A-Z of Services

Admissions Criteria

The Local Authority (LA) will comply with its duty to provide an effective education system in so doing will have regard to the total resources, including accommodation and staffing, available to each school. It will consider the resource implications for the Authority and the impact on other education policies.

The LA's criteria for admission to schools are subject to:

the LA's obligation to ensure that a pupil with a Statement of Special Educational Need is admitted to a school able to meet those needs;
the LA's obligation to comply with the limitation on infant class size Legislation;
the LA's obligation to ensure the provision of efficient education and the efficient use of resources; and any limitation which may arise in relation to a particular school resulting from the application of the admission number, which is the number of children that can be admitted to each year group during the school year

Over Subscription Criteria

In considering parental preferences, the criteria will be applied unless the LA has agreed with an individual governing body an alternative order of priority, as published in the school's prospectus. Where more parents have expressed a preference for a school in a particular year than there is room for, selection criteria will be applied in the following rank order:

the LA will consider the needs of children in public care (Looked After Children);
Children who have exceptional medical, or educational needs (additional learning needs), which in the opinion of the Admissions Authority justify admission to a particular school;
Children for whom the preferred school is the nearest suitable school to the pupil’s home address;
Children who have a brother or sister attending the school at the date of their admission;
Other children for whom criteria 1-4 above do not apply. If there are more applications than places, the places will be allocated in distance order with those living nearest to the school receiving priority.

Looked After Children

A ‘Looked After Child’ is deemed to be one who is ‘Looked After’ by a Local Authority in accordance with Section 22 of the Children Act. Wrexham County Borough Council follows regulations set by the Welsh Assembly Government to ensure that the interests of these most vulnerable children are protected. These children are given top priority in the over-subscription criteria for all schools, including applications outside of the normal admissions period.

Limitation on Infant Class Sizes

The Welsh Assembly Government, as outlined in the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 is committed to ensuring that no child aged 5, 6, and 7 years will be in a class of more than 30 pupils for every one qualified teacher. The statutory infant class size limit of 30 pupils applies to reception, year 1 and year 2 classes.