2024 Lostock High School admission arrangements

Trafford is the Admission Authority for Lostock High School. The closing date for applications for transfer to secondary school in September 2024 is 31 October 2023. Applications received after the closing date will only be considered after all other applications received on time have been processed.

Catchment area

The catchment area for Lostock High School – all M32 postcodes.

Over-subscription criteria

Quite often there are not enough places at a school to satisfy every parent who wants to send their child there. This is what is meant when a school is “oversubscribed”.

All children whose statement of special educational needs (SEN) or Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan names the school must be admitted. If the number of other applications exceeds the number of places available the following criteria will apply:

  1. Looked After Children and all 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 (as defined in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989). Previously Looked After Children are children who were looked after but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order - 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 special guardian (or special guardians). This includes children who have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. A child is regarded as having been in state care in a place outside of England if they were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation or any other provider of care whose sole purpose is to benefit society.
  2. Children who live in the catchment area of the school who will have a sibling attending the school at the time of the applicant ’s proposed admission (this includes half/step/adopted/foster brothers or sisters, and any other children, who are living at the same address as part of the same family unit).
  3. Children who live in the catchment area of the school.
  4. Children who live outside the catchment area who will have a sibling attending the school at the time of the applicant ’s proposed admission (this includes half/step/adopted/foster brothers or sisters, and any other children, who are living at the same address as part of the same family unit).
  5. Children who live nearest to the school, calculated in a direct straight line from the child ’s permanent place of residence to the school. The co-ordinates that will be used for Lostock High School are 378147,395323. For the home address the distance will be calculated using property co-ordinates provided from Trafford’s Local Land and Property Gazetteer (BS7666) (Royal Mail postal address Information may be used in some instances). In the case of a child living in a block of flats, co-ordinates will be obtained in the same way.

If there are more applicants than can be accommodated at a school in criteria 1. to 4. places will be offered to those children in each criterion whose place of residence is nearest to the school as defined in criterion 5.

Where two or more applications cannot be otherwise separated the final place will be determined through a random draw conducted and scrutinised by persons independent from the school, and from the Children, Families and Wellbeing Directorate.

Final tie-break arrangements

Each random allocation event only holds for the allocation of the currently available school place. On any waiting list the remaining applicants remain equally ranked and any further place is offered as the result of a further random exercise.

The draw

The draw will be made by a person independent of the relevant school and from the Children's Services Directorate.

The draw will be scrutinised by another person independent from the relevant school, and from the Children's Services Directorate.

The application reference number for each pupil to be included in the draw will be recorded in Part 1 of the ‘Random Draw Record Sheet’. Each application reference number will be recorded on a separate sheet and sealed in an envelope. The envelopes will be shuffled by the person designated to make the draw and an envelope chosen. The person designated to make the draw will open the chosen envelope and record the name in Part 2 of the ‘Random Draw Record Sheet’ This process will be repeated until all the available places are allocated.

The person designated to make the draw and the Independent Scrutineer will sign the declarations in Part 3 of the ‘Random Draw Record Sheet’ to confirm that the process has been carried out in accordance with this procedure.

Your home address

The criteria used by Trafford in determining admissions to Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools refer, in every instance, to the child's home address. This means the address where the child lives most of the time, not the address of any child-carer, grandparent or other relative. 

It is always assumed that the correct factual information will be provided when an application for a school place is submitted. However, proof of the child’s residency may be requested so that the application can be considered correctly alongside other applicants.

The documentation required is not prescribed and applicants can submit whatever evidence is available, that is sufficient to demonstrate the claim. 

In the case of parents who are separated the application will also be considered from the address where the child lives, even though the child may regularly spend some time at another address. Where it is claimed that the child’s residency is shared equally between two addresses parents may decide which address will be used for the purpose of the application.

Applications for admission outside the normal age group

Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group, for example, if the child is gifted and talented or has experienced problems such as ill health.  These applications will be considered on the basis of the circumstances of each case and determined in the best interests of the child concerned.

In-year applications

Applications received outside the normal admissions round (known as “In-year”), will be determined by the same oversubscription criteria.

The information you provide to the local authority

We assume that you will always provide us with the correct factual information when you apply for a school place and you may be required to provide proof of residency at your stated address. You should be aware that any place that has been offered on the basis of false or misleading information may be withdrawn and the place may be offered to another child.

Right of appeal

In accordance with the School Standards and Framework Act you have the right to appeal against any decision made by the Admission Authority and an Independent Appeals Panel has been set up specifically for this purpose. To exercise this right, an appeal form must be requested from the Legal and Democratic Services Team, Town Hall, Talbot Road, Stretford, M32 0YT, telephone number 0161 912 4221 or can be downloaded from the school admissions appeals webpage.

Waiting lists

Admission authorities must maintain a clear, fair and objective waiting list for at least the first term of the academic year of admission. Waiting lists for Trafford’s community and voluntary controlled schools are run throughout the year for every year group. Each added child will require the list to be ranked again in line with the published oversubscription criteria.