) - these will be heard within 40 school days* from the Sefton deadline for lodging appeals. 

For late appeal requests/late applications, appeals should be heard within 40 school days* from the Sefton deadline for lodging appeals where possible, or within 30 school days* of the individual appeal being lodged.

Applications for In-Year admissions, where an appeal is submitted during the academic year, appeals will be heard within 30 school days* of the appeal being lodged. *School days refers to Sefton’s standard school term dates therefore, appeals are NOT heard during school holidays.

Any appeals submitted after the appropriate deadline must still be heard, in accordance with whatever timescale is set out in the timetable published by the Admission Authority.

You will normally receive at least 10 school days’ notice of the appeal hearing from the clerk to the independent appeal panel, unless you agree, in writing, to a shorter period of notice.

Wherever possible, at least 7 working days before the hearing you will receive a written statement from the Admissions Authority detailing why it has not been possible to allow your child to attend your preferred school. This will form the basis of the case for the Authority. You will also receive information about what will happen on the day of the hearing. At both stages Information is sent via email from the clerk.

Please ensure you have a working email address and also check your junk email. If you do not reply to email invitations, you will NOT be invited to speak at the hearing.

In Year School Admissions

In Year School Admissions are when a child moves from one school to another during the academic year.  Within Sefton there are two different types of In Year Admission:

1. Due to a house move (A1 application)

2. A school transfer for reasons other than a house move (T1 application)

The information online at www.sefton.gov.uk/inyearadmissions provides you with all the information needed for you to make an In Year Admission application.

Please read this information BEFORE contacting the In Year Admissions Team.