1. Over-subscription
Each school has a set number of places in each year group called the Planned Admission Number (PAN).
And every school has an admissions policy which includes oversubscription criteria that are used to identify which children to offer places to when a school receives more requests than there are places available.
(School places are not allocated on a first come, first served basis).
Distance criteria
One of the factors that determines if a child will be offered a place is the distance from their home to the school, measured in a straight line.
How is the distance measured?
On entering the address into the admissions system, the address is matched against address-point data held in the system from the Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG).
When an address is matched, the system looks up its Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN), which will have three-figure Grid References attached.
The straight line distance from this address point to the centroid (a three-figure grid reference) is then calculated to the nearest 0.001 mile.
Should the LA find that the last place that can be offered has two applicants with the same distance measurement, the LA will expand the grid references to determine which applicant is the nearest to be offered a place.
Flats and apartments
Where applications are made from the same multiple dwelling sharing a single address point, such applications in a single criterion will be considered initially by distance between the address point and the school in the normal way.
Where there are insufficient places to admit all those applicants, the individual priority for each applicant will be set by random allocation (lottery).
Over-subscription criteria at Community Schools
In a Community School the admission policy is determined by Oldham Council.
The only Community School in Oldham is Saddleworth School.
Over-subscription criteria at all other schools
In voluntary aided, foundation, trust and academy schools, the school’s governing body determines the admissions policy and oversubscription criteria.
The admissions policies (including over-subscription criteria) are available on the individual pages for each school on this website.