VLE

Admissions Consultations

Please Note - The admission arrangements for September 2024 entry, will not be affected by the formation of the Minster Parish of Godalming, coming into effect on 1st January 2024.

Statutory Consultation: Busbridge CofE Junior Admission Arrangements Consultation 2025/26

The final Admissions Policy and Supplementary Information Forms for Entry in September 2025 were determined by the Governing Body of the school at its meeting on 4th December 2023. For this year of entry it has been agreed that the parish boundaries for the Minister Parish of Godalming are identified using the www.achurchnearyou.com website and a link to this has been included in the policy.

The final policy and supplementary forms are available on the following webpage - Admissions

Details about the consultation that took place, can be found below:

In accordance with DfE requirements, please find attached below a copy of 2025/26 admission arrangements for Busbridge Church of England Junior School which were determined by the Govening body on 11th September 2023 following statutory consultation . The only change relates to the category 4 church priority.

The draft policy provides, as in previous years, that the school will admit 60 children for entry into Year 3, being the school’s Published Admissions Number (PAN). All children with an Education Health and Care Plans that name the school will be admitted. If the number of applications for admission into Year 3 exceeds the PAN, the Governors are to give priority to the categories set out in the policy and in the order there provided.

Category 4 gives priority, after satisfying applications under categories 1, 2 and 3, to what might be loosely called church related applications. At present, in addition to the condition that the child’s home address is within or will shortly come within the Ecclesiastical boundaries of the United Benefice of Busbridge and Hambledon, the Parish of Godalming or the Parish of Farncombe, the parent or other carer of the child must have attended regular Christian worship for the preceding three years of which at least the last 5 months was at Busbridge Church and/or Hambledon Church. Families moving into the defined area less than 5 months before the designated closing date must have commenced worship at one of the two churches as soon as possible after arrival.

Subject to the approval of the Church Commissioners, and with effect from 1 January 2024, the United Benefice of Busbridge and Hambledon and the Parish of Godalming will be combined into one new parish, to be called Godalming Minster. The rector of the United Benefice of Busbridge and Hambledon will become the rector of the new Minster parish. There will be four churches in the new parish: Busbridge, Hambledon, St Peter & St Paul’s, Godalming and St Mark’s Church, Ockford Ridge, Godalming. There will be two Church of England schools situate in the parish: this school and St Mark’s and All Saints Primary School, Ockford Ridge. This latter school is a member of the Guildford Diocese’s academy trust, The Good Shepherd Trust and will not be directly linked to the parish in the same way that this school is linked. It is understood that there is likely to be some rearrangement of church services, and, in particular, that some services, currently held at Busbridge Church may be relocated to St. Peter and St Paul’s church.

The draft policy provides that the condition requiring worship at Busbridge Church and/or Hambledon Chuch is expanded to include worship at any one or more of the four churches in the new parish. The governors consider this to be appropriate given that the school will have close links to the new parish. There are eight foundation governors of the school. The Parochial Church Council of the new parish will appoint four foundation governors and, as at present, three will be appointed by the Guildford Diocesan Board of Education. The Rector of the new parish will be a foundation governor ex-officio.

However, the governors are conscious that this could, at least theoretically, result in a material increase in the number of the church related applications under category 4. Although, in practice , it is considered this is unlikely to be exceeded, the draft policy provides therefore that the maximum number of applications which would be admitted under category 4 would be 10. In the event that the number of these applications exceeds 10, places within this category would be allocated according to the distance from the child’s home address to the nearest school gate.

One other change is proposed to category 4 which is to remove the right to make a category 4 application if the child’s home address will “shortly” come within the relevant parish boundaries. The present wording is now considered to give rise to uncertainty and perhaps to be inconsistent with the general tenor of the policy. Under the amended policy the child’s home address would need to be situate within the boundaries of the Minister parish or the parish of Farncombe on the closing date for applications. If subsequently the child moved to a home address within those boundaries, the parent or other carer of the child, provided that the other category 4 conditions were satisfied, could ask for the child to be admitted to the waiting list which would be maintained by the school and ranked on the basis of the criteria in the policy and not by reference to the date when an application was received or a name was placed on the list.

The parish boundaries can be found on the following website:
Parish Boundaries by selecting options 2, 3 and 10 from the search results to identify the relevant churches and their boundaries. From January 2024, the map will represent the Minster Parish of Godalming.

The draft policy and associated documents are available for comment, the deadline for the receipt of comments being 30 November 2023. Comments may be sent by post to;

The School Secretary

Busbridge C of E Junior School,

Brighton Road,

Godalming, Surrey

GU7 1XA

Alternatively, comments can be sent by email to admin@busbridge-junior.surrey.sch.uk

Busbridge CofE Junior School Admissions 2025 Vers 1.1.pdf

Busbridge CofE Junior School -Admissions 2025 Rationale Version 1.1.pdf

Busbridge CofE Junior School - Admissions 2025-26 Supplementary Information Form.pdf