Admissions and Appeals

Admissions Arrangements 2026-27

Leigh Academies Trust (LAT) is the Admissions Authority of the Academy. Applications for places will be made in accordance with Medway Council’s co-ordinated admissions scheme and timetable. 

Arrangements for Admission to 11-16 Provision

Admissions Number

Leigh Academy Strood has a Published Admission Number (PAN) of 240 students. The academy will accordingly admit up to 240 students in the relevant age group each year if sufficient applications are received. All applicants will be admitted if 240 or fewer apply.

Oversubscription Criteria 

Where the total number of applications for admission is greater than the PAN for any relevant age, applications will be considered (after the admission of students with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) where the Leigh Academy Strood is named on the EHCP) against the following criteria. These will be applied in the order in which they are set out below: 

1) Children in Care and 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 (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989) at the time of making an application to a academy. A previously looked after child means children who were adopted (or subject to child arrangements orders or special guardianship orders) immediately following having been looked after and those children who appear to the admission authority to 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 outside of England if they were in the care of or were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation, or any other provider of care whose sole or main purpose is to benefit society.

2) Sibling 

Students whose sibling(s) currently attends the academy and will continue to do so at the time of entry. For this criterion brother or sister means children who live as brother and sister in the same house, including natural brothers or sisters, adopted siblings, step brothers or sisters, foster brothers or sisters. Children residing in the same households as part of an extended family, such as cousins, will not be treated as siblings. If siblings from multiple births (twins, triplets, etc.) apply to the academy and the academy would reach its PAN after admitting one or more, but before admitting all of those siblings, the academy will offer a place to each of the siblings, even if doing so takes the academy above its PAN. 

The academy reserves the right to ask for proof of relationship. 

3) Children of Leigh Academy Strood Staff 

The son or daughter of a member of staff who has been employed at the academy for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the academy is made, or who has been recruited to fill a vacant post at the academy for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage. 

In this criteria son or daughter means a child who lives in the same house as the member of staff and is their natural son or daughter, step child, or fostered or adopted child.

4) Health and Special Access Reasons 

Medical and social reasons will be applied in accordance with the academy’s legal obligations, in particular those under the Equality Act 2010. Priority will be given to those students whose medical or social reasons mean they have a demonstrable and significant need to attend Leigh Academy Strood. Equally this priority will apply to students whose parents’/guardians’, medical or social needs means that they have a demonstrable and significant need to attend Leigh Academy Strood. Such claims will need to be supported by written evidence from a suitably qualified medical or social worker, and submitted at the time of application.

5) Distance 

The distance calculated for routes and footpaths is the shortest possible route known to the Medway GIS using the centre point of the streets known by other available routes. Not all footpaths, cut-throughs, shortcuts and new roads are known to the GIS system. If it is not known, a different route will be used.

In instances where more than one applicant lives in a multi-occupancy building the offer of a place will be decided by random allocation.

Proof of liability for council tax will be required. For children who reside with a relative or carer other than the parent a residence order or other court order will be required. 

If a child’s home is on a new road, the distance calculation will begin from the nearest road known in the GIS. This may apply to new property developments. These measurements are used to determine how close each applicant’s address is to the academy with those living closest being given priority. Where parents live at separate addresses, and have joint custody, the address used will be the one where the child spends the main part of the academy week (i.e. Sunday night to Thursday night inclusive).

Applicants eligible under criteria 1-5 are each ranked in order of the nearness of the child’s home to the academy, using the method given in criterion 5. 

Tie breaks 

If the academy is oversubscribed and it is therefore necessary to use a tie-breaker to distinguish between two or more applications in any of the criteria 1-5 above a distance criterion will be used as above in criterion 5.

In the unlikely event that two or more students in all other ways have equal eligibility for the last available place at the academy, the names will be issued a number and drawn randomly to decide which child should be given the place. This process will be overseen by someone independent of the academy trust.

Fair Access Protocols 

The academy works in accordance with the in-year Fair Access Protocols held by the Local Authority. Should a vulnerable child within the protocols require a place at the academy, they will take precedence over any child on the waiting list. 

Deferred Entry

Requests for admission outside of the normal age group should be made to the Principal as early as possible in the admissions round associated with the child’s date of birth. This allows the academy and admissions authority sufficient time to make a decision before the closing date. Parents are not expected to provide evidence to support their request, however where provided it must be specific to the child in question and may include medical or Educational Psychologist reports. There is no legal requirement for this medical or educational evidence to be secured from an appropriate professional, however, failure to provide this may impede the academy’s ability to agree to a request for admission outside of the normal age group. Parents are required to complete an application for the normal point of entry at the same time, in case their request is declined. Deferred applications must be made via paper CAF to the Local Authority, with written confirmation from the academy Principal attached. Deferred applications will be processed in the same way as all applications for the cohort in the following admissions round, and offers will be made in accordance with the academy’s oversubscription criteria.

Arrangements for Admission to Post-16 Provision

Students currently in Year 11 at Leigh Academy Strood, as well as external candidates applying for admission to Year 12, are required to meet the minimum academic entry criteria outlined in the table below: 

Appeals

If you have not been offered a place at Strood Academy, the law entitles you to appeal against that decision to an Independent Appeal Panel. This panel is completely independent of the school and the Local Authority. All appeals will be heard online which has the advantage that your appeal can be heard from your home or place of work.

If you wish to appeal, please use this link to complete your appeal online. Please do NOT use ANY other appeal form or send your form to your local authority. It is suggested that you download the explanatory booklet about appeals which you should read before you complete the appeal form –

You should include any evidence or supporting material with your appeal form and you MUST give the grounds for your appeal at the time you lodge your appeal form. Your appeal form will not be accepted unless you state the grounds for your appeal. You may appeal for more than one school, but on different forms.

Any letters or reports that you wish the panel to see should be uploaded at this time.  You are asked to bear in mind that if you later send additional information, the closing date is 5 working days before the STAGE 1 hearing.  All appointed panels have agreed NOT to take any late letters or reports after the 5 working day deadline.  This will be strictly enforced.  For secondary/primary transfer appeals, the hearing will take place at least TWO months after the refusal letter.  This gives you plenty of time to get your evidence together if you act early and take account of school holidays.

Please note that the online form will ask you to download two utility bills dated in the last THREE months.  If you do not have access to a scanner, please take two photographs with a mobile phone and upload the photographic files.

Full details about the hearing will be sent to you with your invitation to the hearing.

If you wish to contact the clerk – email:  clerk@educationappeals.com

Timetable for Appeals

Timetable for appeals for mid-term applications is as follows:

Sixth Form Applications Appeals