Admissions Policy

At St Mary’s Hampton, we are committed to the principle of open admission without regard to church attendance, religious faith or none. So we are seeking to serve the local community by providing a choice of a local, small school, and the choice of a Church of England School. Everyone is welcome – whether of the Christian faith, other faiths, or none.

You can read the full policy document here: St Mary’s Hampton Admissions Policy 2023 -2024

Admissions criteria

Published Admission Number (PAN): 30 at Reception. We will be part of the Local Authority’s (LA) process for allocating children to schools.

Oversubscription criteria

  1. LOOKED AFTER children and previously LOOKED AFTER children2 who have been adopted or subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order.
  2. Children with a sibling3 already on-roll at St Mary’s Primary School and who will be on roll when the child is admitted.
  3. Children of staff at St Mary’s Primary School, who have either been employed at the school for two years or more, or were recruited to fill a vacant post for which there was a demonstrable skill shortage.4
  4. Children whom the Governing Board (GB) accepts have an exceptional medical or social need for a place at the school.5
  5. Children who live in Priority Area 1 (Hampton South). The area is adjacent to the school, and runs continuously to the east. It includes a mixture of housing (See map and street listing).
  6. Children who live in Priority Area 2 (Broadly the rest of Hampton). The area is north of the school; it includes a mixture of housing (See map and street listing).

Admissions: Place will be allocated within 5. and the 6. by home-to-school distance, measured by the shortest route and/or maintained footpath from the property to the pedestrian school gate. All distances will be measured using the Council’s geographical information system.

7. All other children will be allocated by home-to-school distance measured by the shortest route and/or maintained footpath from the property to the pedestrian school gate. All distances will be measured using the Council’s geographical information system. Where two or more children have the same distance places will be given using random allocation.

We have consulted on a change to our admissions policy for the 2025-26 academic year. The current oversubscription criteria 5 & 6 (priority areas) will no longer apply; the criterion will be distance from school.

Fair access protocol

The school is a part of the Richmond Primary Schools’ Fair Access Protocol which prioritises children without a school place who may have difficulty finding a suitable school place. Any child who is admitted under this protocol takes priority over any children on the waiting list. Please refer to the borough’s Primary Admissions Brochure for the full protocol.

Offers from waiting list and in-year admissions

After the initial offers in April, as vacancies occur, all applicants will be subject to the ranking in accordance with the admission criteria above and will be added to the waiting list in criteria order. This ‘waiting list’ will be maintained until the end of the summer term in July in order of the over-subscription criteria and not in the order that applications are received or added to the list. After this date parents will need to contact the school in writing and advise that they wish their child’s name to remain on the waiting list.

Appeals

Hampton St Mary Academy Trust will ensure that parents will have the right of appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel if they are dissatisfied with an admission decision of the GB. The Independent Appeal Panel will be independent of the Academy Trust and AfC Schools Admissions. The arrangements for appeals will comply with the School Admission Appeals Code published by the Department for Education as it applies to Foundation and Voluntary Aided schools. The determination of the appeal panel is binding on all parties.

Read the full policy document here: St Mary’s Hampton Admissions Policy 2023 -2024

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1 Children with an EHCP that specifies the school as the placement school will be allocated a place through a separate procedure, in accordance with the special educational needs code of practice.
2 Looked after children or previously looked after children
To qualify for the highest priority, currently looked after and previously looked after children are defined as:
  • children who are in the care of a local authority, or being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions in accordance with Section 22 of the Children Act 1989, at the time an application for a school is made;
  • children who were previously looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted (under the Adoption Act 1976 or Adoption and Childrens Act 2002), or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order.
Governors will ask for written evidence from the responsible agencies (please refer to Richmond’s Primary Schools brochure for details of evidence required).
3 Sibling refers to brother or sister, half brother or sister, adopted brother or sister, step brother or sister, or the child of the parent/carer’s partner where the child for whom the school place is sought is living in the same family unit at the same address as that sibling.
4 Paragraph 1.39 of the School Admissions Code, December 2014.
5 If you apply for a place because of medical or social needs you must explain how St Mary’s School meets your child’s special circumstances. Along with your application, you should submit supporting evidence which sets out the particular reasons why St Mary’s School is the most suitable, the difficulties that could be caused if they were to attend another school, and the link between the need and the school. This will be in the form of a report from a suitably qualified professional, such as a doctor or social worker for example. Please note that hospital appointment letters cannot be accepted as proof.