Primary School Admissions

If you are a resident of Slough Borough Council and you have a child whose date of birth is on or between 1st September 2018 - 31st August 2019 then you will be required to apply for a primary school place for the 2023-2024 academic year. This application needs to be made by January 2023. 

 

If you are not a resident of Slough Borough Council you will need to apply through your Home Authority. You will still be able to apply for Slough Borough Council schools through your home authority. 

If you would like your child to attend our school, please see full details of our admission arrangements below.

Please click on the document below to access Slough Borough Council's Guide to Admissions for 2023-2024. 

Penn Wood's Admission Criteria (Community School) 2023-2024

 

Primary Community Schools Oversubscription criteria for 2023-2024

 

As the admissions authority, the local authority gives priority to children whose parents have applied for a school place by the published deadline. Community and voluntary controlled schools do not always have enough places available for every child whose parents have applied for a place. In this case the local authority will use an order of priority for admissions to all Community and voluntary-controlled schools in Slough.

 

The local authority will admit children with a statement of special educational needs or an education health and care plan which names a school. This will be in addition to any specific arrangements to specialist provision.

 

The order of priority for all other children is as follows:

 

1. A Looked after child (as defined in the Children Act 1989) or a child who was previously looked after and has left care under a Child arrangements order, special guardianship order or who were adopted; and those children who appear (to the admission authority) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in care as a result of being adopted
2. 
   Exceptional Medical / Social Need  - Applicants whose child’s medical or social circumstances require attendance at a particular school rather than any other school. (See Appendix I for further information relating to exceptional medical/social need)
3. Sibling - - Children who will have a brother or sister, including all blood half-, step-, adoptive and foster brothers and sisters of the child (not cousins) who live at the same home as the child, in the infant, linked junior or primary school in September 2021. This would not apply if the sibling were due to leave in the July before the younger child would be admitted.
4. Children of Staff - children of any member of staff, regardless of role in the school where a. The member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time of application or b. The member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage
5. Catchment Area - Children who live in the catchment area of the school
    
6. Distance - Distance will be measured in a straight line using the co-ordinates from the National Property Gazetteer from the centre of the child’s home address (including flats) to the school’s main gate

 

Tie Breaker

 

If there is one place available and two or more children next in order of priority or next on the waiting list meet the appropriate criterion equally, the place will be allocated using the distance criterion. If the distances are equal, a place will be allocated by drawing lots in the presence of an independent witness.

 

A 'looked after child' or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order including those 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. A looked after child is a child who is (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 (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989).This includes children who were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 (see section 12 adoption orders) and children who were adopted under the Adoption and Children’s Act 2002 (see section 46 adoption orders. Child arrangements orders are defined in s.8 of the Children Act 1989, as amended by s.12 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Child arrangements orders replace residence orders and any residence order in force prior to 22 April 2014 is deemed to be a child arrangements order. Section 14A of the Children Act 1989 defines a ‘special guardianship order’ as an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian (or special guardians)