Admissions

Cardinal Langley RC High School & Sixth Form is an 11-18, co-education, Roman-Catholic, secondary school under the trusteeship of the Diocese of Salford and maintained by Rochdale Local Authority. As a voluntary-aided school, the Governing Board is the admissions authority and is responsible for making decisions on admissions.

PUBLISHED ADMISSIONS ARRANGEMENTS:
Admission Policy 2024
Admission Policy 2025
School Admissions Code (applicable from September 2021)

Any comments or complaints regarding the school’s admissions arrangements should, in the first instance, be made in writing to the Chair of Governors at the school.

APPLYING FOR A PLACE IN YEARS 7 – 11
The local authority co-ordinates our admissions arrangements and appeals for Years 7-11.

YEAR 7 ENTRY – SEPTEMBER 2025
(Normal Admission Round)
If your child is due to move up to secondary school in September 2025, you will need to apply for a place through the School Admissions Team at the local council where you live (see above).

If you live in the Rochdale, Pennine (Milnrow & Littleborough), Heywood and Middleton townships, you should apply through Rochdale Council. In your application, you can name up to four preferences of secondary school. You are advised to name at least three preferences, which should be in preference order. More information about Rochdale Council’s online application process, including how to register for a parent portal account, can be found here:
How to apply for a Year 7 secondary school place | Rochdale Borough Council

Please speak to your child’s primary school if you need help completing the application.

The closing date for applications for September 2025 admission is Thursday 31^st October 2024.

You should read our admissions policy carefully before making your application.  Please make sure that you include key information in the application (if your child is Roman-Catholic or has a sibling on roll, for example) and provide evidence of faith to the school at the application stage, where applicable. Late applications or applications missing key information can affect your child’s position on the ranked admissions list and may result in them missing out on a place.

All applications will be considered at the same time after the closing date for admissions and in a fair way based on the published admission number (PAN), the admissions criteria and information from the application.

Applicants will be ranked/prioritised according to the admissions criteria in the 2025 admissions policy, and places will be allocated up to the PAN. If there are more applicants than there are places available, the oversubscription criteria will be applied and your child will be added to our waiting list if we cannot offer a place.

You will be notified of the outcome of your application in writing by your local council on 1st March 2025 (National Offer Day).

You have a right to appeal to an independent appeals panel if your application is refused. More information about the appeals process can be found here:
How to make a secondary school admission appeal | Rochdale Borough Council

IN-YEAR APPLICATIONS
(Applications made outside of the normal admission round; for example, when transferring between secondary schools)
You can apply for a place for your child at any time outside the normal admission round and your child will be admitted where places are available*. Applications should be made through the School Admissions Team at Rochdale Council using the following link:
How to apply for a school place (in-year) | Rochdale Borough Council
*Refer also to section 3:10 of the School Admissions Code

You should read our admissions policy carefully before making your application. Please make sure that you include key information in the application (if your child is Roman-Catholic or has a sibling on roll, for example) and provide evidence of faith to the school at the application stage, where applicable.
The School Admissions Team at Rochdale Council will notify you of the outcome of your application in writing within 10-15 school days of receipt.

Where there are places available but more applications than places, the published oversubscription criteria will be applied, as set out in the relevant year’s admissions policy. If there is no place available, your child will be added to our waiting list.

You have the right of appeal to an independent appeals panel if your application is not successful. The appeal must be made in writing to Rochdale Council’s Legal Services Team. More information about the in-year admissions appeals process can be found here:
How to make a secondary school admission appeal | Rochdale Borough Council
In-year transfer appeals will be heard within the timescales set out in the School Admission Appeals Code.

APPICATIONS MADE THROUGH ROCHDALE COUNCIL
To apply for a school place through Rochdale Council you will need to do this online by registering for a portal account:
Online account for school admissions, childcare and more | Rochdale Borough Council
If you do not have access to a computer or the internet, there are free facilities at libraries and at certain community centres. You can also telephone the School Admissions Team at Rochdale Council and they will complete the application with you over the phone.

SIXTH FORM APPLICATIONS
Applications to our sixth form should be made directly to our Sixth Form Team. There is more information on the Sixth Form College website

CHILDREN WITH AN EDUCATION HEALTH AND CARE PLAN (EHCP)
Where pupils have an Education Health and Care Plan that names Cardinal Langley RC High School, the Governing Board has a statutory duty to admit those pupils. This means that children with such a plan will be allocated a place before any other places are allocated. More information about applying for a school place for a child with an EHCP can be found here:
School places for children with special educational needs | Rochdale Borough Council

Please note: An EHCP is not an application for a school place. You still need to follow the application process and apply for a place through the relevant local authority.

LOOKED-AFTER CHILDREN & PREVIOUSLY LOOKED-AFTER CHILDREN
(Also referred to as Cared-for Children here at Cardinal Langley)

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 at the time of making an application to a school. (Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989)

Previously Looked-After Children:
Children who were adopted (or subject to child arrangements orders or special guardianship orders) immediately following having been looked after.
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.
Child arrangements orders are defined in Section 8 of the Children Act 1989, as amended by Section 12 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Child arrangements orders replace residence orders and any residence order in force prior to 22 April 2014 is deemed to be a child arrangements order.
Special guardianship orders are defined in section 14A of the Children Act 1989 as an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian (or special guardians).

You will need to complete a Memorandum of Understanding form if you are applying for an in-year transfer for a cared-for child.

EVIDENCE OF FAITH
For your child to be considered Roman Catholic, you will need to provide evidence of faith with your application. This will be a copy of your child’s certificate of Roman-Catholic baptism (a clear scan or photograph is acceptable). Governors will also accept confirmation from your child’s Roman-Catholic primary school that they have seen a copy of the certificate as part of their admissions process. If you cannot produce a certificate of baptism, Governors will accept verification from the Parish Priest that there is a baptismal entry in parish records. If your child has been received into the Roman-Catholic faith from the Church of England, Governors will require evidence of CE baptism and that your child has completed the RC Sacramental Programme to become Roman Catholic. If your child is due to be baptised or received into the Roman-Catholic faith, this must take place before the deadline for applications has passed, and evidence provided, in order for them to be ranked as Roman Catholic on the offer list. It remains the responsibility of parents and carers to provide evidence of faith to the school, where applicable, at the application stage.

PUBLISHED ADMISSION NUMBER (PAN)

HOW WE ALLOCATE PLACES
The policy of the Governing Board is to admit pupils, on demand, up to the school’s published admission number. Where there are more applications than there are places available, a waiting list is maintained, ranked in accordance with the admissions/oversubscription criteria. If a place becomes available, it will be awarded to the child at the top of the waiting list, i.e. the child who ranks highest when the oversubscription criteria are applied.

Within each oversubscription criterion, children are further prioritised according to sibling on roll (if applicable) and distance from home to school using Rochdale Council’s measuring system (walkable distance), with those living closest to school having priority over those living further away.

Walking routes are deemed to be along recognised lit, paved routes which, in general, are overlooked by houses and as such are likely to be relatively safe to walk. Unlit, unmade-up shortcuts are not taken into account in calculating walking distances, even if they are public rights of way. Walking distances are measured using a computerised mapping system which uses the Ordnance Survey integrated network to measure from the centre point of the child’s home to the main gate of the school.

ADMISSIONS CRITERIA AND OVERSUBSCRIPTION CRITERIA
Please refer to the information in the relevant year’s Admissions Policy

WAITING LISTS
The waiting list for the normal admission round (September entry into Year 7) is not maintained beyond 31st December.  After this time, your child will be removed from the waiting list and you will need to re-apply as an in-year transfer.

The in-year transfer waiting list is maintained throughout the academic year in which the application is received. At the end of the academic year, your child will be removed from the waiting list and you will need to re-apply if we have not been able to offer a place.  Any applications received after the last day of the summer term will be processed as an application for the following academic year.

APPEALS
If an application for September Year 7 admission or a in-year transfer request has been turned down by the Governing Board, parents/carers can appeal to an independent appeals panel. This appeal must be made in writing to Rochdale Council’s Legal Services Team within 20 school days of notification of refusal. There is more information here:
How to make a secondary school admission appeal | Rochdale Borough Council
Admissions Appeal Code (Feb 2012)