Trafford Council is the Admission Authority for Lostock High School.
The closing date for applications for transfer to secondary school in September 2026 is 31 October 2025. Applications received after the closing date will only be considered after all other applications received on time have been processed.
The catchment area for Lostock High School – all M32 postcodes.
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 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.
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.
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.
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).
Children who live in the catchment area of the school.
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).
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, coordinates will be obtained in the same way.
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.
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 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 of 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 will be 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.
The criteria used by us 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 application.
The School Admissions Code states that only one offer per child must be made by the Local Authority. Therefore, only one address can be used to determine the outcome of an application.
If two applications are received from different addresses, the authority will use the address of the parent who receives child benefit to determine the outcome of the application. Where child benefit is not claimed, the authority will use the address where the child is registered with the General Practitioner (GP).
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.
Parents requesting admission out of the normal age group must put their request in writing, together with any supporting evidence that they want to be taken into account. The Headteacher of the school will make decisions on requests for admission outside the normal age group on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. This includes:
When informing a parent of the decision on the year group the child should be admitted to, the authority will set out clearly the reasons for their decision. 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.
Applications received outside the normal admissions round (known as “In-year”), will be determined by the same oversubscription criteria.
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 based on false or misleading information may be withdrawn, and the place may be offered to another child.
In accordance with the School Standards and Framework Act, you have the right to appeal against any decision made by the Admission Authority.
An Independent Appeals Panel has been set up specifically for this purpose.
Find out more about how to make an appeal.
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.