Consultation on admissions criteria

Chestnuts Primary School – Consultation on Proposed Admissions Criteria for 2027/28

Chestnuts Primary School is consulting on a proposed change to its admissions oversubscription criteria for entry to Reception in the academic year September 2027/28.

What is Changing?

We propose to amend our oversubscription criteria to include:

Children with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan that names Chestnuts Primary School – these children will be admitted before any other criteria are applied (this is a legal requirement and not part of the oversubscription criteria).
Children who are looked after by a local authority or were previously looked after and have since been adopted or placed under a child arrangements or special guardianship order.
Children of staff at the school, where:
- The member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time of application, or
- The member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.
Siblings of children already attending the school at the time of admission (including full, half, step, foster or adopted siblings living at the same address).
Children living closest to the school, measured in a straight line from the child’s home address to the main school gate.

This change introduces “children of staff” as the third priority group, ahead of siblings and distance, to reflect our commitment to staff retention and the wellbeing of our school community.

Consultation Period

The consultation will run from Wednesday 12th November 2025 to 24th December 2025

How to Respond

We welcome feedback from parents, carers, staff, governors, local residents, and other stakeholders.
Please send your comments or questions by email to:
[email protected]

All responses will be considered by the Governing Body before a final decision is made. The determined admissions policy will be published by 28 February 2026, in line with the School Admissions Code.

Thank you for taking the time to contribute to this important consultation.

Chestnuts Primary School