Admissions
Admissions to Primary School, Nursery and In-Year Transfers
Should you wish to join our school mid way through the year, this is called an In-Year Admission, and all applicants must go through the local authority admissions team, please click this link and you will be directed to the appropriate page. Please feel free to contact us should you have any questions about transferring to Sherdley.
Applying for a primary school place for September 2025
If your child turns 4 between 1 September 2024 and 31 August 2025, he or she will transfer to primary school in September 2025. From Monday 16 September the website www.sthelens.gov.uk/admissions is open for parents who wish to apply online.
You will be notified on 16 April 2025 confirming your child’s school place.
The closing date for you to submit your application is 15 January 2025.
Before submitting your application, please read the Primary Parent Booklet (PDF, 20 MB) which contains useful information about the application process, including: how places will be allocated, definition of home address and how late applications will be dealt with.
A copy of the Primary Admissions Booklet 2025-26 is on here, along with a document provided by the Local Authority on getting children ready for school which parents may find useful.
If you submit a paper application, a letter will be posted to you notifying you the place allocated to your child. If you apply online you will receive an email.
If you are appealing you lodge your appeal by completing the appeal form which is available from the Local Authority. Their telephone number is 01744 671305.
The school has an admissions number (i.e the number of places available). The number for the school is published in the Primary Admissions Booklet.
If more applicants are received than the number of places at the school, then it means the school is oversubscribed. When this happens, the oversubscription will be applied in order to decide how places will be allocated.
Criteria for Admission to Primary School is as follows:-
- ** Looked after children and previously looked after children;
- Children who have a brother or sister at the school at the time of likely admission. This includes their full, half, step brothers and sisters, adpoted foster brothers and sisters, or a child of the parent/carer’s partner and, in every case, who is at the same address and is part of the family unit;
- Children whose parents express a preference for a place at the school.
** A Looked after child is a child who is (a) in the care of a Local Authority, or (b) being provided with accomodation by a Local Authority in the exercise of their Social Services functions (under Section 22(1) of the Child Act 1989). A previously looked after child is one who immediately moved on from that status after becoming subject to an adoption, residence or special guardianship order.
Oversubscription Criteria for Nursery
Please note that having an older brother/sister in the school to which the nursery unit is attached is not taken into account when allocating places. If more applications are received than the number os places available, The Local Authority will use the following criteria, in order of priority, deciding how places will be allocated:
- Looked after children and previously looked after children;
- Children resident with St Helens who have been identified as a Priority Nursery Applicant under the Local Authority’s Priority Nursery placement procedure;
- Children resident in the Borough of St Helens
- Children resident outside the Borough of St Helens
For more information about nursery and primary education, please see the St Helens Council website.
https://www.sthelens.gov.uk/nurseryadmissions