Welcome

For Admissions and Accessibility policies, please view the Policies Page


As a prospective parent, you will have no doubt agonised over the choices available to you in mid-Cheshire regarding which secondary school to send your child to. We are fortunate in mid-Cheshire to have a wide selection of good secondary schools to choose from.

The Winsford Academy is one of those.

In this section of our website, we provide you with a range of documents to read through to help inform your decision. There is, however, no substitute for a visit to the academy during a normal school day where you can see at first hand our orderly, well-focused and happy learning environment. You will not be disappointed and if you’ve already made the decision to send your child to the academy, you will be utterly reassured and filled with confidence by what you see. If you’re still considering us an option, we guarantee that we’ll give you plenty of food for thought and make this tough decision even more difficult!

If you would like to visit the academy during a normal school day, please contact Mrs J Fox, PA to the Principal, on 01606 592300 or at jane.fox@winsfordacademy.org.uk

Also take the time to look through our website. It gives a very good flavour of what our academy is about.


Timetable for Cheshire West Secondary Transfer

1st September 2023

  • Parents/carers can apply for a school place either online or by paper copy.

31st October 2023

  • Closing date for on-time applications.
  • Paper applications must be received by this date to be considered as ‘on-time’ and returned to;

School Admissions, Cheshire West and Chester Council, Wyvern House, The Drumber, Winsford, Cheshire, CW7 1AH.

  • Online applications must be submitted to the authority by this date.

1st March 2024

  • Notification of offers.
  • Offer letters notifying parents/carers of school place offered sent out by second class post.
  • Online offers made available for parents/carers to view, e-mail offers sent to those who have requested this when setting up the account.

If you have been unsuccessful with your application, please contact us at admin@winsfordacademy.org.uk for advice.

If you decide to appeal you are strongly advised to seek a place at an alternative school in case your appeal is unsuccessful. This will not prejudice your right of appeal for The Winsford Academy.

15th April 2024

  • Closing date for on-time appeals
  • Appeals received by this date will be heard by 18th June 2024.

You can contact the Admissions team on 0300 123 039 or admissions@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk.

 

Appeals

If we cannot offer you a place you have the right to Appeal, which will be determined by an Independent Appeal Panel. Please email admin@winsfordacademy.org.uk for an appeals form.

The Appeals timetable can be found on the Fallibroome Trust Website. Please follow this link to the Appeals Timetable.


How to Apply Through the Local Authority

If you would like to secure a place in Year 7 in September 2024 at the Academy you should apply through the Cheshire West and Chester School Admissions procedure (31st October 2023 is the closing date for applications to be returned to Cheshire West and Chester).


Over-Subscription Criteria

Where the number of applications for admission is greater than the published admission number, applications will be considered against the criteria set out below. After the admission of students with statements of Special Educational Needs where The Winsford Academy is named on the statement, the criteria will be applied in the order in which they are set out below.

  1. Children in public care or who were previously in public care but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a residence, or special guardianship order);
  2. Children with exceptional medical, social or welfare needs which means the child must, because of those needs, attend the Academy. Appropriate evidence from a doctor or social worker must be provided;
  3. Children resident within the designated catchment zone of the Academy.
  4. Admission of students whose siblings currently attend the school and who will continue to do so on the date of admission, and
  5. Admission of students on the basis of proximity to the Academy. Distances are measured in a straight line from the centrally plotted Basic Land and Property Unit point (BLPU) of the child’s home address to the centrally plotted BLPU point of the school as defined by Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG).

The tie-breaker within categories would be:

  • Differentiation between applications where distance criterion does not identify priority for admission – tie-breaker would be a random allocation;
  • All other differentiations – tie-breaker would be a random allocation.

Notes:

Sibling is defined as:

  • A full brother or sister, whether or not resident in the same household;
  • Another child normally resident for the majority of term time in the same household, for whom an adult in the household has parental responsibility as defined in the Children Act 1989;
  • In the case of twins (or two siblings in the same age cohort) and where there is only one place available in the Academy, both will be considered together as one application. The Academy will be authorised to exceed its Published Admission Number by one.

The ‘home address’ is where the child lives for the majority of the school week with a parent who has parental responsibility as defined in the Children Act 1989 and a parent includes a person who is not a parent but who has responsibility for him/her. This could include a student’s guardians but will not usually include relatives such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc unless they have all the rights, duties, powers and responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of the child has in relation to the child and his/her property.

Where parents have shared responsibility for a child, the place of residency will be determined as the address where the child resides for the majority of the week, (ie where the child wakes up between Monday to Friday). Where the child lives equally with both parents, the address provided for claiming child benefit and, where appropriate, Child Tax Credits, will be applied to the admission application. Distances are measured in a straight line from the centrally plotted Basic Land and Property Unit point (BLPU) of the child’s home address to the centrally plotted BLPU point of the school as defined by Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG).


Mid-year Application Information and Process

If you are considering making an application for a place in years 8, 9, 10 & 11 please contact the Academy on 01606 592300 and we will be very pleased to show you around during any normal school day. Formal applications for a place in these years should be made to the Cheshire West and Chester Admissions team https://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/residents/education-and-learning/school-admissions/secondary-admissions


Book a Tour

If you would like to visit the academy during a normal school day, please contact Mrs J Fox, PA to the Principal, on 01606 592300 or at jane.fox@winsfordacademy.org.uk

Also take the time to look through our website. It gives a very good flavour of what our academy is about.

Our Primary Schools

Please check back for useful Year 7 transition information

Local Authority School Applications

Make applications for school places on this website and find out more about the process.

Local Authority School Applications

Admissions Documents

School Prospectus

Follow these links to view our school prospectuses.

School Prospectus

Admissions Criteria Policy

You can view the current Admissions Criteria Policy on the Policies page. Follow the link on the following button.

Policies Page

School's Admissions Number (PAN)

Our admissions number is 240.