For more information for Ukrainian refugee families on applying for a school place or childcare, please click the link below:

How do families arriving from Ukraine apply for a school place and childcare?

Transferring School – September 2024 – Year 7 Admissions

To apply to transfer to secondary school, please complete the online form through Somerset County Council.

www.somerset.gov.uk/education-and-families/starting-at-a-secondary-or-upper-school-in-september

Important dates

• The online form for secondary and upper school applications will open on 11 September 2023
• Closing date for school place applications – 31 October 2023
• Closing date for exceptional circumstance applications and all supplementary information – 1 December 2023
• Outcome emails will be sent to those who applied online. Outcome letters will be sent out by second class post to those who applied using a paper form – 1 March 2024
• Closing date for receipt of appeal applications from parents who were notified of their outcome on 1 March 2024 – 15 April 2024

In-Year Admissions

Please contact Mrs Lisa Bush on (01823) 274073 or email: office@castle.bep.ac

Before completing the in-year application form please read the following guidance notes

Changing Schools in Somerset 

In-Year Admissions Process

To make an in-year application, please follow the link below:

In-Year Application Form

Applications will be considered by Governors and you will be notified of the outcome of your application within 10 school days of receipt of the form.

If you live outside of the Castle catchment area, we advise you to visit the Blackdown Education Partnership website, to discuss the possibility of an in-year admission for your son/daughter at one of the other schools in our trust: www.bep.ac

In-Year Appeals Procedure

We currently employ the services of Somerset County Council to process appeals and hold independent Appeals Panels on our behalf. For details about the appeals procedure please contact Somerset County Council’s Admissions Team.

National Offer Day - 1 March 2024

It’s important that you read the School Admission Appeals Booklet before you fill in the appeal form.

You must make sure that your appeal application form is completed and returned by the published appeal application closing date (29 March 2024).

If your appeal application is late, then it may not be considered until all ‘on time’ appeal applications have been heard.

Appeals will be heard as soon as reasonably practicable and we aim to do this within 40 school days of this date wherever possible.

• You will receive at least 14 days’ notice of your appeal hearing, unless you want to waive this right by ticking the appropriate box on the appeal form.
• You must send any additional evidence before the final deadline, which is 7 days before the appeal hearing. The panel will decide whether to consider at the hearing any information or evidence received after that date.
• Decision letters will be sent within 7 days of the hearing.

Any applications received after 31 October 2023 will be considered as a late application.

For applications received by 20 March 2024 we will send outcomes on 2 May 2024. These will be sent by second class post.

Applications received after 20 March 2024 will be processed in strict date order of receipt, and outcomes will be sent out after 2 May 2024. These will be sent by second class post.

If a change of preference is received and can be offered, the previous school place offer will automatically be withdrawn. It is not possible to withdraw a late application with a change of preference once the closing date has been passed.

Contact the School Appeal Co-ordinator at schoolappealcoordinator@somerset.gov.uk

 Please click here to view the Secondary Appeals Timetable

Admission Arrangements

The Castle Partnership Trust has amended the Admission Arrangements for its schools to reflect the changes to the Admissions Code, which came into effect on 1 September 2021. Please click on the links below to see the school’s Admission Arrangements.

2022 - 23 Admission Arrangements

2023 - 24 Admission Arrangements

2024 - 25 Admission Arrangements

Response to Admission Arrangement Consultation for The Castle School (10.02.23)

We appreciate all those who responded to the consultation about the Admission Arrangements for The Castle School. We have always been focused on working with families and with schools that are within our Trust, such as Orchard Grove, because it gives us the opportunity to work with children from Nursery to GCSE. However, there are families already at The Castle School with whom we are already working and therefore, as a result of the consultation responses, the Board of Trustees have reviewed and amended the Admission Arrangements to prioritise children with siblings already at The Castle School. Obviously if other primary schools join the Trust, they will be included and named in the Admissions Arrangements.

> Admission arrangments for 2024/25

Catchment Area - To view the catchment area, please click here

Prospectus - If you would like to see the school's prospectus, please click here