Applying for a place at the Infant Academy

The Southwater Infant Academy welcomes all applications for prospective new pupils. Most pupils join at the start of reception, during the admissions round. If you would like to apply for your child to join us outside of the admissions round, you can make an 'In-year Application'. Details of both can be found on this page.

Useful links:

• Our Prospectus
• WSCC Guidance 
• Admissions Policy

Reception Admissions

Admissions Round applications are made direct to West Sussex County Council using their application form here. Please do not apply through the Academy directly.

We will be holding tours for prospective September 2026, please email office@southwaterinfants.co.uk to register your interest.

The deadlines for the 2026-2027 academic year admissions round are:

• Monday 6 October 2025	Starting school and junior school applications open for September 2026. Opportunity for parents and carers to start visiting schools.
  Thursday 15 January 2026	Closing date for all primary, infant and junior school applications at 11.59pm. In case of technical issues we strongly recommend you apply online and not delay your application until the last minute. If you choose to apply on a paper form, it is your responsibility to ensure the form arrives before the national closing date. Please ensure you specify your email address if you have one.

Need help? Phone West Sussex County Council on 03330 142 903.

Oversubscription Criteria

Any child with a statement of special educational need (SEN) or Education, Health and Care plan (EHCP) naming the school will automatically be admitted to a school, under Section 324 or the Education Act 1996.

1) Looked after children (children in public care), including those 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; and previously looked after children. Previously looked after children are children who were looked after, but ceased to be because they were adopted or became subject to a residence order or a special guardianship order.

2) Children who need a place at the school on exceptional and compelling social, psychological or medical grounds;

• Parents/carers must provide written supporting evidence from an appropriately qualified person (usually a doctor or social worker). The evidence should state clearly why the school is the only one that can meet the child’s needs. A letter from parents is not normally considered sufficient evidence.

3) Children who have brothers or sisters already at The Southwater Infant Academy and who will still be there when the child starts (brothers or sisters may be half or step-siblings but must be living permanently at the same address);

4) Children who live in The Southwater Infant Academy catchment area and have brothers or sisters already at Southwater Junior Academy, who will still be there when the child starts (brothers or sisters may be half or step-siblings but must be living permanently at the same address); 

5) Other children who live in The Southwater Infant Academy catchment area;

6) Children who live within the catchment area for Castlewood Primary School and have brothers or sisters already at Southwater Junior Academy who will still be there when the child starts (brothers or sisters may be half or step-siblings but must be living permanently at the same address); 

7) Other children who live within the catchment area for Castlewood Primary School;

8) Children who live outside The Southwater Infant Academy and Castlewood Primary School catchment area, and have brothers or sisters already at Southwater Junior Academy who will still be there when the child starts (brothers or sisters may be half or step-siblings but must be living permanently at the same address); 

9) Other children who live outside the catchment areas for The Southwater Infant Academy and Castlewood Primary School.

In the case of oversubscription in any of the above categories, priority is given to applicants who live nearest the academy measured by a straight line from the academy to home, using Ordnance Survey address point data from a central point in each building.

In line with Paragraph 1.7 of the School Admissions Code (2014), published by the Department for Education (DfE), The Southwater Infant Academy Trust is under a duty to consider all applications for an oversubscribed school against its published oversubscription criteria. Parents not offered a place at the Academy will be offered another school by the County Council.

In-Year Admissions

Families wishing to apply for places outside the normal admissions round, when children first start school in Reception at the beginning of September, should contact the Academy in the first instance to discuss their child’s transition to the Academy. This enables us to confirm spaces that we have available and to answer any questions that you might have. Families will then need to complete an application which can be found here. Alternatively, a paper copy can be supplied, or we can email a copy to families that request this.

Appeals

If the Academy has more applications than places, parents whose child has not been allocated a place may appeal. Appeals will be considered by an independent appeals panel.

Details of how to appeal can be found here or by contacting the West Sussex County Council on 033 301 42903.

When submitting or returning the form, try to send all the information that you want the Panel to see.

Families should be aware that the law states (with a few exceptions which are listed in the School Admission Appeals Code) that all infant classes, (where children are aged 7 and under) should have no more than thirty pupils with a single teacher. Therefore, if the class that your child would enter would exceed thirty, the admission authority can refuse to allow your child a place. You can still appeal to the Independent Appeal Panel, but only if you have grounds for believing that the admission authority has behaved unreasonably in a legal sense, or has not applied the rules correctly.

If we do not offer a child a place at this academy, it is because to do so would prejudice the education of other children by allowing the numbers of children in the Academy to increase. 

Legislation relating to Infant Class Sizes must be adhered to. This means that classes for Reception, Year 1 and 2 must not contain more than 30 pupils with one teacher. In allocating places in these year groups, the Academy and West Sussex County Council must comply with this legislation as it is a statutory requirement and every effort must be made to keep over-sized classes to a minimum.

Where parents are refused the schools of their preference, they are advised of their right of appeal and offered the opportunity of having their child's name placed on the waiting list. The waiting list is ordered according to the oversubscription criteria for the academy. This means that a child’s name can go down as well as up on the list. The waiting list for community, controlled schools and academies is held and managed by the Pupil Admissions Team at West Sussex County Council until the 31 August each year. They will offer a place to the child at the top of the waiting list when a place becomes available.  After this the Academy Trust will hold the waiting list until December 31 each year.

Where the Southwater Infant Academy Trust is unable to offer a place because the Academy is oversubscribed, or because this would breach infant class size rules, parents have the right to appeal to an independent admission appeal panel. The deadline for receipt of an appeal is within 20 school days of being told that your application for a place was refused. Your appeal will be heard within 40 school days of the deadlines for making an appeal. Appellants will receive at least 10 school days’ notice of their appeal hearing. Decision letters are sent within 5 school days of the hearing wherever possible.

Admissions Round Appeals

A provisional calendar of appeal dates for 2026 entry will be available in Spring 2027.