Year 7

St Wilfrid’s Church of England Academy is managed by the Academy Trust to serve parents who wish their children to receive a secondary education in a setting where principles and daily life are based on Christianity in the Anglican tradition.

The Academy does not have a catchment area, but mainly serves the Borough of Blackburn with Darwen and parts of Pennine Lancashire. 

The Governors are responsible for admissions to the Academy. The number of places available for admission to Year 7 will be a maximum of 260. Applications for admission to the Academy should be made via the common application online with your Local Authority or the Local Authority brochure, between 1 September and 31 October in the Year of Application.  

Parents wishing to be considered under faith-based criteria* need to complete and return the St Wilfrid’s Supplementary Form which is available from the Academy, the Academy website or the Local Authority brochure and should be returned to the Academy by 31 October. It is essential that this is done by parents/carers who wish an application under this category to be considered. Failure to complete both application forms will result in your application not being considered under faith-based criteria. 

Under the statutory code of Practice the Governing Board operates a system of equal preferences and allocates places according to its admission policy. In the event that there are more applicants than places, after admitting all children with an Education Health and Care Plan naming St Wilfrid’s Church of England Academy, the Governing Board will allocate places using the admission criteria, which is listed in order of priority in the Admissions policy. 

*PLEASE NOTE - In the event that during the period specified for attendance at worship, the church has been closed for public worship and has not provided alternative premises for that worship, the requirements of these [admissions] arrangements in relation to attendance will only apply to the period when the church or alternative premises have been available for public worship. Should the Academy be closed during the October half term holiday, any applications postmarked by the 31 October or before will be accepted. If you have any concerns regarding the closing date please contact the Clerk to Governors, at the Academy. 

Formal offers informing parents whether or not their child has been allocated a place will be sent out by the Local Authority on the 1 March. Parents of children not admitted will be informed of the reason and offered an alternative place by the Local Authority. 

Non-Routine or In-Year Applications 

It sometimes happens that a child needs to change school other than at the “normal” time; such admissions are known as non-routine or in-year admissions. Parents wishing their child to attend Saint Wilfrid’s Church of England Academy should complete an application form, from the Fair Access Team at Blackburn with Darwen Local Authority, further information can be found here. 

If there is a place in the appropriate cohort, then the Local Authority will arrange for the admission to take place. If there is no place, then the Fair Access Team will provide information about how to appeal against the decision. 

If your family is moving house, your application and appeal will be considered as being made from your old address until you provide suitable evidence of a permanent change of address, e.g. exchange of contracts on your house purchase or the signed tenancy agreement and rent book for your new address. 

Appeals 

Appeal forms can be obtained here. The form should be completed with as much detail as possible and include any evidence that you may have to support your appeal. Once completed the form should be returned to the Academy. 

Our School Admission Appeals are administered by the Appeals Team at Lancashire County Council who will contact you via e-mail. It is very important that the e-mail and contact details supplied by all appellants is clear and checked as correct at the time of submission. 

‍It is the responsibility of the appellant to check all folders contained within your e-mail account i.e. Inbox, Spam and Junk folders. 

‍Please note that as the details within the e-mail contain personal and confidential information, all e-mails from Lancashire County Council will be sent encrypted. Appellants will need to log onto LCC's secure e-mail service. You will be sent a separate e-mail with details of how to do this. This will enable you to access the information relating to your appeal which you must read. 

Appeals for the Year 7 intake for 2025, are being heard on the 06 – 08 May 2025.