Please find below information for applying for a Reception place in September 2025.
We warmly invite you to visit our school and experience first-hand the vibrant, supportive, and nurturing environment we offer.
Why Visit Us?
Meet Our Staff: Get to know our dedicated teachers and support staff who are committed to your child's development.
Explore Our Facilities: Take a tour of our classrooms, library, playground, and other facilities to see where your child will learn and grow.
Learn About Our Curriculum: Understand our approach to education and how we tailor learning to meet the needs of each student.
Ask Questions: We welcome any questions you may have about our school, curriculum, and the admissions process.
How to Arrange Your Visit
Thursday 26th September - 9.30am;
Thursday 10th October - 9.30am;
Thursday 31st October - 9.30am;
Thursday 7th November - 9.30am; and
Wednesday 8th January 2025 - 9.30am.
Click to book here or scan the QR code below:
Contact Us: Please call our school office at 01634 or email us at office@st-thomascanterbury.medway.sch.uk to schedule your visit.
We look forward to welcoming you and showing you why St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School is the perfect place for your child's education.
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or need further information.
Applications opened on Monday 2nd September 2024 and close on Wednesday 15th January 2025 at 5pm.
Medway Council is responsible for coordinating the allocation of school places in Medway. They provide detailed information about the application process, which can be found by clicking the link below. All applications must complete a Medway Council online application and complete the supplementary form (without this the Governors will not be able to place your application in the correct category). If you are applying to more than one Catholic School you will need to complete a separate supplementary form for each school, which must be returned to the school office by 5pm on Wednesday 15th January 2025, along with supporting evidence.
Admissions Policy and Procedures 2025–2026
The Medway Catholic Primary Schools are voluntary aided schools in the Diocese of Southwark. Each school is conducted by its governing body as part of the Catholic Church in accordance with its Trust Deed and Instrument of Government, and seeks at all times to be a witness to Jesus Christ. The schools exist primarily to serve the Catholic community and Catholic children always have priority of admission. However, the Governing Body also welcomes applications from those of other denominations and faiths who support the religious ethos of the school.
Having consulted with the Local Authority and other admission authorities, the Governors intend to admit into the reception class, in September 2022, up to the planned admission number 30 without reference to ability or aptitude.
All applicants need to complete the Medway Catholic Schools Supplementary Information Form (SIF) in addition to the Local Authority Application Form. The supplementary form can be obtained from the school and must be returned to the school by the closing date for applications.
Where the number of applications exceeds the number of places, the Governors will offer places using the following criteria in the order stated:-
1. Looked After or Previously Looked After Catholic* Children**. Evidence of Baptism and “looked after” or “previously looked after” status will be required.
2. Baptised Catholic children. Evidence of Baptism will be required.
3. Other Looked After Children (see point 1 above).
4. Children baptised or dedicated into other Christian denominations, Churches affiliated to or represented at “Churches Together in England”. Evidence will be required.
5. Children enrolled in the catechumenate (preparing to become Catholics). Evidence will be required.
6. Children who are members of other faiths, whose parents wish them to receive a Christian education. This should be supported by a letter and evidence of their faith will be required.
7. Any other children.
The following order of priorities will be applied when applications within any of the above categories exceed the places available and it is necessary to decide between applications.
i. A brother or sister on the school roll at the time of admission. Sibling means children who live as brother/sister in the same house and includes natural siblings, adopted siblings, foster siblings and step siblings. Extended family, for example cousins, living in the same house do not qualify as siblings.
Please note that if the older sibling is in Year 6 at the time of application, the link cannot be considered, as they will not be in the school when the younger child would start in September. Evidence of the relationship may be required.
i. Social, pastoral and medical needs which make the school particularly suitable for the child in question. Strong and relevant evidence must be provided by an appropriate professional authority (e.g. qualified medical practitioner, education welfare officer, social worker or priest).
ii. The child of a member of staff employed at the school for a minimum of 20 hours a week and where the member of staff has been employed at the school for 2 or more years at the time of application.
iii. Distance from home to school. The distance calculated is the shortest available walking route between the child’s home and school using roads and footpaths known to the mapping layer used by the Student Services Admissions Team within the Geographical Information Software (GIS).
The start point - The centre point of the nearest road or footpath known to the GIS to the seed point of the child’s home (The seed point is a grid reference for the property taken from Ordnance Survey mapping data). This may not always be the postal address road, in rare circumstances where an alternative road or footpath is actually nearer to the seed point of the property this will be used.
The end point - A pre-defined centre point of the road adjacent the school site or a pre-defined centre point within the school site. The same end point is used for all distance calculations to the school concerned.
The distance -The distance calculated is the shortest available walking route known to the Medway GIS using the centre point of streets and other available walking routes. The Medway GIS may not know all footpaths that are in existence and certain new roads may not be known. Where a footpath or new road is not known to the GIS an alternative route will be used. Where a child’s home is situated on a new road the distance calculation will begin from the nearest available known road plotted in the GIS. New developments may be subject to this.
In certain cases it may not be possible to calculate a distance where the entire route is deemed as a walking route. In these circumstances the distance calculated is used purely to prioritise an application for admission. There is no expectation that the walk should be taken.
Tiebreaker ~
In the unlikely event that two or more children in all other ways have equal eligibility for the last available place at the school, the names will be issued a number and drawn randomly to decide which child should be given the place.
*Catholics include members of the Ordinariate and the Latin and Oriental Rite Churches that are in union with the Bishop of Rome.
** “Looked after children” are children who are (i) in the care of a local authority or (ii) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (as defined in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989) at the time of making the application for a school. “Previously looked after children” are children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted (under the terms of the Adoption and Children Act 2002, Section 46) or became subject to a residence order or special guardianship order (under the terms of the Children Act 1989, Section 8 and Section 14A).
NOTES
Pupils with a Statement of Special Educational Needs or Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan.
The admissions of pupils with a Statement of Special Educational Needs or with an EHC Plan are dealt with by a completely separate procedure. The procedure is integral to the making and maintaining of statements and EHC plans by the pupil’s home local authority. Details of this separate procedure are set out in the SEND code of practice. Pupils with a statement or EHC plan naming the school will be admitted without reference to the above criteria.
Admissions procedure
Offers of places will be sent to parents by the Local Authority on the common offer date as notified.
Appeals
Parents whose applications for places are unsuccessful may appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel set up in accordance with section 85(3) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. Appeals must be made in writing and must set out the reasons on which the appeal is made. Appeals should be made to the Admissions Appeal Clerk at the school address. Parents/Carers have the right to make oral representations to the Appeal Panel.
Infant classes are restricted by legislation to 30 children. Parents should be aware that an appeal against refusal of a place in an infant class may only succeed if it can be demonstrated that:
a) The admission of additional children would not breach the infant class limit; or
b) The admission arrangements did not comply with admissions law or had not been correctly and impartially applied and the child would have been offered a place if the arrangements had complied or had been correctly and impartially applied; or
c) The panel decides that the decision to refuse admission was not one which a reasonable admission authority would have made in the circumstances of the case.
Appeal hearings for admission to the Reception class will be held in: TBC
Appeal Form
Admission of children below compulsory school age
The governors will provide for the admission of all children in the September following their fourth birthday. Parents can request that the date their child is admitted to the school is deferred until later in the school year or until the child reaches compulsory school age in that school year; parents may also request that their child attends part-time until the child reaches compulsory school age.
Admissions Policy and Procedures 2025-2026