Oversubscription

Arrangements for applications for places at WOA will be made in accordance with Sandwell Local Authority’s co-ordinated admission arrangements and will be made on the Common Application Form provided and administered by Sandwell Council.

When the number of applications for admission made is greater than the published admission number (currently 230 per year), applications will be made against Sandwell’s published admission criteria. In order to process applications the criteria will be followed as in the admissions policy which can be found by following the link at the bottom of this page. The oversubscription section of the current policy is summarised below:

Oversubscription

If the academy receives more applications than there are available places then children with the academy named on an education, health care plan (EHC) or equivalent will be automatically admitted to the academy. If there are still places available, priority for admission will be given to those children who meet the oversubscription criteria set out below:

  1. Looked after children and those who were previously looked after but immediatelyafter being looked after was adopted or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order. A looked after child is a child who is in the care of a local authority, or being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (definition used is in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989).
  2. Children with a particular medical condition which can be met most appropriately by the academy.
  3. Applications submitted under this criterion must be accompanied by a medical declaration form, ASU75/M signed by the child’s General Practitioner or Consultant confirming the condition and detailing the child’s needs.
  4. Children having a sibling at the preferred school at the time of admission, including the sixth form.
  5. Children prioritised by distance measured in a straight line from a child’s home** to the academy’s main entrance (as determined by the Principal).

** Measured from the Ordnance Survey address point for the property.

Definitive tie-breaker: in the event of there still being a tie, there will be a random ballot using
an electronic random number generator. Such a ballot will be supervised by an officer of the
local authority.

Extract from Sandwell Local Authority Admissions Policy.