Admissions
The general process
FORMSTo apply for admission you will need to fill out:
CAF forms are available from the Local Education Office from November before the September your child starts school and must be returned to the Local Education Office by the following January. The actual date is confirmed on the back of the form. The SIF must be returned directly to the school. If you are applying for a place in Years 1-6 you will need to complete a SIF form and an ADM1 form. |
The local education departments common application form will ask you to list your favourite schools in order of preference. In Suffolk you can put down three schools.
Wherever possible you will be offered a place at your first-choice school, but this cannot be guaranteed. It largely depends on whether your child meets the admission criteria for that school. Places in popular schools will be allocated to those children who most closely meet those criteria.
If your child is in line for more than one of your chosen schools and they meet the criteria better, you will be offered a place at the school you ranked highest on the form. If none of your chosen schools can offer your child a place, the education department should offer you a place at another school.
St Louis Admissions Policy
The Governing Body is the admissions authority of St Louis Catholic Academy, Newmarket. The Governors of St Louis Catholic Academy are able to welcome up to 45 pupils into each year group.
Applications should be made on the Local Education Authority Common Application form (CAF), together with a Supplementary Information Form (SIF) for Academy schools; these are available from the school, the Local Area Education Office or online at www.suffolk.gov.uk/onlineadmissions. CAF forms must be either returned to the Local Education Office or completed online. The SIF form must be returned directly to the school as soon as possible to enable applications to be ranked in order of criteria. Please note that the SIF is not an alternative to submitting the CAF.
The Governors are required to admit children who have an Education, Health and Care Plan which names St Louis Catholic Academy as the school appropriate to their needs.
Children will be admitted to this school in the following order of priority: –
Where several children meet the same criteria, within the category where the oversubscription occurs, priority will be decided by random selection (i.e. a lottery). Applications from families with twins, triplets or children from multiple births that fall either side of the oversubscription cut off will be dealt with the same as any other single child. The lottery will be drawn by an independent person not associated with admissions to the school.
A copy of the child’s baptismal certificate will be requested with the application form for admission to school and governors reserve the right to seek the views of the family’s priest, minister or religious leader. For practising Christians of faiths where there are no infant baptisms the Governors also reserve the right to seek the views of the family’s religious leader. Any additional details in support of their child’s application can be provided on the SIF.
On behalf of the Governing Body, the Local Education Authority will write to you with offers. Late applications will then be considered after this date. These arrangements do not apply to those being admitted purely for nursery provision.
Parents of children who are admitted for nursery provision must also apply for a place at the school if they want their children to transfer to the reception class. Attendance at the nursery does not guarantee admission to the school.
Parents can request that the date their child is admitted to the school is deferred until later in the school year or until the child reaches compulsory school age in that school year.
Parents can request that their child attends part-time until the child reaches compulsory school age.
If the school is oversubscribed a waiting list will be maintained by the school. Children on the waiting list will be ranked in the same order as the published oversubscription criteria.
The order of children on a waiting list does not remain static as circumstances can change a child’s place on the waiting list to go up or down, for example, due to withdrawals or additional applications. If you change your address while your child is on a waiting list you must let us know.
Parents who are unsuccessful in securing a place for their child at the school have a right to appeal against the decision. Having your child’s name on a waiting list will not affect your right to appeal for a school place in any of the schools you have applied for. Further details are available from the school. All appeals against the decision not to admit pupils are now processed by the Local Education Authority (Suffolk County Council) and heard by an independent panel.
Details of Suffolk’s Primary Co-ordinated Admissions Scheme are included in the ‘Schools in Suffolk’ admissions guidance booklet for parents. These are available from the school or can be viewed online at https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/children-families-and-learning/schools/school-places/apply-for-a-primary-school-place-20212022/
Oversubscription Criteria
Where there are more applications for places than the number of places available, places will be offered according to the following order of priority.
- Baptised Catholic looked after and previously looked after children. (see notes 2&3)
- Other baptised Catholic children. (see note 3)
- Other looked after and previously looked after children. (see note 2)
- Catechumens and members of an Eastern Christian Church. (see notes 4&5)
- Children of other Christian denominations whose membership is evidenced by a minister of religion. (see note 6)
- Children of other faiths whose membership is evidenced by a religious leader. (see note 7)
- Any other children.
Within each of the categories listed above, the following provisions will be applied in the following order.
- The attendance of a sibling at the school at the time of enrolment will increase the priority of an application within each category so that the application will be placed at the top of the category in which the application is made (see note 8).
- After children in (i) above, priority will be given within each category by random allocation. Under random allocation, all the names will be entered into a ‘hat’ and the required number of names will be drawn out.
Notes (these notes form part of the oversubscription criteria)
- 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.
- 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 a local authority or (b) being provided with accommodation by them in the exercise of their social services functions (e.g. children with foster parents) at the time of making 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 immediately following having been looked after.
Addendum
“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. Previously looked after children also includes those children who appear (to the governing body) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted”.
This definition has been approved by the Our Lady of Walsingham Trust Board (as the admissions authority for our school), and will apply to admissions from 1st September 2021 onwards.
- ‘Catholic’ means a member of a Church in full communion with the See of Rome. This includes the Eastern Catholic Churches. This will normally be evidenced by a certificate of baptism in a Catholic Church or a certificate of reception into the full communion of the Catholic Church. For the purposes of this policy, it includes a looked after child who is part of a Catholic family where a letter from a priest demonstrates that the child would have been baptised or received if it were not for their status as a looked after child (e.g. a looked after child in the process of adoption by a Catholic family).
For a child to be treated as Catholic, evidence of Catholic baptism or reception into the Church will be required. Those who have difficulty obtaining written evidence of baptism should contact their Parish Priest who, after consulting with the Diocese, will decide how the question of baptism is to be resolved and how written evidence is to be produced in accordance with the law of the Church.
- ‘Catechumen’ means a member of the catechumenate of a Catholic Church. This will normally be evidenced by a certificate of reception into the order of catechumens.
- ‘Eastern Christian Church’ includes Orthodox Churches, and is normally evidenced by a certificate of baptism or reception from the authorities of that Church.
- “children of other Christian denominations” means children who belong to other churches and ecclesial communities which, acknowledge God’s revelation in Christ, confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the Scriptures, and in obedience to God’s will and in the power of the Holy Spirit commit themselves: to seek a deepening of their communion with Christ and with one another in the Church, which is his body; and to fulfil their mission to proclaim the Gospel by common witness and service in the world to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. An ecclesial community which on principle has no credal statements in its tradition, is included if it manifests faith in Christ as witnessed to in the Scriptures and is committed to working in the spirit of the above.
All members of Churches Together in England and CYTÛN are deemed to be included in the above definition, as are all other churches and ecclesial communities that are in membership of any local Churches Together Group (by whatever title) on the above basis.
- “children of other faiths” means children who are members of a religious community that does not fall within the definition of ‘other Christian denominations’ at 6 above and which falls within the definition of a religion for the purposes of charity law. The Charities Act 2011 defines religion to include:
- A religion which involves belief in more than one God, and
- A religion which does not involve belief in a God.
Case law has identified certain characteristics which describe the meaning of religion for the purposes of charity law, which are characterised by a belief in a supreme being and an expression of belief in that supreme being through worship.
- ‘Sibling includes:
(i) natural brothers or sisters, half brothers or sisters, adopted brothers or sisters, stepbrothers or sisters, foster brothers or sisters, and
(ii) the child of a parent’s partner where that child lives for at least part of the week in the same family unit at the same address as the applicant.
In all these cases, the child and their sibling will both be living at the same address in a single family unit. This means that children from different family units, where those are living together at the same address, are not considered siblings under this criterion.
- A ‘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.
In-Year Applications
An application can be made for a place for a child at any time outside the admission round and the child will be admitted where there are available places. Applications should be made to the school by contacting The Admin Team, St Louis Catholic Academy, Fordham Road, Newmarket, Suffolk, CB8 7AA. Where there are places available but more applications than places, the published oversubscription criteria, as set out above, will be applied.
If there are no places available, the child will be added to the waiting list (see above).
You will be advised of the outcome of your application in writing, and you have the right of appeal to an independent appeal panel.
ADMISSIONS CONSULTATION FOR 2026-2027
The school has a statutory requirement to consult on its admissions arrangements every 7 years and below are our Admission Policy and Supplementary Information Form for 2026-2027. There are no significant changes to the Policy, however, adjustments have been made in line with DFE guidance and the Admissions code. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
Supplementary Information Form 2026=2027