Admissions & Appeals

Admissions

Year 7 intake in September 2025

Applications to the Academy should be made via the local authority (council) common application form (CAF). More information about the application process and a link to the form can be found on Bradford Council’s website in September. You will need to name the academy as one of your school preferences on that form. If you live outside of the Bradford area, you will need to apply via your own local authority’s website. The deadline for applications is 31 October 2024.

The published admission number for this academy is 180. If the academy receives more applications than there are places available, places will be ranked in the order of the oversubscription criteria. For full details of the admissions arrangements, including the criteria, please read the Admissions and Appeals Policy 2025-26 and the Dixons admissions guidance 2025 intake (these documents are also available from the Downloads section below).

If you are applying for a place at the academy under the 'Exceptional medical or social need' or 'Children of staff' oversubscription criteria, please click here for details of what is required. The deadline for applications is 31 October 2024.

Further information about the academy can be found on this website or by contacting the Academy via:
e-mail: info@dixonsco.com
telephone: 01274 089900

In-year applications

The funding agreement for the academy dictates how many students it will be funded for in total. The academy plans its operations such as staffing, timetabling, and provision of resources based on the funding received; this equates to the following provision:

• There are 180 places in each of years 7 to 11.

If a child is refused a place, this is because admission of another child would prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources.

Where vacancies occur, places are not offered based on the length of time children have been on the list but are filled in coordination with the local authorities and in line with the oversubscription criteria. It is, therefore, possible that a child may be added to the list who qualifies more highly within the criteria than children already on the list because each time a child is added, the list will be ranked again in line with the published oversubscription criteria. Looked-after children, previously looked-after children, and those allocated a place at the academy in accordance with a Fair Access Protocol take precedence over those on a waiting list.

Applications should be made on Bradford local authority’s ‘In Year Common Application Form’ (ICAF) which is available from the website. Once completed, the form needs to be returned directly to the local authority. On receipt of an ICAF the local authority will send a copy of this to the academy, and then respond to advise if a place is available or not.

Appeals

In-Year appeals

These appeals are for children transferring between schools mid-year.

Before you can make an appeal, you must first have applied to the Academy for a place by completing a recent In-Year Application Form for the local authority. Details of how to do this can be found on the Admissions page under the heading In-year admissions. Once you have received a letter advising you that a place cannot be offered, you can then proceed to make an appeal for the Academy if you wish to.

You can make a formal appeal to an independent appeal panel, for any school that you have applied for where admission has been refused. This is a legal process and places are not ‘reserved’ for appeal panels to offer. As a guide, one in five appeals are successful.

Appeals made during the academic year (in-year) will be heard within 30 school days, or as soon as reasonably practicable.

Appeal forms and information

The local authority (Council) processes the applications & appeals for this academy. Details of the appeals process and the appeal form can be found here.

If you need to speak to someone about the appeal process, you can contact the local authority via:

Telephone: 01274 439200

E-mail: schoolappeals@bradford.gov.uk