Year 7 September 2023 Admissions

To apply for a place in Year 7 in 2023, parents/carers will need to apply through the Cambridgeshire County Council admissions process (families living outside of Cambridgeshire need to apply via their own local authority). All parents/carers are required to complete the Local Authority Common Preference Form in accordance with the established timelines. Further details, application forms and information on applying for a secondary school place can be found on the Cambridgeshire County Council website. 

Queries should be directed to Cambridgeshire County Council's Admissions Team on 01223 699200 or 01223 699662.

If once you have received notification from the local authority, your child has been unsuccessful in obtaining a place at the Thomas Clarkson Academy, you are entitled to appeal that decision. If you wish to appeal, please visit our appeal section for more information. 

See BWT's Admission Policy for 2023/24 at the bottom of this page.

Thomas Clarkson Academy will consider all applications for places. If the Academy receives more applications than it has spaces, the oversubscription criteria will be applied.

Oversubscription Criteria Places will be allocated to pupils who have a EHC Plan that names the school as the appropriate provision. When there are more applications for places than there are places available, priority will be given in the following order:

a) Looked After Children and all previously Looked After Children (see paragraph 5.19.1 for definition of ‘Looked After Children’).

b) Children of staff where that member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made, and/or the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage in the area (see paragraph 5.19.4 for definition of ‘children of staff’).

c) Children with a sibling link (see paragraph 5.19.3 for definition of ‘sibling’). Following allocation of places for these categories Thomas Clarkson Academy will prioritise children who live in its catchment area.

d) Children living in the catchment area that attend a Primary School within the catchment area. These are (in alphabetical order):

Alderman Payne Primary School
Beaupre Primary
Elm Primary
Elm Road Primary
Friday Bridge Primary
Gorefield Primary School
Guyhirn Primary
Kinderley Primary
Leverington Primary Academy
Murrow Primary Academy
Orchards CofE Primary School
Peckover Primary
Ramnoth Junior School
St Peter's CofE Aided Junior School - Academy
Wisbech St Mary CofE Academy

e) Children living within the catchment area at the time of application. Any remaining applications will be allocated using the following criteria: 

f) Children that attend a Primary school within the catchment area but do not live within the catchment area.

g) Other children based on the distance between home and school. Priority will be given to children who live in Cambridgeshire according to the shortest straight-line distance.

Straight line distance for admissions purposes is measured using the straight-line distance from the address point of the home, as defined by the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) to the main pupil entrance of the Academy.

Phase transfer

To enable parents, children and the receiving school to plan well in advance of transfer from primary to secondary phase, secondary school placement must be discussed as part of the Year 5 Annual Review. We recommend individual visits and contact with the SENDCo as part of this process. Parents will receive a letter from Cambridgeshire START team in late September/ early October, seeking details of their school preference or representations. Parents should return their preference to Cambridgeshire START team by ​the end of October/early November. Consultation then follows with the school and the Local Authority has to make the final decision about placement, informing parents by mid February. Parents are given their right of appeal at this stage, if they are not in agreement with the decision.

Confirmation of dates can be sought from Cambridgeshire START Team on 01480 372600 or emailing start@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Waiting List

Where the Academy receives more applications for places than there are places available, your child's name will be added to the waiting list. Your child will remain on this list until either a place becomes available, or until 31 December 2023, whichever is sooner. The waiting list will be maintained by the Thomas Clarkson Academy, and it will be open to any parent to ask for his or her child's name to be placed on the waiting list, following an unsuccessful application.

Where places become vacant they will be allocated to children on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria (see Admissions Policy).

Appeals

If your child has been unsuccessful in obtaining a place at Thomas Clarkson for Year 7 entry, September 2023, you are entitled to appeal that decision. If you wish to appeal, please go to www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/admissions selecting School Admission Appeals.

Parents will have the right of appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel if they are dissatisfied with an admission decision of the Thomas Clarkson Academy. The Appeal Panel will be independent of the Academy. The arrangements for Appeals will be in line with the Code of Practice on School Admission Appeals published by the Department for Education (DfE) as it applies to Foundation and Voluntary Aided schools. The determination of the appeal panel will be made in accordance with the Code of Practice on School Admission Appeals and is binding on all parties. The Academy will prepare guidance for parents about how the appeals process will work and will provide parents with a named contact who can answer any enquiries parents may have about the process.

Appeal timeline for first admissions round

This section applies to applications made before the national closing date, and who received an offer dated:

• 1 March 2023 (Year 7 and Year 9 applications)

Secondary appeals

• Appeals deadline - 28 March 2023
• Appeals will be heard - 2 May to 15 June 2023 (40 school days from deadline)

You are still able to submit an appeal, after the deadline has past. Your appeal will then be heard within 30 school days of receipt of the form requesting the appeal.

Upon the receipt of a completed appeal form, the appellant will be sent a letter of acknowledgement (see section - 'what happens after I submit an appeal')

Appeal timeline for late and in-year applications

Following the receipt of a late or in-year offer of a school place, parents have the right to appeal for a place at a school where they have been refused a place.

Upon the receipt of a completed appeal form, the appellant will be sent a letter of acknowledgement within 10 school days.

Upon the receipt of a completed appeal form, the appellant will be sent a letter of acknowledgement within 10 school days (see section - 'what happens after I submit an appeal').

Read more on the appeals procedure.

In-Year admissions

In-year admissions for Thomas Clarkson Academy are dealt with by Cambridgeshire County Council, regardless of what county you are living in.

If you are applying for a place at the Academy from another secondary school or because you've recently entered the country, you will need to follow the guidance on in-year admissions issued by the county council. Click here for more details.

Support with admissions

If you need any help with Year 7 admissions or in-year admissions, please contact our Student Mobility Manager, Keri Britton on admissions@thomasclarksonacademy.org or 01945 585237.

Sixth Form admissions

Please visit the Sixth Form section of our website.