School admission policies or rules

Every school follows a set of rules when they allocate school places, known as admission arrangements.  Applications can only be considered against these rules, and all applications will be treated on an equal basis. Schools fully accept the importance of parental preference, though this may not necessarily result in the allocation of a place, and will seek to meet it as far as possible up to the schools published admissions number (PAN). 

When a school is full, children will be prioritised on the waiting list according to the schools ‘oversubscription criteria’. 

Parents should note that admission authorities cannot give priority to children according to the occupational, marital, financial, or educational status of parents applying. Nor can they prioritise families based on logistical challenges they may face getting their children to school.

Wokingham primary, infant and junior community schools use the Wokingham Borough Council admissions policy. 

Wokingham primary, infant, junior and secondary non-community schools set their own admissions policy. Parents should go to the school's website to view the school’s admission arrangements. 

Ofsted 

Please note that we would not consider a school as not suitable for your child if you are unhappy with its current Ofsted rating. 

Ofsted ratings do not form part of the school admissions process. There are between two and a half and up to five years between inspections and a school can undergo many changes during this time.  We recommend that parents visit a school in person and speak to the school leadership team to discuss any concerns they may have over their child’s transition to the school and to understand the school’s ethos and teaching techniques they employ.

Requesting for your child to work in a different year group

Whilst there is no statutory barrier to children being educated out of their chronological year group, there is no duty to agree such a request and a parent cannot insist their child is educated out of their normal year group. 

In general, it is the view of the Department for Education and the local authority that most children should be educated in their chronological year group, with the curriculum differentiated as appropriate, and that they should only be educated out of their chronological year group in very limited circumstances.  

For an In Year application to be considered out of their chronological year group relevant professional evidence to support the request would need to be submitted with the application. The evidence should show sufficiently that your child would be unable to integrate into their natural cohort, and that integration into the correct cohort would be detrimental to the child’s education.

Each case will be considered on its own merits and circumstances but will not be agreed by Wokingham Borough Council without a consensus that to do so would be in the pupil’s interests. Such a consensus would be reached between the parents, schools concerned (both current and preferred) and any relevant professionals asked for their opinion on the case by Children’s Services.  

Children with English as an additional language

It is generally recognised within the English school system that children should be placed with their chronological peers. Children with English as an additional language should not, as a rule, be treated any differently. Placing them with their peer group affords them all the same advantages and benefits it offers other children. However, exceptions may apply if the circumstances of the case would indicate that it would be in the child’s best interests to be educated out of their chronological year group.