Admissions

Leeds Admission Policy

We are a community school and the admission authority is Leeds City Council, who sets our admission policy every year. Read the admission policy.

How to apply for a September place in Reception

If you are applying for a Reception place for September, all applications are made in advance. Offers are made by the Local Authority on national offer day.

You must apply to the local authority who empties your bins. If this is Leeds, check out the Leeds website which is a composite prospectus for all Leeds schools and includes:

all of the steps you need to make an application
the key dates
a search tool to see if your home address gives any higher priority for admission to any school(s)
an explanation about how places are offered if there are more applications than spaces (oversubscribed)
the online application portal (apply online and you’ll be sent your offer by email)
a summary of each school’s individual admission policy criteria
data about who got a place in the last three years (this will help you work out if there’s a reasonable chance of your child qualifying for a place)
information about applying under a specific admission criteria, such as your child being previously looked after (it’s important to ensure you submit all supporting evidence by the deadline to show you meet any such criteria)

Watch the Leeds City Council school admissions video for more information. The council’s social media pages will tell you about any Q&A sessions where you can ask questions.

You can also see information about our school, including previous admission data, on our school page on the Leeds City Council’s website.

The timetable below applies to applications made to Leeds City Council. (If you apply to another local authority, they may have different dates.)

01 November 2023: Applications open – apply online
15 January 2024: National deadline for applying for Reception 2024
12 February 2024: Deadline for making changes that will be considered as being on-time
28 February 2024: Final date Leeds City Council uses for adding late applications or receiving change of address evidence; any new applications received after this date will not be offered a school place until the first round of reallocations in May
16 April 2024: National offer day (first working day after 16 April)
30 April 2024: First cut off for waiting list requests
15 May 2024: Any Reception appeal submitted by this date will be heard before the summer holidays start (Leeds City Council arranges our appeals)
May to end of August 2024: Any available places automatically allocated from waiting lists by the local authority; lower preference school offers are also withdrawn automatically (even if accepted)
June to July 2024: Appeals heard by independent appeal panels
September 2024: Start primary school

In-year applications

If you’re moving into Leeds or want to change schools in Leeds, you need to make a school transfer – this is often called an in-year application. This includes applications for a place in Reception after the start of term in September and and applications for a place in all other year groups (Year 1-6).

Moving schools can be a difficult experience for a child. You should always speak to your child’s current school before trying to move to see what support they can offer you.

Leeds City Council has delegated the decision making for in-year applications to our Governing Board.

You can apply for a place online using the Leeds in-year application form. You can apply for places at our school and any other Leeds schools who are part of the centralised Leeds in-year application scheme at the same time.

If you’ve moved house, please upload evidence of the house move with the online application. (Find out what you need to provide on the above website.)

We have to offer places by applying our admission policy criteria to your child’s application and we’ll contact you with our decision about offering you a place. We’ll tell you our decision no later than 15 school days from when you apply.

If we can’t offer you a place, we will:

write to you to explain the reasons
explain how you can appeal
add your child to our waiting list in case a place becomes free

Our waiting lists are kept until the end of each school year. You’ll need to make a new application if you want to be on the waiting list for the following school year.

Appeals

If we can’t offer you a place, you have the right of appeal. The appeal panel is independent of the school and council and their decision is legally binding. Before you appeal you:

should accept any place that you have been offered in case your appeal is not successful
should think about why you are appealing and check if it’s likely to be successful
could read the advice for appealing school places on GOV.UK
could get independent advice on making an appeal from a charity

Leeds City Council arranges our appeals. Find the appeal form.

If you’re applying for a Reception place for September 2024, you need to submit your appeal by the deadline to ensure the appeal will be heard before the summer holidays.

Appeals for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are less likely to be successful. This is because these classes are limited to 30 pupils per teacher by law. If we refuse your child a place because of this limit and you want to appeal, you’ll need to make an infant class size appeal. You can see if your reasons are likely to be successful by reading the Department for Education’s information about infant class size appeals.

You can appeal because you want your child to attend a particular school. These are successful if the panel agree that the reasons for your appeal outweigh the school’s decision not to admit any more children.

Wanting your child to go to a school because you think it is the best one in the area is not likely to convince the panel that your child should get a place there.

Assemblies (‘Collective Worship’)

The 1988 Education Reform Act requires that ‘all pupils in attendance at a maintained school shall on each day take part in an act of collective worship’ and that this should be ‘wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character’.

At Moortown Primary School, collective worship is set within the context of ‘assemblies’ – which include other features besides those required of collective worship. ‘Worship’ has a wide range of meanings and forms of expression. At Moortown, ‘worship’ means reflection on and understanding of those elements of life which are of value and worth – respecting and caring. for example.

We base our assemblies on a broadly Christian character to meet this requirement, but believe fundamentally that the positive ethos we want to promote complements all faiths and indeed secularism, and the social and emotional aspects of living and learning.

We want every member of our school community to feel happy, valued and respected. Each person is treated fairly and well. We are a caring community with mutual trust and respect for all. Our assemblies promote this.

Our school community is made up of people from many different religions and cultures, and of people who have very clearly expressed a secular point of view. Assemblies are non-denominational and conducted in a manner which is sensitive to the faiths and beliefs of all members of the school community. We are proud of the diversity of our school community and as such hold assemblies that reflect and celebrate the traditions and beliefs of all. In this respect, assemblies promote British values.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do contact us.

Assessment

Effective assessment provides information to improve teaching and learning. Teachers, children and parents can work together to raise standards because there are thorough, open assessment procedures in place.

On-going teacher assessment is the most effective way of knowing how a child is progressing. We supplement teacher assessment with end-of-term tests – these are used to inform (never decide) the teacher assessments. In addition, at various stages, there are national assessments to be carried out, too, such as Year 1 phonics screening ‘checks’ and end of Key Stage 2 tests (often known as ‘SATs’).

All subjects are assessed by teacher assessment. In the core subjects, for example:

In Reading, teachers will listen to children read (assessing their fluency and ability to cope with new words) and question the children to ensure their understanding and opinions of a text are developing. They will also use other techniques including drama, reading tasks and reading comprehensions.
In Writing, teachers will consider pupils’ written work in books and also their contributions to whole-class and group work. As well as in the English lesson, children write in topic work and therefore teachers are able to assess children’s ability to effectively use their writing skills in wider contexts.
In Maths, teachers can assess skills and knowledge through methods such as marking written work, questioning (especially open-ended questions) and observing practical work.

See our age-related expectations for more information about core and foundation subjects.

Reporting to pupils and parents

We believe that feedback to pupils is very important as it tells them how well they have done and what they need to do next in order to improve their work. Pupils have many opportunities to reflect and discuss their progress.

We have a range of strategies that keep parents and carers fully informed of their child’s progress in school.

Each term we offer parents and carers the opportunity to meet their child’s teacher and discuss learning and progress. During the summer term, we give all parents and carers a written report of their child’s progress and achievements during the year. In this report we also identify target areas for the next school year.

Please contact the school if you have questions or comments about any aspect of your child’s work. Staff are nearly always available for a quick discussion before or after school, or an appointment can be made for a longer meeting.

Read our Assessment Policy for Key Stage 1 and 2 here.

Attendance

Charging

Children who are looked after

For all our children, we want Moortown Primary to be a happy and healthy place to learn. This includes children who are looked after by the local authority and those who have previously been looked after.

These children receive additional funding – this is called pupil premium. It’s important that the specific needs of children who are looked after and children who have previously been looked after are understood by staff and reflected in how we use the pupil premium funding.

Each school has a member of staff who is the designated teacher for these children – at Moortown Primary, this is Mrs Weekes, the Head of School. Her role is to promote educational achievement for these children and support other staff members to do this, too.

The provision for children who are looked after is overseen by a ‘virtual school head’. This person is a local authority officer responsible for promoting the educational achievement of the children who are looked after in the authority. They work across schools to monitor and support these pupils as if they were in a single school. They provide support for staff and parents or carers, too.

Each school has a significant role in working with other agencies to make sure the children and their families experience the stability that they need and deserve. We closely work with the virtual school head to agree how pupil premium funding for children who are looked after can most effectively be used to improve and sustain their attainment.

Call us on 0113 268 5915 or send an email to Mrs Weekes, the designated teacher for children who are looked after: headofmoortown@spherefederation.org

Complaints

School leaders and other staff at Moortown Primary School are always happy to hear your views, comments, questions and concerns. This way, we can avoid any problem escalating into something more serious. Complaints are rare; however, all schools are required to have a complaints procedure in place.

Our policy sets out the school’s approach to dealing with parental concerns and complaints. It also contains a form which you may find helpful to use to submit your complaint.

We value good home/school relations and will, therefore, do everything we can to establish and maintain them. This includes seeking to resolve any concerns or complaints promptly, and to the satisfaction of all concerned. We welcome feedback on what parents feel we do well, or not so well, as a school. We consider carefully all feedback, whether positive or negative, and review our policies and practices accordingly.

We treat all concerns and complaints seriously and courteously and advise parents and others of the school’s procedures for dealing with their concerns. In return, we expect parents and other complainants to behave respectfully towards all members of the school community. In particular, any disagreement with the school should not be expressed inappropriately or in front of pupils.

The majority of concerns from parents, carers and others are handled under the following general procedures. The procedure is divided into three stages:

The informal stage aims to resolve the concern through informal contact at the appropriate level in school.
Stage one is the first formal stage at which complaints are considered by the Head of School or Head of Federation.
Stage two is the next stage once stage one has been worked through. It involves a complaints appeal panel of governors.

How each of these stages operates is explained in our policy.

Read the Department for Education’s guidance for schools on best practice.

Data protection

Equality and accessibility

Financial information

Food in school

Late collection

Medicines in school

Moortown Primary School is committed to reducing the barriers to sharing in school life and learning for all its pupils. Our ‘Managing Medicines’ policy sets out the steps which we take to ensure full access to learning for all our children who have medical needs and are able to attend school.

So that children who require medicines receive the support they need, and that we work within approved guidelines, we follow local and national guidance.

If medicine must be administered during the school day, parents / carers must provide full written information about their child’s medical needs – a form is available to complete.

If a child is responsible enough to carry a particular medicine eg an inhaler, permission from a parent / carer is needed.

Regarding prescription medicines, please note:

Parents / carers should if possible administer dosages outside of the school day eg if there are three dosages per day, one first thing, one on return home and one at bedtime.
We will only accept medicines which are essential; that is, where it would be detrimental to the child’s health not to have the medicine during the school day.
We will not administer medicines that have not been prescribed by a doctor, dentist, nurse prescriber or pharmacist prescriber, unless it is done as part of an individual Health Care Plan. We can inform parents of this policy.
Medicines should always be provided in the original container.
Staff never give a non-prescribed medicine to a child unless there is specific prior written permission from the parents / carers.
All medicines must be handed into the office by an adult; no medicines should be kept in children’s bags.

Positive relationships for all

Smoking and vaping

Uniform, PE kit and other items

Read the full uniform policy.

At Moortown Primary School, we’re proud to be members of our school community and we want all our children to feel part of our community and to represent our school. Wearing the school uniform helps us to do this.

Other items are useful, too. You can buy book bags, PE bags and hats from our uniform suppliers. Also useful are a separate bag for packed lunch (if your child does not have a school dinner) and a water bottle – any clear plastic water bottle, labelled.

Please avoid expensive items.

Only discreet (ie small, not brightly coloured) stud earrings and items that are absolutely required by a religion are allowed. Advisors recommend no earrings are worn for PE; therefore, we will ask your child to remove earrings before the lesson and put them back in after the lesson. This will be carried out by the child. If they are unable to remove or put their earrings back in by themselves, they must not wear them on the day they have PE.

A watch or step counter is allowed. Any device that connects to the internet (eg a smart watch) or that can record (including taking photos) is not allowed for safeguarding reasons.

We don’t accept responsibility for any loss or damage to an individual’s property.

To reduce lost property, clearly mark all clothing, bags, bottles etc with your child’s name. Found lost property is stored in the school office.

Our uniform suppliers include:

Andrew Hyde. Many items with the school logo are available from them. Contact the company on 0113 289 3303 or call in at the School Office for a leaflet
Uniforms and More, 49 Cranmer Bank; 0113 2284652
The School Uniform Shop, 18-20 Green Road, Meanwood; LS6 4JP, 0113 230 6272

Check out Leeds School Uniform Exchange – there’s lots of great quality second hand school uniform in Leeds – and much of it’s going to waste. (We can reduce our environmental footprint by sharing uniform, too.)

Policies and other points

Our policies

Admissions

Leeds Admission Policy

How to apply for a September place in Reception

In-year applications

Appeals

Assemblies (‘Collective Worship’)

Assessment

Reporting to pupils and parents

Attendance

Charging

Children who are looked after

Complaints

Data protection

Equality and accessibility

Financial information

Food in school

Late collection

Medicines in school

Positive relationships for all

Smoking and vaping

Uniform, PE kit and other items