Admissions

1. The Deanery is a Church of England High School, therefore:

• the Governors decide the school’s Admissions Policy, and
• the Governors decide who is offered a place at the school.
  The Local Authority co-ordinates Admissions across Wigan.

2. Normally, children start at The Deanery in the September of Year 7 and the September of Year 12. Children can start in other year-groups or at other times of the year; these are called ‘in-year’ admissions (see below).

3. For September 2025, there are 250 places for Year 7 children.

• If 250 children (or fewer) apply to The Deanery, all will be offered a place.
• If more than 250 children apply, places will be offered in the following order.
  Where the school receives more applications than 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:
  a) Children in Public Care and previously looked after children. This includes any ‘looked after child’, ‘previously looked after child’ or any child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, residence or special guardianship order. ‘looked after’ means that the child was (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. This criteria also includes looked after children and all previously looked after 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. b) Children of staff at the school who are employed on a permanent contract and have a) been employed fortwo or more years or b) been recruited to fill a vacant post for which there was a demonstrable skill shortage, at the time of application.
  c) Children who will have a sibling at The Deanery Church of England High School at the time of application, including the Sixth Form.
  d) Children who are regular worshippers at a Christian church, as long as this is confirmed by the church leader (such as the vicar, priest, minister, faith leader) using the Supplementary Information Form.
  e) Children who express a preference for a place at the school on their Local Authority form.

4. Distance Tie-Break
Within each group above, children who live nearer the school will be offered a place first. The distance will be measured in a straight line from the child’s home address to the school’s Pupil Entrance, using a Geographical Information System. Occasionally the distance from home to school is the same for more than one child (e.g.
if two children live in the same block of flats). In these cases, the Local Authority will prioritise these children on a random basis.
When parents apply for a place, they must give the correct permanent address. This is where the child and parent, or person with care of the child, or the person with parental responsibility, normally live. If the child’s parents are separated and the child spends time at each parent’s address, the address we use for admission to school is that of the main carer. We define this as the address where the child sleeps the majority of school nights (Sunday to Thursday) during the week in term time. Where there is dispute or equal nights are slept, parent will be asked to provide proof of the address registered with the child’s GP.
We may carry out checks to confirm that addresses are genuine. We may ask to see two forms of evidence of
a child’s permanent address at the closing date for applications such as:
• where the registration for council tax is held, and/or
• a utility bill which can be gas, electricity or water
Any evidence provided must establish that the parent or main carer lived at this address at the closing date for applications. If there is a temporary change of address, for example, if someone has gone to live with a relative etc., this address cannot be used. When considering a child’s application, we use the permanent home address we have on file at the closing date for applications.

5. Brothers and Sisters
In this category, we mention a sibling. In line with the Local Authority definition, we will count:

• half siblings
• step siblings
• foster siblings who live at the same address as part of the same family unit as ‘a sibling.’

6. Christian Churches
In this category, we mention ‘regular worshippers at a Christian Church.’ ‘Regular worshippers’ means any child who has attended a church service or a new worshipping community (i.e. public worship, which is defined as a recurrent act of worship by a Christian church, open to the public and free to attend) once a month, on average, in the preceding 12 months before the application is made. A Christian Church is ‘any church which is designated under the Ecumenical Relations Measure nationally by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York or locally by the diocesan bishop, or is a member of churches Together in England, or the Evangelical Alliance, or a partner church of Affinity’.

Children will only be offered a place as a ‘regular worshipper’ if the church leader (i.e., the priest, minister, vicar or faith leader) signs the Supplementary Information Form to confirm the child’s Church attendance. In the event that during the period specified for attendance at worship the church has been closed for public worship and has not provided alternative premises for that worship, the requirements of these [admissions] arrangements in relation to attendance will only apply to the period when the church or alternative premises have been available for public worship.
The following are not considered in this category:
a) attendance at church as part of normal school activity
b) whether a child is confirmed or being prepared for confirmation
c) whether a child is baptised

7. Applications from twins, triplets etc.
If a twin or triplet etc. is offered a place, then the other twin, triplet(s) etc. will also be offered a place. Very occasionally this may result in more than 250 places being offered.
8. Children of UK service personnel and crown servants
For families of service personnel with a confirmed posting, or crown servants returning from overseas, we will:
a) allocate a place in advance of the family arriving in the area (as long as one is available), provided the application is accompanied by an official letter that declares a relocation date.
b) use the address at which the child will live when applying our oversubscription criteria, as long as the parents provide some evidence of their intended address. We will use a Unit or quartering address as the child’s home address when considering the application against our oversubscription criteria, where a parent requests this.

9. Late Applications
Late applications, received after the closing date of 31st October 2024, will only be considered after those received by the closing date. The only exception to this is applications for Looked After Children that are received by 30th November 2024 will be included with on time applications.

10. In-year Admissions
Children can apply for a place at the school outside the normal round of Admissions. If there are more applicants than places, the Governors will apply the categories listed above to establish which child(ren) will be admitted

Admissions & Appeals Timeline

11. Unsuccessful Applications
All unsuccessful applicants will be offered a chance to appeal. The Appeal is heard by a panel independent of
the school.

Unsuccessful applications for the normal round of admissions into Year 7 will be held in a waiting list. The waiting list is kept in categories using the same criteria described above. In the event of a place becoming available, the Admissions process will be run again to determine which applicant is offered a place. The waiting list for the normal round of admissions will be maintained until the Christmas of Year 7. No waiting list will be kept for any other year-group.

12. Sixth Form Admissions
Each year up to a maximum of 250 students are admitted into the Sixth Form, up to 80 of whom may be external applicants. Any Looked-After Child who meets the admissions criteria for the courses they have chosen will automatically be offered a place. The remaining places will be awarded on the basis of academic suitability for the courses that will run, using criteria that will be published in the Sixth Form Prospectus. GCSE results will be used as an over-subscription criterion should this prove necessary.

13. Admission of children outside their normal age group
Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group, for example, to a higher year group if the child is particularly able academically or to a lower year group if the child has experienced problems such as ill health. A decision is made on the basis of the circumstances of each case.

The process is as follows:
Stage 1 – request
Parents make a formal request to the Local Authority School Organisation Team in writing with any supporting
evidence they wish to be considered.

• A request for early entry into Year 7 should be made before 31 October in the previous academic year in order to give sufficient time for the case to be considered prior to the offer of school places on 1 March.
• A request for in year admission outside of the normal age group should be made on the normal in year
  transfer form.

Stage 2 – decision
As a Voluntary Aided school, requests will be referred to the school by the Local Authority School Organisation
Team to be considered.
We will look at the following factors but these are not exhaustive:

• Parent’s views.
• The needs of the child and the possible impact on them of being educated out of year group.
• The child’s medical history and views of medical professionals if appropriate.
• In the case of children born prematurely the fact that they may have naturally fallen into the lower age group if they had been born on their expected date of birth.
• Whether delayed academic, social, emotional or physical development is adversely affecting their readiness
  for school.

Any other information which the parent requests the local authority to consider.

Stage 3 – outcome
Parents are notified of the decision in writing by the School Organisation Team.

Request agreed:
If the request is agreed the application will be considered for the year group requested and ranked alongside any other applications. There is no guarantee that a place will be offered at the school. Parents have a statutory right to appeal against the refusal of a place at a school for which they have applied. This right does not apply if they are offered a place at the school but it is not in their preferred age group. Where a child has been educated out of their normal age group, the parent may again request admission out of the normal age group when they transfer to secondary school. It will be for the admission authority of that school to decide whether to admit the child out of their normal age group.

Request refused:
There is no statutory right of appeal against the refusal of a request for admission outside the normal age group. However, if the parents are dissatisfied they have the right to complain through the school’s complaints procedure where the decision has been made by the school.

14. Fraudulent applications
Where the governing body discovers that a child has been awarded a place as the result of an intentionally misleading application from a parent (for example a false claim to residence or of involvement in a place of worship) which effectively denies a place to a child with a stronger claim, then the governing body is required to withdraw the offer of the place. The application will be considered afresh and a right of appeal offered if a place is refused.

15. For the avoidance of doubt, matters which the Governors do not take into account in the allocation
of places include the following:
a. Attendance at church as part of normal school activity
b. Whether a child is confirmed or being prepared for confirmation
c. Whether a child is baptised
d. Academic abilities

To apply for a place at the school:

1. Complete the Local Authority’s online application (https://www.wigan.gov.uk/Resident/Education/Schools/School-Admissions/School-Admissions.aspx)
2. List the 3 schools, in order of preference
3. If you wish to declare church attendance, please return a completed Supplementary Information Form (available from downloads) and signed by your church leader direct to Mrs Wogan, Admissions Officer, at The Deanery

To contact Wigan Local Authority:

Telephone 01942 489013 (Monday – Friday, 8.00am – 6.00pm)

Email using the on-line form

By letter to:

School Organisation Team
People Directorate Children Adults and Families
Wigan Life Centre South,
College Avenue,
Wigan,
WN1 1NJ

Downloads

Click here to view the 2025/26 admissions policy.

• Prospectus
• Supplementary Form Christian

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