Co-op Academy Bebington  

STUDENT ADMISSION BOOKLET  NEW STARTERS SEPT 2025

Agreed/Reviewed by Governors – November 23

Dear Parent,

I hope that you find this booklet useful. It provides information about education at the Co-Op  Academy Bebington but in particular our admission policy and arrangements for transfer to  secondary school. The booklet is designed to be used by parents who have children in the last year  at primary school, those wishing to transfer between secondary schools within Wirral or those  who are moving into the area with children of secondary school age.

If you wish for your child to transfer to Co-op Academy Bebington in September 2025 you will  need to read this booklet carefully. Although our school is an academy we are still part of  Wirral’s community of schools. We are our own admission authority but have agreed to be part  of Wirral’s co-ordinated applications process.

This booklet is especially important if your child is transferring in September. It sets out  arrangements for allocating (offering) places to our school and the criteria we use in prioritising  parental preferences and the procedure for appeals.

We are very proud of our school; the standards of achievement and behaviour are good and we  are committed to further improvements.

More detailed information about our school can be obtained from our prospectus or website at  https://bebington.coopacademies.co.uk 

If you choose to send your child to our school I am sure that they will settle happily and achieve to  their potential.

Yours sincerely

Catherine Kelly

Head Teacher

OUR SCHOOL

Co-op Academy Bebington is part of the Co-op Academies Trust. The academy takes seriously its  role to further build aspirations of the Bebington community for the future. This policy meets  statutory requirements regarding admissions whilst still retaining that core aim. In ensuring that we  provide the best possible education for our students we work in partnership with all our  stakeholders who have responsibility for guiding the direction of the school in a co-operative forum.  This means that our students, staff, parents and community groups have a major input into the  direction and success of the school. In addition, our trust board support the school in ensuring that  we provide outstanding support for students and their parents resulting in our students being happy  and successful.

If you would like to discuss our academy status further I will be more than happy to, all you need  to do is to contact the school and arrange an appointment.

We are an all ability co-educational inclusive school and welcome all students regardless of ability,  gender, culture and disability. We admit students to our school without assessing their ability but  may group them according to ability once in the school in certain subject areas.

Admission arrangements – Introduction

The arrangements described below apply to children born between 1st September 2013 and 31st August 2014. We will not normally offer places in year 7 in our school to children born after 31st August 2014 unless the governors agree to this.

Places in our school are decided by the governing body of our school according to arrangements  made in consultation with the Local Authority. The admissions procedure is co-ordinated by the  Local Authority. Normally all parents who express a preference for their child to be admitted to our  school will be accepted unless there are no places available. The local authority will then allocate a  place at the nearest appropriate school with places available.

Admission number

The admission number for the school is 205. Students will be admitted into our school up to this  number.

Conclusion

In recent years, the academy has been oversubscribed. The academy is committed to having a fair  and transparent system for admissions, and to work in partnership with the Local Authority to  ensure this.

Admission criteria to the Co-op Academy Bebington

Applications for our school will be dealt with in order according to the following criteria.

a. Children who are Looked After or were previously Looked After as defined by the School  Admissions Code 2021.

b. Children who have a valid medical reason for a specific placement. You must give details on  the preference form and this may be checked by a medical officer of the health authority.  You need to make it clear why only this school is appropriate for your child’s medical needs.

c. Children who have brothers and sisters (including half-brothers and sisters or step brothers  and sisters, and adopted siblings living in the same household) at the school when places are  offered.

d. We will then take account of where your child lives. We will give priority to those students  who live nearest to the school. The local authority use a mapping system, based on Ordnance  Survey maps, to measure the distance from your home to the school gate nearest to your  child’s home using the shortest road route, unless it is possible to use a footpath which we  consider a safe walking route.

Late applications

The Local Authority will deal with preferences received by 31 October 2024 according to the  arrangements described below. Preferences received on or after 1 November 2024 will be dealt  with after places have been allocated on 1 March 2025.

Applications received outside the normal admission round, will be allocated a place at the school, if  there are places available.

Allocation of places

The Local Authority will tell you if your child has been offered a place at the Co-op Academy  Bebington by letter on 1 March 2025. If places are still available after this date, for example because  an allocated place has not been taken up, the places will be re-allocated up to the school’s admission  number. The new offers will be made to children whose parents have shown that they are still  interested in a place at the school either by registering an appeal or by telling the Director of  Children’s Services on the response slip. If there are more requests for places at the Co-op Academy  Bebington than there are places available, the local authority will use the same criteria as for the  initial allocation. In most cases, the local authority will make the new offers depending on where  the children live. If this is the case, a list will be kept in order of those who will have priority because  they live nearer the school. No more offers of places will be made until after appeals have been  heard, but a waiting list will be held for children whose parents would still like them to be considered  for a place at the Co-op Academy Bebington if places become available in the autumn term.

4

If places become available after the start of the autumn term, they will be offered to children on the  waiting list, following the same criteria as when places were first offered. The waiting list will be  kept on until the end of the autumn term (19 December 2025).

Sixth form

We offer places to students in our sixth form if they meet the entry requirements and have a  positive reference (more details can be found on our website and the sixth form prospectus)

Entry requirements: -

To study level 3 courses (A2, Applied A levels and BTEC) a minimum of five GCSE grade 4/5’s or  above (or the equivalent) is required. However, in MFL, Mathematics and Science subject’s  students require a Grade 6.

For level 2 courses (GCSE and BTEC) a minimum of 4 GCSE Grade 1 and above are required. Applying for a place

In order to apply for a place at the Coop Academy Bebington, parents can contact the school in the  first instance to see if any places are available. However, follow up applications need to be sent  directly to the Wirral Local Authority Admissions team. Details about the application process and  application forms are included in the link below

https://www.wirral.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/school-admissions/apply-primary-or-secondary school-placel 

Appeals against admission decisions

If you are not satisfied with an admission decision, you can appeal to our governing body appeals  panel.  

More details are available by contacting our school.

E-mail: bebi-school.office@coopacademies.co.uk 

Tel: 0151 645 4154