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Oreston Community Academy follows the Admission Policy of the Westcountry Schools Trust. All applications are dealt with through a common application form submitted to the Local Authority. The admissions procedure to Plymouth schools is clearly explained in the ‘Starting School in Plymouth’ parents’ guide that is published by Plymouth City Council and can be found on their website at http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/schooladmissions 

The admission arrangements detailed on this website apply to Oreston Community Academy and Westcountry's School Trust (WeST) are the Admissions Authority. 

For children looking to make an in-year admission, further information about application procedures can also be found online on the Plymouth Schools’ Admissions website in the ‘In-Year School Admissions Parents’ guide’.

Information regarding admission arrangements can be found via the links below.

Consultation on admission arrangements 2026/2027. We will be consulting on our admission arrangements for 2026/2027 through Plymouth City Council. The consultation will be live between Monday 2 December 2024 and Sunday 12 January 2025. If you wish to find out about our policy or make any comment, please visit Consultation on school admission arrangements | PLYMOUTH.GOV.UK

Admissions Arrangements 2026/2027

The Trust uses the following criteria for admissions:

At the normal point of entry, where there are fewer applicants than the Planned Admission Number (60 pupils in each year group), all children will be admitted unless they can be offered a higher ranked preference. For in-year admissions where there is space in the school, all children will be admitted unless the school can demonstrate that admission would prejudice provision of efficient education or efficient use of resources.

In the event that the School is oversubscribed, the admission authority will apply the following oversubscription criteria in order of priority:

1. A ‘looked after child’ or a child who was previously looked after 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) at the time of making an application to a school. 

2. A child with exceptional medical or social need Applicants will only be considered under this heading if the parent/carer or their representative can demonstrate that only the preferred school can meet the exceptional medical or social needs of the child. This can be in the form of a testimony from a medical practitioner, social worker or other professional who can support the application on an ‘exceptional’ basis. Exceptional medical or social grounds could include, for example:

• a serious medical condition, which can be supported by medical evidence;
• a significant caring role for the child which can be supported by evidence from social services.

3. Children with a sibling already attending this school at the time of admission. Children will be classed as siblings if they live in the same household in a single family unit. This includes for example, full, half, step, or adoptive brothers or sisters;

4. Children attending Oreston Community Academy’s own nursery/pre-school who are in receipt of early years pupil premium, the pupil premium or the service premium at the time of application evidence through completion of the pupil premium supplementary information form; 

5. Children whose parent/carer is a member of staff employed on a permanent contract at this school 

6. Other children not shown in a higher oversubscription criteria

Appeals: In the event that an applicant is denied a place at the school, the parent/carer will have the right of appeal to an independent appeal panel. Information relating to the appeal process can be obtained from Plymouth City Council’s School Admissions Team1.

Plymouth School Admissions Team

All admissions queries: Telephone 01752 307469

The website at www.plymouth.gov.uk/schooladmissions has information about applying for a place at the school, school appeals, and the coordinated schemes of admission.

There is space for 40 children in each Nursery session and there are 60 places available in Reception at Oreston. For the main school, children are offered places to start in Reception at the beginning of the September term after their fourth birthday. Children who are admitted to a vacancy at any time after this point are called 'In-Year' Admissions.

You can find our admissions policies below - we review the school policy annually and may make changes if we feel this would be in the best interests of the Academy and our community.

If you are interested in your child attending Oreston, you are welcome to come in and visit us. You can arrange a visit on 01752 402050 or by emailing admin@oreston.com or admissions@oreston.com.

If you decide you would like a place in our Nursery, in Foundation, or at any other time, you must apply.

Below you will find links to relevant application forms.

If you have any questions about your child joining Oreston or just about the admissions process in general, please don’t hesitate to contact us by emailing admin@oreston.com or admissions@oreston.com.

Information on Starting School in Plymouth can be found on this website:

www.plymouth.gov.uk/schooladmissions and the contact number for the Admissions Team is 01752 301469.