Admissions

Admission Arrangements 2025/26

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​

The Byrchall High School
Warrington Road
Ashton-in-Makerfield
Wigan
WN4 9PQ

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Admission Number 2025 - 240

Where the school receives more applications than places available, the following admission criteria will be applied once places have been first allocated to pupils who have a statement of special educational needs or education health and care plan which names the school:

1. 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).

2. Children with brothers or sisters who will be attending the school at the time of admission.

3. Other children living in the Makerfield area including Ashton-in-Makerfield, Abram, Bryn Gates, Downall Green, Garswood, Golborne, Haydock, Hindley, Ince-in-Makerfield, Newton-le-Willows, North Ashton, Platt Bridge, Wargrave and Winstanley (see attached map).

4. Other children living nearest to the school.

Tie Breaker

Where there are more children in one particular criterion than the number of places available, places will be allocated to the children who live nearest to the school. The distance will be measured in a straight line from the child’s home address to a central point at the school using a Geographical Information System (GIS) which is based on ordnance survey.

Occasionally, the distance from home to school is the same for more than one child. For example, if more than one child lives in the same block of flats. In these cases, a system to randomly pick who will be offered a place will be used. The governing body will use the system used by the local authority for community and controlled schools. A copy of the policy is available on request from the local authority.

Brothers and Sisters

Children with brothers or sisters who will be attending the school in the school year. We will include:

 

• Half-brothers and Half-sisters;

• Stepbrothers and Stepsisters; and

• Foster brothers and Foster sisters, who live at the same address as part of the same family unit.

Home Address

 

When considering your child’s application, we will use the permanent home address we have for you at the closing date for applications.

 

If parents are separated and the child spends time at each parents’ address, the address which will be used for admission to schools is the address where the child sleeps the majority of the school nights (Sunday to Thursday) during the week in term time. Where there is dispute or equal nights are slept, parent will be asked to provide proof of the address registered with the child’s GP.

 

We may ask to see additional forms of evidence of your home address (photocopies are acceptable). This may include:

 

• proof of where you are registered for council tax

• your television licence

• wage/ salary slip

• proof of your child tax credits

 

Any evidence you provide must show that the parent or main carer lives at this address. We may seek evidence by other means if the parent/carer is unable to provide sufficient proof of their residence.

 

Waiting List Policy

Places may become available at a school after the offer date. To decide which children have these places, we will:

 

• Put all children who we refused a place on the waiting list for the school;

• Keep the list in priority order, decided by the oversubscription criteria for the school only;

• Offer places that become available to the next child on the waiting list; and

• Maintain the waiting list until 31st December 2025

We cannot take into account the length of time a child’s name has been on the waiting, only the admission criteria for the school. This means that your child’s position on the list may change if another parent asks to be put on the list and their child has higher priority in the admission criteria.

​

ADMISSION OF CHILDREN OUTSIDE THEIR NORMAL AGE GROUP

Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group, for example, to a higher year group if the child is gifted and talented or to a lower year group if the child has experienced problems such as ill health. A decision is made on the basis of the circumstances of each case.

The process is as follows:

STAGE 1 – REQUEST

Parents make a formal request to the Local Authority School Organisation Team in writing with any supporting evidence they wish to be considered.

 

• A request for early entry into Year 7 should be made before 31 October in the previous academic year in order to give sufficient time for the case to be considered prior to the offer of school places on 1 March.

• A request for in year admission outside of the normal age group should be made on ​the normal in year transfer form.

​

STAGE 2 – DECISION

Requests for voluntary-aided, foundation and academy schools will be referred to the school to be considered. Requests for community and voluntary controlled schools will be considered by the
local authority. We will look at the following factors but these are not exhaustive:

 

• Parent’s views

• The needs of the child and the possible impact on them of being educated out of year group

• The child’s medical history and views of medical professionals if appropriate

• In the case of children born prematurely the fact that they may have naturally fallen into the lower age group if they had been born on their expected date of birth

• Whether delayed academic, social, emotional or physical development is adversely ​affecting their readiness for school;

• Any other information which the parent requests the local authority to consider.

STAGE 3 – OUTCOME

Parents are notified of the decision in writing by the School Organisation Team.

REQUEST AGREED:

If the request is agreed the application will be considered for the year group requested and ranked alongside any other applications. There is no guarantee that a place will be offered at the preferred school. Parents have a statutory right to appeal against the refusal of a place at a school for which they have applied. This right does not apply if they are offered a place at the school but it is not in their preferred age
group.

REQUEST REFUSED:

There is no statutory right of appeal against the refusal of a request for admission outside the normal age group. However, if the parents are dissatisfied they have the right to complain through the Council’s complaints procedure for decisions made by the local authority or under the school’s complaints procedure where the decision has been made by the school.

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Admission Arrangements 2024/25
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​The Byrchall High School
Warrington Road
Ashton-in-Makerfield
Wigan
WN4 9PQ

Admission Number 2024 - 235

Where the school receives more applications than places available, the following admission criteria will be applied once places have been first allocated to pupils who have a statement of special educational needs or education health and care plan which names the school:

1. 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).

2. Children with brothers or sisters who will be attending the school at the time of admission.

3. Other children living in the Makerfield area including Ashton-in-Makerfield, Abram, Bryn Gates, Downall Green, Garswood, Golborne, Haydock, Hindley, Ince-in-Makerfield, Newton-le-Willows, North Ashton, Platt Bridge, Wargrave and Winstanley (see attached map).

​

4. Other children living nearest to the school.

Tie Breaker

Where there are more children in one particular criterion than the number of places available, places will be allocated to the children who live nearest to the school. The distance will be measured in a straight line from the child’s home address to a central point at the school using a Geographical Information System (GIS) which is based on ordnance survey.

Occasionally, the distance from home to school is the same for more than one child. For example, if more than one child lives in the same block of flats. In these cases, a system to randomly pick who will be offered a place will be used. The governing body will use the system used by the local authority for community and controlled schools. A copy of the policy is available on request from the local authority.

Brothers and Sisters

Children with brothers or sisters who will be attending the school in
the school year. We will include:
 

• Half-brothers and Half-sisters;

• Stepbrothers and Stepsisters; and

• Foster brothers and Foster sisters, who live at the same address as part of the same family unit.

Home Address

When considering an application, we will use the permanent home address at the closing date for applications. If parents are separated and the child spends time at each parent’s address, the address we use for admission to schools is that of the main career. We use the address of the parent who gets the Child Benefit for this.

Waiting List Policy

​

Places may become available at a school after the offer date. To decide which children have these places, we will:
 

• Put all children who we refused a place on the waiting list for the school;

• Keep the list in priority order, decided by the oversubscription criteria for the school only;

• Offer places that become available to the next child on the waiting list; and

• Keep the waiting list until the end of the Autumn term.

 

We cannot take into account the length of time a child’s name has been on the waiting, only the admission criteria for the school. This means that your child’s position on the list may change if another parent asks to be put on the list and their child has higher priority in the admission criteria.
​
ADMISSION OF CHILDREN OUTSIDE THEIR NORMAL AGE GROUP

Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group, for example, to a higher year group if the child is gifted and talented or to a lower year group if the child has experienced problems such as ill health. A decision is made on the basis of the circumstances of each case.

The process is as follows:

STAGE 1 – REQUEST

Parents make a formal request to the Local Authority School Organisation Team in writing with any supporting evidence they wish to be considered.
 
A request for early entry into Year 7 should be made before 31 October in the previous academic year in order to give sufficient time for the case to be considered prior to the offer of school places on 1 March.

A request for in year admission outside of the normal age group should be made on ​the normal in year transfer form.
​
STAGE 2 – DECISION

Requests for voluntary-aided, foundation and academy schools will be referred to the school to be considered. Requests for community and voluntary controlled schools will be considered by the local authority. We will look at the following factors but these are not exhaustive:

 

• Parent’s views

• The needs of the child and the possible impact on them of being educated out of year group

• The child’s medical history and views of medical professionals if appropriate 

• In the case of children born prematurely the fact that they may have naturally fallen into the lower age group if they had been born on their expected date of birth

• Whether delayed academic, social, emotional or physical development is adversely ​affecting their readiness for school;

• Any other information which the parent requests the local authority to consider.

STAGE 3 – OUTCOME

 

Parents are notified of the decision in writing by the School Organisation Team.

REQUEST AGREED:

If the request is agreed the application will be considered for the year group requested and ranked alongside any other applications. There is no guarantee that a place will be offered at the preferred school. Parents have a statutory right to appeal against the refusal of a place at a school for which they have applied. This right does not apply if they are offered a place at the school but it is not in their preferred age group.

​

REQUEST REFUSED:

There is no statutory right of appeal against the refusal of a request for admission outside the normal age group. However, if the parents are dissatisfied they have the right to complain through the Council’s complaints procedure for decisions made by the local authority or under the school’s complaints procedure where the decision has been made by the school.

Admission Arrangements 2023/24

​

​

The Byrchall High School
Warrington Road
Ashton-in-Makerfield
Wigan
WN4 9PQ

Admission Number 2023 - 235

Where the school receives more applications than places available, the following admission criteria will be applied once places have been first allocated to pupils who have a statement of special educational needs or education health and care plan which names the school:

1. 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).

2. Children with brothers or sisters who will be attending the school at the time of admission.

3. Other children living in the Makerfield area including Ashton-in-Makerfield, Abram, Bryn Gates, Downall Green, Garswood, Golborne, Haydock, Hindley, Ince-in-Makerfield, Newton-le-Willows, North Ashton, Platt Bridge, Wargrave and Winstanley (see attached map).

4. Other children living nearest to the school.

Tie Breaker

Where there are more children in one particular criterion than the number of places available, places will be allocated to the children who live nearest to the school. The distance will be measured in a straight line from the child’s home address to a central point at the school using a Geographical Information System (GIS) which is based on ordnance survey.

Occasionally, the distance from home to school is the same for more than one child. For example, if more than one child lives in the same block of flats. In these cases, a system to randomly pick who will be offered a place will be used. The governing body will use the system used by the local authority for community and controlled schools. A copy of the policy is available on request from the local authority.

Brothers and Sisters

Children with brothers or sisters who will be attending the school in the school year. We will include:

 

• Half-brothers and Half-sisters;

• Stepbrothers and Stepsisters; and

• Foster brothers and Foster sisters, who live at the same address as part of the same family unit.

Home Address

When considering an application, we will use the permanent home address at the closing date for applications. If parents are separated and the child spends time at each parent’s address, the address we use for admission to schools is that of the main career. We use the address of the parent who gets the Child Benefit for this.

Waiting List Policy

Places may become available at a school after the offer date. To decide which children have these places, we will:

 

• Put all children who we refused a place on the waiting list for the school;

• Keep the list in priority order, decided by the oversubscription criteria for the school only;

• Offer places that become available to the next child on the waiting list; and

• Keep the waiting list until the end of the Autumn term.

We cannot take into account the length of time a child’s name has been on the waiting, only the admission criteria for the school. This means that your child’s position on the list may change if another parent asks to be put on the list and their child has higher priority in the admission criteria.

​

ADMISSION OF CHILDREN OUTSIDE THEIR NORMAL AGE GROUP

Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group, for example, to a higher year group if the child is gifted and talented or to a lower year group if the child has experienced problems such as ill health. A decision is made on the basis of the circumstances of each case.

The process is as follows:

STAGE 1 – REQUEST

Parents make a formal request to the Local Authority School Organisation Team in writing with any supporting evidence they wish to be considered.

 

• A request for early entry into Year 7 should be made before 31 October in the previous academic year in order to give sufficient time for the case to be considered prior to the offer of school places on 1 March.

• A request for in year admission outside of the normal age group should be made on ​the normal in year transfer form.

​

STAGE 2 – DECISION

Requests for voluntary-aided, foundation and academy schools will be referred to the school to be considered. Requests for community and voluntary controlled schools will be considered by the
local authority. We will look at the following factors but these are not exhaustive:

 

• Parent’s views

• The needs of the child and the possible impact on them of being educated out of year group

• The child’s medical history and views of medical professionals if appropriate

• In the case of children born prematurely the fact that they may have naturally fallen into the lower age group if they had been born on their expected date of birth

• Whether delayed academic, social, emotional or physical development is adversely ​affecting their readiness for school;

• Any other information which the parent requests the local authority to consider.

STAGE 3 – OUTCOME

Parents are notified of the decision in writing by the School Organisation Team.

REQUEST AGREED:

If the request is agreed the application will be considered for the year group requested and ranked alongside any other applications. There is no guarantee that a place will be offered at the preferred school. Parents have a statutory right to appeal against the refusal of a place at a school for which they have applied. This right does not apply if they are offered a place at the school but it is not in their preferred age
group.

REQUEST REFUSED:

There is no statutory right of appeal against the refusal of a request for admission outside the normal age group. However, if the parents are dissatisfied they have the right to complain through the Council’s complaints procedure for decisions made by the local authority or under the school’s complaints procedure where the decision has been made by the school.

​

Admission Arrangements 2022/23

​

​

The Byrchall High School
Warrington Road
Ashton-in-Makerfield
Wigan
WN4 9PQ

Admission Number 2022 - 235

Where the school receives more applications than places available, the following admission criteria will be applied once places have been first allocated to pupils who have a statement of special educational needs or education health and care plan which names the school:

1. 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).

2. Children with brothers or sisters who will be attending the school at the time of admission.

3. Other children living in the Makerfield area including Ashton-in-Makerfield, Abram, Bryn Gates, Downall Green, Garswood, Golborne, Haydock, Hindley, Ince-in-Makerfield, Newton-le-Willows, North Ashton, Platt Bridge, Wargrave and Winstanley (see attached map).

4. Other children living nearest to the school.

Tie Breaker

Where there are more children in one particular criterion than the number of places available, places will be allocated to the children who live nearest to the school. The distance will be measured in a straight line from the child’s home address to a central point at the school using a Geographical Information System (GIS) which is based on ordnance survey.

Occasionally, the distance from home to school is the same for more than one child. For example, if more than one child lives in the same block of flats. In these cases, a system to randomly pick who will be offered a place will be used. The governing body will use the system used by the local authority for community and controlled schools. A copy of the policy is available on request from the local authority.

Brothers and Sisters

Children with brothers or sisters who will be attending the school in the school year. We will include:

 

• Half-brothers and Half-sisters;

• Stepbrothers and Stepsisters; and

• Foster brothers and Foster sisters, who live at the same address as part of the same family unit.

Home Address

When considering an application, we will use the permanent home address at the closing date for applications. If parents are separated and the child spends time at each parent’s address, the address we use for admission to schools is that of the main career. We use the address of the parent who gets the Child Benefit for this.

Waiting List Policy

Places may become available at a school after the offer date. To decide which children have these places, we will:

 

• Put all children who we refused a place on the waiting list for the school;

• Keep the list in priority order, decided by the oversubscription criteria for the school only;

• Offer places that become available to the next child on the waiting list; and

• Keep the waiting list until the end of the Autumn term.

We cannot take into account the length of time a child’s name has been on the waiting, only the admission criteria for the school. This means that your child’s position on the list may change if another parent asks to be put on the list and their child has higher priority in the admission criteria.

​

ADMISSION OF CHILDREN OUTSIDE THEIR NORMAL AGE GROUP

Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group, for example, to a higher year group if the child is gifted and talented or to a lower year group if the child has experienced problems such as ill health. A decision is made on the basis of the circumstances of each case.

The process is as follows:

STAGE 1 – REQUEST

Parents make a formal request to the Local Authority School Organisation Team in writing with any supporting evidence they wish to be considered.

 

• A request for early entry into Year 7 should be made before 31 October in the previous academic year in order to give sufficient time for the case to be considered prior to the offer of school places on 1 March.

• A request for in year admission outside of the normal age group should be made on ​the normal in year transfer form.

​

STAGE 2 – DECISION

Requests for voluntary-aided, foundation and academy schools will be referred to the school to be considered. Requests for community and voluntary controlled schools will be considered by the
local authority. We will look at the following factors but these are not exhaustive:

 

• Parent’s views

• The needs of the child and the possible impact on them of being educated out of year group

• The child’s medical history and views of medical professionals if appropriate

• In the case of children born prematurely the fact that they may have naturally fallen into the lower age group if they had been born on their expected date of birth

• Whether delayed academic, social, emotional or physical development is adversely ​affecting their readiness for school;

• Any other information which the parent requests the local authority to consider.

STAGE 3 – OUTCOME

Parents are notified of the decision in writing by the School Organisation Team.

REQUEST AGREED:

If the request is agreed the application will be considered for the year group requested and ranked alongside any other applications. There is no guarantee that a place will be offered at the preferred school. Parents have a statutory right to appeal against the refusal of a place at a school for which they have applied. This right does not apply if they are offered a place at the school but it is not in their preferred age
group.

REQUEST REFUSED:

There is no statutory right of appeal against the refusal of a request for admission outside the normal age group. However, if the parents are dissatisfied they have the right to complain through the Council’s complaints procedure for decisions made by the local authority or under the school’s complaints procedure where the decision has been made by the school.

​

Map of Makerfield area (criterion 3)

 

Makerfield: the historic Makerfield area of South Lancashire extends from Liverpool to Chorley in the North and East to Eccles.