In Year Transfers

Applying for an In-Year Place

Children who are changing school or have just arrived in England, need to apply for an In-Year place.  In-year places are for pupils in Reception (after September) and Years 1 - 6. 

Please contact and visit our school to see why our school is the right school for your child(ren). 

Admission Arrangements for the 2025-2026 School Year

The vision at St Michael’s Church of England School is for every child to live an abundant life. The school has a real family feel with a culture of care and nurture and an ethos shaped by Christian values. We welcome applications from all members of the community including children of other faiths or none. Parents applying for a place do so knowing that the school aims to provide an education based on Christian principles and, therefore, the Governing Body hopes that all pupils will take part in the collective worship of the school and attend religious education lessons.

The number of children who will be admitted to the Reception Year is 30.

Application Arrangements

St Michael’s school is part of the pan-London co-ordinated admissions scheme and timescales for applications to be received are established by and applicable to all London authorities. Parents must apply online via the applicant’s home local authority at www.eadmissions.org.uk by 15th January 2026. Parents who wish to apply for a place at this school, must name it as one of their preferences when they complete the online application.

Oversubscription Criteria

i) looked after children or previously looked after children (see note 1);

ii) children with an exceptional and professionally supported medical or social need for a place at this school (see note 2);

iii) siblings of children attending St Michael’s School at the time of admission (i.e. September 2025). Children in Year 6 who will have transferred to secondary school by the time the younger child is admitted do not confer sibling priority (see note 3);

iv) children living nearest to the school

Tiebreaker

In the event that two or more applicants have equal right to a place under any of the above criteria and there are insufficient places, the Governing Body will use home to school distance (see note 5), in the first instance, to decide between applicants. If applicants live equidistant from the school the Governing Body will draw lots to decide between applicants, supervised by someone independent of the school.

Notes

1. Looked after children or previously looked after children – 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 the school. A previously looked after child is a child who 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. An adoption order is an order under the Adoption Act 1976 (see Section 12 adoption orders) and children who were adopted under the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (see Section 46 adoption orders). A ‘child arrangements order’ is an order settling the arrangements to be made as to the person with whom the child is to live under Section 8 of the Children Act 1989 as amended by Section 14 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Section 14A of the Children Act 1989 defines a ‘special guardianship order’ as an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s Admissions Policy 2026-27 Page 1 St Michael’s CE Primary School Champion Road, Sydenham, London SE26 4HH Tel: 020 8778 8407 www.stmichaels1871.org.uk special guardian (or special guardians). The Governors will require written confirmation that the child is looked after, or previously looked after, and will be so at the time of making an application to the school.

2. Exceptional medical or social needs - If an application is made citing ‘exceptional medical or social reasons’, the claim must be supported with professional evidence. The Governors require a letter from a hospital consultant if there is a medical reason or a social worker if there is a social reason for the claim (or provide a letter from a professional of equivalent standing). The letter must clearly state why St Michael’s school is the only school able to meet the child’s specific needs and the difficulties that would be caused if the child had to attend another school. Each case will be considered on its individual merits.

3. Sibling – is defined as a full, half or step brother or sister or adoptive or (local authority placed) foster brother or sister permanently living in the same household.

4. Home to School Distance – all distances will be measured to a central nodal point in the school premises, using digitised mapping software of the area, from a nodal point in the applicant’s permanent home address. Where more than one applicant lives in a multi occupancy building (e.g. flats, tower blocks, etc.) priority will be given to the applicant whose door number is the lowest numerically and/or alphabetically. Where two or more applicants live equidistant from the school and there are insufficient places, the governors will draw lots to determine who is offered a place.

Definitions

Parent/carer – includes legal guardian.

Home Address – If a child regularly lives at more than one address, the main address for admissions purposes shall be the address of the person with ‘parental responsibility’.

Deferred entry - The School admits children to the Reception class in the September of the school year in which a child attains the age of 5 years. (The school year runs from 1 September to the 31st August.) All parents/carers are entitled to a full-time place for their child in the reception class from September, but may defer entry until the beginning of the term after their child is five years old (i.e. when the child reaches compulsory school age) or until the beginning of the summer term whichever is earlier. Children may attend part-time until the child reaches compulsory school age. Parents/carers who have been offered a place at the School and wish to defer entry for their child and/or attend part-time must put this in writing to the headteacher at the earliest opportunity and before the start of the autumn term.

Education outside normal age group – Children are normally educated in school with others of their age group; however, in exceptional circumstances parents/carers may seek a place outside of their child’s normal age group. Decisions will be made on the basis of the circumstances of each case. Parents/carers must state clearly why they feel admission to a different year group is in the child's best interests and may provide recent professional evidence to support this. Further details of how to make such a request are available from the school.

Parents must consider the implications of such a request as primary/secondary schools are not required to continue to keep the child out of year group and may decide to later educate the child in the correct year.

Fair Access - The school is committed to taking its fair share of pupils who are hard to place in accordance with the locally agreed fair access protocol. Pupils admitted under the protocol will take priority over any children on the waiting list and this may include, on occasion, admitting above the planned admissions number.

Special Education Needs - Parents of pupils who have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan are required to apply for school places separately through the local authority from whom advice is available. If a child with an EHC Plan, is placed in the school by the local authority before the normal admission round, the number of places available to other applicants will be reduced. The Governors will admit all those pupils whose EHC Plan names the School.

Late applications - Applications received after the published closing date will still be considered but only after all applications submitted on time have been considered.

Right of Appeal

There is a right of appeal to an independent panel against the decision of the Governing body not to offer a place. Parents wishing to exercise this right should obtain an appeal form from the school (or the Clerk to the Governors). Appeals must be received within 20 school days of receipt of the letter notifying refusal of a place.

Waiting List and In-Year Admissions

The School operates a waiting list which is ordered in accordance with the oversubscription criteria; it is not a chronological list. The waiting list is held until the end of the academic year (i.e. 31st August). Parents may request in writing to join the waiting list. If an application is received and a child is added to the waiting list, the list will be re-ranked in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. Parents will need to complete an on-line ‘In-year Common Application Form’ (ICAF) through the Lewisham Council parent portal.

 The policy is also available to download:Admission Policy 2025-2026

Application Process

To apply for a place at the school, you will need to complete on-line Lewisham's In-year Common Application Form (icaf) which can be accessed at the Borough's website click here for link.   The school will also support you with the application process.

The Schools Admissions Team at Lewisham Council can be contacted at: School Admissions Team, 3rd Floor Laurence House, 1 Catford Road, London SE6 4RU.