HC Academy Trust

​Admissions into HCAT Trust schools are processed by the Local Authority through the coordinated admissions scheme – the co-ordinated scheme for admission to primary and secondary school is a
mechanism that will enable the Authority to determine between potential offers of a school place at more than one school, which is the single offer of a school place that will be offered to a Barnsley resident.

The year before your child becomes of school age, the Admissions Department of the Local Authority will send out an application form and advice booklet to you in the post. Children are admitted to the mainstream classes at the start of the school years in which they are 5 years old.  Visits are organised for the children to ease transition from home, playgroup or nursery to the mainstream school. 

Application forms for admission to school can be found in the Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council Handbook which is distributed from school. Please see this advice booklet for instructions on how to complete the form and what to do next. An electronic copy is attached below, along with a link to the admissions site for further information:

School admission arrangements (barnsley.gov.uk)

Primary school places (barnsley.gov.uk)

Secondary school places (barnsley.gov.uk)

Academy Trusts are the admission authorities for academies. Details of our individual admission arrangements can be found on below.

HCAT Admission Arrangements 2024-2025

HCAT Admission Arrangements 2024-2025 – pre consultation

Please click the link here for information in relation to delayed primary admissions and arrangements for Summer Born Children.

Notice of a statutory Admission Arrangement Consultation

Important Information Concerning the Admission Arrangements for HCAT

In accordance with the 2021 School Admissions Code, notice is hereby given that the Academy Admissions Committee propose to alter the admission arrangements applying to Schools within HCAT for the 2025/26 academic year.

A statutory admissions consultation will commence on 06th November 2023 and will end at 4 pm on 18th December 2023.

The proposed 2025/26 admission arrangements aim to reflect the statutory responsibilities of the admissions authority for the school and to embed local procedure that is fair and reasonable in practice.

The Trust is consulting due to the points below and also to fulfil the legal requirement to consult every seven years.

–              Where residency is shared 50/50, we will now use where the child is registered at their GP to determine the address used for admission. 

–              An explanation on how the LA will handle parental disputes – the process is already in place, however we have now included this in our admission arrangements for clarity.

The Academy Admissions Committee will meet shortly after the consultation closes in order to consider any comments received during the consultation period and a response will be sent to all those who contributed.

Please submit your consultation response to:

By email: enquiries@hcacademytrust.education

Appeals and Complaints
Parents who are refused a place at a school for which they have applied have the statutory right of appeal to an independent admission appeal panel.

As the purpose of an appeal is to determine whether a child should be admitted to a particular school parents do NOT have a right of appeal if they have been offered a place but it is not in the year group they would like.