Cardinal Wiseman Catholic school Admission Arrangements for the

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Cardinal Wiseman Catholic school

Admission Arrangements for the

academic year 2025/2026

Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School is part of the Romero Catholic Academy. The admissions authority for the school

is the Board of Directors of the Romero Catholic Academy who has responsibility for admissions to this school. The

Board of Directors has delegated responsibility for the administration of the admissions process to the Local Governing

Body of Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School.

The admissions process for Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School is part of the Coventry Local Authority co-ordinated

admissions scheme. To apply for a place at Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School in the normal admissions round, an

application must be made using the school admission application process of the local authority in which you live

naming Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School on the application form. Applications need to be made by 31

October

2024 Baptismal Certificates MUST be submitted with the application for any child who is Baptised Catholic (see Note

2).

All applications which are submitted on time will be considered at the same time, after the closing date.

You will be advised of the outcome of your application on 1

March 2025, or the next working day, by the local

authority on behalf of the school.

Please note that throughout this policy, the term parent means all natural parents, any person who is not a parent but

has parental responsibility for a child and any person who has care of a child.

The ethos of this school is Catholic. The school was founded by the Catholic Church to provide education for children

of Catholic families. Whenever there are more applications than places available, priority will be given to Catholic

children in accordance with the oversubscription criteria listed below. The school is conducted by its Board of Directors

as part of the Catholic Church in accordance with its Articles of Association and seeks at all times to be a witness to

Our Lord Jesus Christ.

As a Catholic school, we aim to provide a Catholic education for all our pupils. At a Catholic school, Catholic doctrine

and practice permeate every aspect of the school’s activity. It is essential that the Catholic character of the school’s

education be fully supported by all families in the school. We therefore hope that all parents will give their full,

unreserved and positive support for the aims and ethos of the school. This does not affect the right of an applicant

who is not Catholic to apply for and be admitted to a place at the school in accordance with these admission

arrangements.

The Local Governing Body acts for the Board of Directors who is the admissions authority and has responsibility for

admissions to this school. The Local Governing Body has set its Published Admission Number (“PAN”) at 240 pupils to

be admitted to Year 7 in the school year which begins in September 2025. (See Note 1 below)

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Where there are more applications for places than the number of places available, places will be offered according to

the following order of priority. If there is oversubscription within a category, the Local Governing Body will give priority

firstly to children who will have a brother or sister (see Note 4 below) attending Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School at

the time of admission and then secondly to children living closest to the school determined by the shortest distance

(see Note 6 below).

For the purposes of this policy, parish boundaries are as shown on the Archdiocese of Birmingham parish boundary

map which can be accessed at https://www.birminghamdiocese.org.uk/boundary-map and will be applied to the

admission arrangements for the academic year 2025/2026.

Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School’s parish boundaries are shown on the attached parish boundary map (Appendix B),

which is also available on the school’s website.

Oversubscription Criteria for Years 7 - 11

1. Baptised Catholic children (see Note 2 below) who are looked after or previously looked after (See Note 3 below)

2. Baptised Catholic children (see Note 2 below) currently attending a named feeder school (see Note 5 below) (See

Note 4 below regarding siblings already attending Cardinal Wiseman School).

3. Baptised Catholic children who live in the feeder school or academy parish area (see note 5 below). (see Note 4

below regarding siblings already attending Cardinal Wiseman School).

4. Other Baptised Catholic children (see note 2 below) (see Note 4 below regarding siblings already attending Cardinal

Wiseman School).

5. Non-Catholic children who are looked after or previously looked after (See Note 3 below)

6. Non-Catholic children currently attending a named feeder school (see note 5 below). (See Note 4 see Note 4 below

regarding siblings already attending Cardinal Wiseman School).

7. Other Non-Catholic children.

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Note 1

The admission of pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan is dealt with by a completely separate procedure.

Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan that names the school must be admitted. Where this takes place

before the allocation of places under these arrangements this will reduce the number of places available to other

children.

An Education, Health and Care Plan is a plan made by the local authority under section 37 of the Children and Families

Act 2014, specifying the special educational provision required for a child.

Note 2

In all categories, for a child to be considered as Catholic, evidence of Catholic Baptism or Reception into the Church

will be required. For a definition of a Baptised Catholic, see the Appendix. Those who face difficulties in producing

written evidence of Catholic Baptism or Reception into the Church should contact their Parish Priest.

Parents making an application for a Catholic child will need to submit a copy of the child’s Baptismal Certificate. This

should be returned directly to the school. If you do not provide a Baptismal Certificate by the closing date, this may

affect the criteria that your child is placed into, which may affect your child’s chance of being offered a place at this

school.

For the purposes of this policy, a looked after child living with a family where at least one of the carers is Catholic will

be considered as Catholic. The carer must forward a copy of their own Catholic Baptismal or Reception certificate

directly to the school in order for this priority to be given to the child as failure to do so will result in the looked after

child being ranked as a non-Catholic.

Note 3

A “looked after child” has the same meaning as in section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989, and means any child who is

(a) in the care of the local authority or (b) being provided with accommodation by them in the exercise of their social

services functions (eg children with foster parents) at the time of making the application to the school. A “previously

looked after child” is a child who was looked after, but ceased to be so because he or she was adopted or became

subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order and includes those children who appear (to the

Local Governing Body) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state case as a result of being

adopted.

For the purposes of this policy, a looked after child living with a family where at least one of the carers is Catholic will

be considered as Catholic. The carer must forward a copy of their own Catholic Baptismal or Reception certificate

directly to the school in order for this priority to be given to the child as failure to do so will result in the looked after

child being ranked as a non-Catholic.

Note 4

For all applicants the definition of a brother or sister is:

• A brother or sister sharing the same parents

• A half-brother or half-sister, where two children share one common parent

• A step-brother or step-sister, where two children are related by a parents’ marriage or civil partnership, or

where they are unrelated but their parents are living as partners.

• Adopted or fostered children

The children must be living permanently in the same household

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Note 5

The named feeder schools for Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School are:

• Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School Corpus Christi Parish

• Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School St Elizabeth’s Parish

• Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School Sacred Heart Parish

• SS Peter & Paul Catholic Primary School St Patrick’s Parish

• St Gregory’s Catholic Primary School St John Fisher Parish and Sacred Heart Parish

• St John Fisher Catholic Primary School St John Fisher Parish

• St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School St Patrick’s Parish

Note 6

Distances are calculated on the basis of a straight-line measurement from the centre of the child’s home address to

the centre of the school site. The Local Authority calculates these measurements on behalf of the school using a

computerised mapping system. Ordnance Survey supplies the co-ordinates that are used to plot a child’s home

address and the address of the school.

In a very small number of cases, where the school is oversubscribed, it may not be possible to decide between the

applications of those pupils who are the final qualifiers for a place when applying the published admission criteria.

For example, this may occur when children in the same year group live at the same address, or if the distance between

the home and the school is exactly the same, for example, blocks of flats. If there is no other way of separating the

application according to the admissions criteria and to admit both, or all, of the children would cause the Published

Admission Number for the child’s year group to be exceeded the Local Governing Body will select the child to be

offered the place by drawing lots. This process will be overseen by a person independent to the Local Governing Body.

The Local Governing Body will, where logistically possible, admit twins and all siblings from multiple births where one

of the children is the last child ranked within the school’s published admission number.

A child’s home address refers to the address where the child usually lives with a parent or carer and will be the address

provided in the Local Authority’s Common Application Form.

Where parents have shared responsibility for a child, and the child lives for part of the week with each parent, the

home address will be the address provided in the Local Authority’s Common Application Form, provided that the child

resides at that address for any part of the school week.

Parents may be requested to supply documentary evidence to satisfy the Local Governing Body that the child lives at

the address put forward by the parents.

The Local Governing Body reserves the right to withdraw the offer of a place or, where a child is already attending the

school the place itself, where it is satisfied that the offer or place was obtained by deception.

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APPLICATIONS FOR CHILDREN TO BE ADMITTED INTO A CLASS OUTSIDE OF THEIR NORMAL AGE GROUP

Parents have the right to request, but not insist, that their child be considered for admission to a class outside of their

normal age group. This could be the case, for example, if a child is gifted and talented, has experienced problems such

as ill health, or is already being educated in a class outside of their normal age group at their current Primary school.

Parents who wish for their child to be considered for admission to a class outside of their normal age group must make

an application for the normal age group in the first instance. Parents must then submit a formal request to the Local

Governing Body for the child to be considered for a different age group class instead. This request should be in the

form of a written letter of application outlining the reasons why they wish for their child to be considered to be

admitted into a class outside of their normal age group and enclosing any supportive evidence and documentation

that they wish to be taken into account as part of that request.

The Local Governing Body will consider requests submitted for a child to be admitted into a class outside of their

normal age group and advise parents of the outcome of that request before national offer day, having taken into

account the information provided by the parents, the child’s best interests and the views of the Head Teacher.

If the request is refused, the original application for the normal age group class will progress through the Local

Authority co-ordinated admissions scheme, be considered by the Local Governing Body and the parents advised of the

outcome.

If the request is agreed and the year group for which the parents have requested a place is a current year group in the

school, then the application will be considered by the Local Governing Body and the parents advised of the outcome.

If the request is agreed and the year group for which the parents have requested a place is for a future year group, ie

Year 7 in September 2026, then the original application is withdrawn and the parents must submit a fresh application

for Year 7 2026 when applications open in the autumn term of 2025. Please note that parents only have the right to

re-apply for a place. Where the Local Governing Body agrees to consider an application for Year 7 the following year,

that application is considered alongside all other applications received and parents will be advised of the outcome of

that application on national offer day. No place is reserved or held for the child in advance.

If parents are considering submitting an application for their child to be admitted into a class outside of their normal

age group, it is strongly recommended that they also read the DFE guidance which can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-school-admission

APPEALS

Parents who wish to appeal against the decision of the Local Governing Body to refuse their child a place in the school

should make that appeal request in writing to the Chair of the Local Governing Body at the school address. Appeals

will be heard by an independent panel.

Please note that parents do not have the right to appeal if their request for their children to be admitted to a class

outside of their normal year group has been refused, but the Local Governing Body have offered a place in the normal

age group instead.

REPEAT APPLICATIONS

Any parent can apply for a place for their child at any time outside of the normal admissions round. Parents do not

have the right to a second appeal in respect of the same school for the same academic year unless, in exceptional

circumstances, the Local Governing Body has accepted a second application from the parent because of a significant

and material change in the circumstances of the parent, child or school, but have still refused admission.

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LATE APPLICATIONS

Late applications will be dealt with in accordance with the Local Authority’s co-ordinated admissions scheme. This

states that applications received after the closing date of 31

October 2024 will be accepted but will be considered to

be late and may not be processed until after 1

March 2025. Parents will be advised in their receipt letter that this

will be the case.

You are encouraged to ensure that your application is received on time.

CHANGE IN PREFERENCE

Once an application has been submitted, requests to change the preferences on that application will be accepted up

to the closing date of applications on 31

October 2024.

Requests to change preferences after 31

October 2024 will not be considered until after the allocation of school

places on 1

March 2025.

All requests to change preferences should be made in writing to the Local Authority to whom the parents submitted

the original application.

WAITING LIST

In addition to their right to appeal, children who have not been offered a place at Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School

but were offered a school that was ranked as a lower preference on their application form will be added to a waiting

list.

The waiting list will be maintained until the last day of the summer term 2026 and will then be discarded.

A child’s position on a waiting list is not fixed. When a new child joins the waiting list, all applicants on that waiting

list will be re-ranked to ensure that the list is always maintained in oversubscription criteria order. This means that a

child’s position on the waiting list could go up or down during the time that it is on the list. Any late applications

accepted will be added to the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria.

Inclusion on the waiting list does not mean that a place will eventually become available. It may be that those already

offered places may accept them, thereby filling all available places.

Children on the waiting list who attend a named feeder school (see Note 5 above) who have not been offered a place

in the school by the beginning of the Autumn term 2025 will be re-ranked to take into account that they will no longer

be attending that feeder school from 1

September 2025. This will affect the oversubscription criteria that your child

is placed into on the waiting list from 1

September 2025.

Children who are the subject of a direction by the Local Authority to admit or who are allocated to a school in

accordance with the Fair Access Protocol take precedence over those on a waiting list.

IN YEAR FAIR ACCESS PROTOCOL

The Local Governing Body of Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School is committed to taking its fair share of children who

are vulnerable and/or hard to place, as set out in locally agreed protocols. Accordingly, outside the normal admission

round the Local Governing Body is empowered to give absolute priority to a child where admission is requested under

any locally agreed protocol. The Local Governing Body has this power, even when admitting the child would mean

exceeding the published admission number.

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APPLICATIONS OTHER THAN THE NORMAL INTAKE TO YEAR 7 (IN-YEAR ADMISSIONS)

An application can be made for a place for a child at any time outside the normal admission round and the child will

be admitted where there are places available. Further information regarding instructions on how to apply for a place

in the school at any other time other than the normal intake is available on the school’s website at Admissions

(cardinalwiseman.coventry.sch.uk)

Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School is part of the local authority’s in-year co-ordinated admissions scheme. Therefore,

in order to apply for a place at this school, an application must be submitted to the local authority who will then

forward that application to the school for consideration by the Local Governing Body. The school will inform the local

authority of the outcome of the application who will then inform the parents on behalf of the school. Applications

can be submitted through the local authority via Admissions (cardinalwiseman.coventry.sch.uk)

If there are no places available, the child will be added to the waiting list (see above).

Parents will be advised of the outcome of their application in writing and, where the Board of Director’s decision is to

refuse their child a place, have the right to appeal to an independent appeal panel.

There is no charge or cost related to the admission of a child to this school.

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ADMISSION TO THE SIXTH FORM

The school operates a sixth form for a total of 200 pupils. 100 places overall will be available in Year 12. Whilst the

admission number is 1, if fewer than 99 of the school’s existing pupils transfer into Year 12, additional external pupils

will be admitted until Year 12 meets its capacity of 100.

Applications for the Sixth Form should be made directly to the school using the application form available from the

school Sixth Form Admmision (cardinalwiseman.coventry.sch.uk)or from the school’s website. Completed application

forms must be returned to the school by 5

December 2025.

Both internal and external pupils wishing to enter the sixth form will be expected to have met the same minimum

academic entry requirements for the sixth form. These are The minimum entry requirements to study the Level 3

pathways are as follows:

o ACADEMIC PATHWAY: 3 Grade 9-4 GCSE / BTEC passes plus English Language and Maths at Grade 5 (see

also subject specific requirements below).

o VOCATIONAL PATHWAY: 3 Grade 9-4 GCSE / BTEC passes plus English Language and Maths at Grade 4

(see also subject specific requirements below).

I wish to study …

I require a minimum of …

Applied Science

Grade 4 in Combined Science GCSE.

Art

Grade 4 in Art (GCSE) or Merit in Art and Design (BTEC) or a portfolio of work if no experience

of Art at KS4

Biology

Grade 6 in Biology or in Combined Science GCSE and Grade 5 in English Language or Literature

and Grade 5 in Maths.

Business Studies

GCSE / BTEC (Level 2) in this subject is desirable but not essential.

Chemistry

Grade 6 in Chemistry or in Combined Science GCSE and Grade 5 in English Language or

Literature and Grade 5 in Maths.

Core Maths

Grade 5 in Maths.

Economics

GCSE in this subject is desirable but not essential and Grade 5 in English Language or Literature

and Grade 5 in Maths.

English Literature

Grade 6 in GCSE English Literature and Grade 5 in English Language

Further Maths

Grade 7 in Maths and Grade 5 in English Language or Literature.

Geography

Grade 5 in Geography and Grade 5 in English Language or Literature and Grade 5 in Maths.

Health & Social Care

Merit (BTEC, Level 2) in this subject is desirable but not essential.

History

Grade 6 in History and Grade 5 in English Language.

ICT

Grade 4 in IT/Computer Science desirable.

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Maths

Grade 7 in Maths and Grade 5 in English Language or Literature.

Media Studies

Merit (BTEC, Level 2) in this subject is desirable but not essential.

Modern Foreign

Languages

Grade 5 in relevant language or a portfolio of work and a linguistic assessment.

Music

Grade 5 in Music (GCSE) or Merit in Music (BTEC) or a portfolio of work and a musicality

assessment if no experience of music at KS4.

Performing Arts

Grade 4 GCSE in this subject is desirable but not essential.

Philosophy & Ethics

Grade 6 in Religious Studies is desirable and Grade 5 in English Language.

If not studied at GCSE, entry requirements will be based on grades achieved in English and, if

appropriate, History.

Photography

Grade 4 in Photography (GCSE) or Merit in Art and Design (BTEC) or a portfolio of work if no

experience of Photography at KS4.

Physics

Grade 6 in Physics or in Combined Science GCSE and Grade 5 in English Language or Literature.

Students must also study A Level Maths.

Psychology

Grade 5 in English Language and Grade 55 in combined science or Grade 5 in biology.

Sociology

No additional subject specific requirements.

Sport

Grade 4 in Physical Education (GCSE) or Merit (or equivalent) at OCR Cambridge Nationals.

Travel & Tourism

Merit (BTEC, Level 2) or Grade 4 in Geography in this subject is desirable but not essential.

• FOUNDATION COURSE:

There are no entry requirements. In collaboration with EMAS (Coventry) this course is offered to newly arrived

students into the country with limited verbal English or English as an additional language. The course primarily

focuses on developing the literacy and numeracy skills necessary to undertake further education at Level 1, 2 or

In addition to the sixth form’s minimum academic entry requirements pupils will need to satisfy minimum entrance

requirements to the courses for which they are applying. If either internal or external applicants fail to meet the

minimum course requirements, they will be given the opportunity of pursuing any alternative courses for which they

do meet the minimum academic requirements. Course requirements are published annually in the school’s

prospectus and on its website.

When Year 12 is undersubscribed all applicants meeting the minimum academic entry requirements will be admitted

or permitted to progress.

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When there are more external applicants that satisfy any academic entry requirements priority will be given in

accordance with the oversubscription criteria set out below.

Where there is space in Year 13, ie where there are few than 100 pupils in the year group, the school will admit

additional pupils up to this number using the oversubscription criteria set out below.

Where there are more applications for places than the number of places available, places will be offered according to

the following order of priority. If there is oversubscription within a category, the Local Governing Body will give

priority firstly to children who will have a brother or sister (see Note 4 above) attending Cardinal Wiseman Catholic

School at the time of admission and then secondly to children living closest to the school determined by the shortest

distance (see Note 6 above)

The admission of pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan is dealt with by a completely separate procedure.

Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan that names the school must be admitted. Where this takes place

before the allocation of places under these arrangements this will reduce the number of places available to other

children.

An Education, Health and Care Plan is a plan made by the local authority under section 37 of the Children and Families

Act 2014, specifying the special educational provision required for a child.

OVERSUBSCRIPTION CRITERIA FOR SIXTH FORM

Provided the academic requirements have been met, priority will be given to other applicants as follows:

1. Baptised Catholic children (see Note 2 above) who are looked after or previously looked after (see Note 3

above)

2. Baptised Catholic children (see Note 2 above) from other schools.

3. Students who are looked after or previously looked after (see Note 3 above) and currently attend other

schools.

4. Students who have a brother or sister (see Note 4 above) attending Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School who

will continue to attend Cardinal Wiseman during the following school year.

5. Students from other schools.

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A “Baptised Catholic” is one who:

APPENDIX A

DEFINITION OF A “BAPTISED CATHOLIC”

• Has been baptised into full communion (Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 837) with the Catholic Church by the

Rites of Baptism of one of the various ritual Churches in communion with the See of Rome. Written evidence of

this baptism can be obtained by recourse to the Baptismal Registers of the church in which the baptism took place

(Cf. Code of Canon Law, 877 & 878).

• Has been validly baptised in a separated ecclesial community and subsequently received into full communion with

the Catholic Church by the Rite of Reception of Baptised Christians into the Full Communion of the Catholic Church.

Written evidence of their baptism and reception into full communion with the Catholic Church can be obtained by

recourse to the Register of Receptions, or in some cases, a sub-section of the Baptismal Registers of the church in

which the Rite of Reception took place (Cf. Rite of Christian Initiation, 399).

WRITTEN EVIDENCE OF BAPTISM

The Governing bodies of Catholic schools and Boards of Directors of Catholic Academies will require written evidence

in the form of a Certificate of Baptism or Certificate of Reception before applications for school places can be

considered for categories of “Baptised Catholics”. A Certificate of Baptism or Reception is to include: the full name,

date of birth, date of Baptism or Reception, and parent(s) name(s). The certificate must also show that it is copied

from the records kept by the place of Baptism or Reception.

Those who would have difficulty obtaining written evidence of Catholic Baptism/Reception for a good reason, may still

be considered as Baptised Catholics but only after they have been referred to their parish priest who, after consulting

the Vicar General, will decide how the question of Baptism/Reception is to be resolved and how written evidence is

to be produced in accordance with the law of the Church.

Those who would be considered to have good reason for not obtaining written evidence would include those who

cannot contact the place of Baptism/Reception due to persecution or fear, the destruction of the church and the

original records, or where Baptism/Reception was administered validly but not in the Parish church where records are

kept.

Governors and Boards of Directors may request extra supporting evidence when the written documents that are

produced do not clarify the fact that a person was baptised or received into the Catholic Church, (i.e. where the name

and address of the Church is not on the certificate or where the name of the Church does not state whether it is a

Catholic Church or not.)

For the purposes of this policy, a looked after child (see Note 3) living with a family where at least one of the

parents/carers is Catholic will be considered as Catholic.

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APPENDIX B

Parish Boundary Map