ST MARY'S CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL
September 2024 Reception admissions 
Applying for a place for your child to start school in September 2024
If you decide you would like your child to attend St Mary’s, before applying for a place, please read the following:-
Step 1
If you would like your child to come to St Mary’s, you will need to apply to South Gloucestershire Council Admissions and send any appropriate supporting documents to our school. The deadline for both to be submitted is 15th January 2023. Any applications after this date will be classed as ‘late’ and this will reduce the likelihood of receiving an offer from one of your preferred choice of schools.
Step 2
You can apply to South Gloucestershire School Admissions either online or by downloading a paper form at www.southglos.gov.uk/admissions. You can contact them on 01454 868008 if you require a paper form to be sent to you. If you are applying online, please ensure you that you receive a confirmation email from Admissions acknowledging your application.
Step 3
At the same time as applying through the South Gloucestershire Council, you also need to bring a Baptism certificate (if applicable) to the school by 15th January 2024. Full details are in the 2023/2024 policy. If the school is oversubscribed for September 2023, this form allows us to categorise the applications in line with our ‘Order of Priority’, as stated in our school’s admissions policy.
What happens next?
When the 15th January deadline has passed, South Gloucestershire Council collate the applications and sends us a list of all the children that have expressed a preference for our school. The Governors on the Admissions Committee in our school then meet and rank the children according to our policy. The admissions criteria for children starting in September 2023 can be found within our Admissions Policy 2023/2024
We then return the completed ranked list to South Gloucestershire Admissions. They will then notify parents of the offer for a school place on 16th April 2024. You then have until 30th April 2024 to accept the place.
What if you do not get your preferred choice?
If you choose St Mary’s as your first choice and are not offered a place, you will be asked by South Gloucestershire Admissions if you wish to place your child on the waiting list and/or accept the place you have been offered at another school. If you decide to place your child on the waiting list, we will be informed by School Admissions and will transfer your child to our waiting list.
If there are any offered places for our school not accepted by 30th April deadline, the Governors will receive another list from South Gloucestershire Admissions, which they will then rank according to the criteria. This will include any children that asked to stay on the waiting list, along with late applications. Any child who is again not offered will remain on our waiting list.
Towards the end of the year, South Gloucestershire Admissions will write to all families on the waiting list to ask them if they want to remain on the list. If they receive no reply, your child's name will be taken off the waiting list. They will then provide us with an updated list. It would be very helpful if you would also please let us know, by email (admin@stmarysbs.org.uk) or by telephone (01454 866390) or letter –(St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Webbs Wood Road, Bradley Stoke, Bristol, BS32 8EJ).
Should any places that become available in that academic year, the Governors will rank the waiting list again according the criteria and offer the place accordingly.
The right to appeal
If your child does not receive their preference, South Gloucestershire Admissions will send you information about appealing. Parents have the right to appeal against the refusal of the Governing Body to admit their child and should put their appeal in writing to the Clerk of Governors (address below) within 20 school days from the date of notification that their application was unsuccessful. Appeals will be heard within 40 schools days of this deadline and will be arranged by the Diocese of Clifton Department for Schools and Colleges and South Gloucestershire Local Authority and conducted in accordance with the current Code of Practice on School Appeals.
Clerk to the Governors: St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Webbs Wood Road, Bradley Stoke, Bristol, BS32 8EJ.
If your child is offered a place at St Mary’s
We will write to all parents that have accepted an offer to our school and invite you to a parents evening in June, where we will give you lots of information about our induction process. A timetable of times in which your child will visit the school will be given. We will then look forward to welcoming them in September.