Admissions Arrangements 2026-27

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

Arrangements for Admission to 11-16 Provision

Admissions Number

Leigh Academy Hugh Christie has a Published Admission Number (PAN) of 165 students. The academy will accordingly admit up to 165 students in the relevant age group each year if sufficient applications are received. All applicants will be admitted if 165 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 Hugh Christie 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 Hugh Christie 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 Hugh Christie. 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 Hugh Christie. 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 

We use the distance between the child’s permanent home address (defined in KCC’s annual admissions prospectus) and the academy, measured in a straight line using the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) address point data. Distances are measured from a point defined as within the child’s home to a point defined as within the academy as specified by NLPG. The same address point on the academy site is used for everybody.

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

These straight line 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). Applications must be made by those with parental responsibility.

Where applications are made from properties or abodes that are not registered to the NLPG, including new build properties, KCC may be required to use planning sites or other relevant coordinates. In exceptional circumstances where alternative coordinates are not available, measurements will be determined by a Senior Admissions Officer and confirmed by the Head of Service. 

Applicants eligible under criteria 1-5 are each ranked in order of the distance 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 Hugh Christie, 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:

All internal applicants who meet the criteria will be admitted to the Sixth Form, even if this number is greater than its capacity. In addition to the sixth form’s minimum academic entry requirements students will need to satisfy minimum course requirements to the courses for which they are applying. If either internal or external applicants fail to meet the minimum course requirements they will be given the option of pursuing any alternative courses for which they do meet the minimum course requirements. Course requirements are published annually in the school’s prospectus and on its website. 

If 165 or more students from within Leigh Academy Hugh Christie meet the admissions criteria and wish to enter Year 12 of the 6th form, no external applicants will be considered. If fewer than 165 of the academy’s own year 11 students transfer into year 12, additional external students will be admitted until year 12 meets its capacity of 165. 

Where there are more external applicants for any available Sixth Form places than places available, after the admission of students with an EHCP where the academy is named on the EHCP, the oversubscription criteria 1-5 above will be applied to determine who is admitted. 

Operation of waiting lists for all student admissions 

Subject to any provisions regarding waiting lists in the coordinated admission scheme, the academy will operate a waiting list. Where in any year the academy receives more applications for places than there are places available, a waiting list will operate until the final day of the academic year. This will be maintained by the academy and it will be open to any parent to ask for his or her child’s name to be placed on the waiting list, following an unsuccessful application. Places from the waiting list will be offered in the priority order set out above, not in order of the date applications are made. The waiting list will be re-ranked each time a child is added or removed and before the offer of any place. 

Appeals for all student admissions

If you have not been offered a place, the law entitles you to appeal against that decision to an Independent Appeal Panel. This panel is completely independent of the academy and the Local Authority. You can access an online form to appeal via the academy’s website.