Admissions Policy Consultation 2027

Consultation: Admissions Policy

Statutory consultation on proposed changes to the admissions arrangements for 
all CAM Academy Trust schools to take effect from the beginning of the academic 
year 2027–28.

Each year, the admissions authority for all schools is required to review their admission 
arrangements. The admissions authority must consult on proposed changes to the 
admissions arrangements and conduct a consultation on the policy every seven years.

The CAM Academy Trust is the admissions authority for all its schools. The trust has 
decided to consult on proposed changes to implement one admissions policy across all 
trust schools which would take effect from the beginning of the academic year 2027-
2028.

The policy has been updated to ensure ongoing compliance with statutory regulations. 

The main changes proposed are:

• Alignment of oversubscription criteria across all schools in the trust 
• Clarification and additional sections to ensure compliance with the School 
admissions code 
o Statutory infant class size
o Multiple birth groups 
o Distance measurements 
o Child’s home address
o Children below compulsory school age 
o Delayed entry for summer born children 
o Challenging behaviour
o Fair access protocol
o Operation of the waiting list 
o Withdrawing an offer of a place & fraudulent or misleading applications
o Conflicting applications 
o Children of UK service personnel (UK Armed Forces)
o Equal opportunities 

The addition and/or clarification of these sections aims to ensure consistency across all 
schools in The CAM Academy Trust. 

Specifically, the following schools are consulting on reducing their Published Admission 
Number (PAN) as follows: 

School Name	Current PAN	Proposed PAN
Offord Primary School	17	15
Thongsley Fields Primary & Nursery School	60	30

The reasons for the reductions are as follows: 

Offord Primary School

With a Published Admission Number (PAN) of 17, the number of pupils within our mixed-age class would exceed the statutory infant class size limit of 30. This would have 
significant implications for the school’s class structure, which must remain stable in order 
to support sustainable staffing, resourcing, and long-term strategic planning. By reducing 
our PAN to 15 it would ensure the continued viability and effectiveness of our class 
organisation.

Thongsley Fields Primary & Nursery School

Due to the declining birth rate and fewer families in the local area, pupil numbers have 
steadily decreased over the past seven years; therefore, a reduction in PAN would 
support stability, enable effective forward planning, and ensure sustainable provision for 
the future.

The proposed Admissions Policy for the trust is attached and can be found on the trust
website.

The consultation will run for 6 weeks from 2 December 2025.

The CAM Academy Trust welcomes any comments on the proposed changes. Please 
send your comments to the Head of Governance by emailing governance@catrust.co.uk before Tuesday 27 January 2026.

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