To: Parents/Carers of current Year 6 pupils

 

Dear Parent/Carer

                                             

Admission to secondary school - Year 7, September 2023

 

This letter contains important information for parents and carers of pupils currently in Year 6 of primary school.

 

If your child is due to transfer from a primary school to Year 7 at a secondary school in September 2023, you must complete an application. 

 

You are able to apply online.  If you have already signed up to My Account on the Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC) website, you will need to log in and you can then complete an online application for a secondary school place. 

 

If you have not already signed up to My Account, you can create your account from the Bridgend County Borough Council website.  All you need is an email address.

 

It is quick and easy to apply for a Year 7 secondary school place through My Account and you can have peace of mind knowing that your application has been received because once you have submitted the application, this will be indicated in your My Account summary information.

 

The online application works equally as well across computer, tablet or mobile.

 

Before you complete an application, please read the documents on the website:

www.bridgend.gov.uk/schooladmissions

 

The application is also available as a hardcopy form upon request, either from your local school or from Bridgend County Borough Council on telephone number 01656 642622. 

 

The online application will be available through My Account from Monday, 17 October 2022 at 10am.  Please note that the deadline date for completed applications is Friday, 20 January 2023 at 4pm.  Failure to submit an application by this date and time may result in your child being refused a place at the school of your choice.    

 

All parents/carers have the right to express a preference for the school they wish their child to attend. In most cases, parents/carers are happy to choose their nearest suitable school (for English-medium secondary schools, this is also known as the catchment school).  If you are successful in applying for a place at a school that is not your child’s nearest suitable school, the Council will not normally provide free transport, irrespective of the distance from home to the school. The Home-to-School/College Transport Policy is available from:

 www.bridgend.gov.uk/schooltransport

 

Where a school is oversubscribed, that is, the demand for places is greater than the number of places available, the Council will apply its oversubscription criteria to allocate the places available.  The Council’s School Admissions Policy 2023-2024 identifies the full list of oversubscription criteria. It is strongly recommended that you select another school as your second preference school.  This can be the nearest suitable school for your child or another school.  Limiting your choice to just one school does not improve your prospects of gaining a place for your child in that school.  Please note that there is no automatic right for pupils with siblings in a school to be allocated a place at that school. 

 

The governing body of Archbishop McGrath Catholic High School is the admission authority with responsibility for all admission arrangements for that school.  Therefore, if you wish to apply for a place at that school, you will need to contact the school directly.  The admission criteria for Archbishop McGrath Catholic High School are different from the criteria for the other secondary schools in Bridgend. 

 

If you are considering applying for a secondary school in another local authority (for example, in Rhondda Cynon Taff) you must ensure that you fully understand the implications of doing so.  Although parents/carers may express a preference to apply for their child to attend any school, there are often policy implications in doing so, in particular whether school transport to that school will be honoured by BCBC or the out-of-county local authority.  It is the responsibility of parents/carers to check their child’s eligibility for school transport prior to applying for any school.

 

The Council’s ‘Starting School’ Prospectus 2023-2024, which outlines the admissions policy and provides other information in relation to the services provided for children and parents/carers, is available on www.bridgend.gov.uk/schooladmissions or, alternatively, please telephone 01656 642622 to request a hardcopy.

 

The school admission policies and starting school prospectuses for other local authorities are available on their council website.

 

If you should require further, specific information in relation to the admissions process, please email pupilservices@bridgend.gov.uk

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

 

           

Robin Davies,

Group Manager (Business Support)