Admissions
Stanley High School is part of the Southport Learning Trust, and Sefton Local Authority handles admissions on its behalf.
All formal applications must be made through the local authority:
Sefton Admissions Team
People Directorate
Sefton Council
Town hall
Bootle
Liverpool
L20 7AE
Website: www.sefton.gov.uk/admissions
Email: admissions@sefton.gov.uk
Tel: 0151 934 3590
Admissions arrangements for year 7 students from Primary School
The Sefton Local Authority provide a comprehensive guide for parents and carers to navigate the school admissions process.
Parental Guide to Admissions 2026, link here
Application Process: Parents must apply online through the Citizen Portal, available 24/7.
Closing Dates: Applications for Primary Schools must be submitted by 15th January 2026, and for Secondary Schools by 31st October 2025.
How do I apply online?
- To begin, visit www.sefton.gov.uk/startingschool and go to the ‘Do it online’ section. Click on the link to the Citizen Portal and follow the on-screen instructions. The Portal is user-friendly and straightforward.
- If you have not previously registered for Sefton’s Citizen Portal, you will need to set up an account. This involves confirming your email address and creating a password, similar to other websites.
- Please make a note of your password, as you will need it to log into the Citizen Portal on National Offer Day to view your school place offer.
- If you have used Sefton’s Citizen Portal before, please verify that your details, including your home address, are correct. You can do this by selecting ‘My Account’ on the homepage before starting a new application.
Why should I apply online on Sefton’s Citizen Portal?
The Citizen Portal offers several convenient features:
- It is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Your application is automatically recorded, allowing you to start and finish it at your convenience.
- You can make changes at any time until the national closing date(s).
- After you submit (or re-submit) your application, you will receive a confirmation email.
- The system is secure and confidential.
- On National Offer Day, you can log into the Citizen Portal to view your school place offer.
- You won’t have to wait several days to receive your offer letter.
Admissions Criteria
School Admission Number: 170 for the 2025/26 academic year.
After the admission of pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan, where the school is named in the plan, and where there are more applications than places available, the following admissions criteria will be applied in order, by Sefton LA, to allocate places at the school, on behalf of the school’s Governing Body (or Multi Academy Trust):
1) Looked after children and all previously looked after children, 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 (or became subject to a child arrangements order, or special guardianship order).
Children identified as needing specialist facilities that go beyond expected reasonable adjustments will be given priority for this school if it is the nearest school with suitable resources. This would usually be a child with a physical or mobility difficulty. We will require details from parent(s)/carer(s), supported by medical evidence in order, to assess each situation depending on circumstances.
2) Sibling – Children who have either a brother or sister living in the same house who already attends the school as long as they will still be at the school in September 2026.
Sibling is defined in these arrangements as brothers and sisters including step-children, foster children and half-brothers and sisters, adopted brothers and sisters or children of the parent(s)/carer(s) partner, living in the same family unit at the same address, who attend the school in question, as long as they will be at the school in September 2026.
3) Children of staff where the member of staff has been employed at a school within the Southport Learning Trust for two or more years at the time at which the admission application for the school is made, and/or where the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage. Parent(s)/carer(s) must state the employee’s name on their admission application form. The school will validate details.
4) Distance – Other requests that name the school as a preference.
Tie Breaker Clause
If it is not possible to offer places for all applications within any criteria then priority will be given to those living closest to the school measured by the shortest walking distance from the child’s home. We will measure from the property’s address point, to the nearest school gate (using recognised routes known to the local authority at the time of measurement).
In-Year Admissions Information
Admissions to other year groups and year 7 after September
In the first instance, contact Sefton Admissions at Tel: 0151 934 3590; they will be able to advise on whether we have places in the relevant year group.
Here is the link to Sefton’s In-Year admissions information. Please complete this form if you require a place due to a house move. For a school-to-school transfer, please complete this form
Completed forms should be returned to Sefton Admissions either by email or Royal Mail to School Admissions Team, Magdalen House, 30 Trinity Road, Bootle, Liverpool, L20 3NJ
Admission number
The admission number for Stanley High School is currently 170 per year group.
Oversubscription criteria
The oversubscription criteria applied by Stanley High School are available in the Sefton Local Authority admissions document.
Appeals Process
Suppose your child has been refused a place at a school by the Admission Authority (or via a Fair Access Panel decision). In that case, you have the right to submit an appeal against this decision to an Independent Appeal Panel.
Please note that Sefton Admissions deals with all appeals in the first instance. Here is the link for Sefton’s appeals process.
Parents and carers can contact the school at any time for details or to arrange a visit.
For more information about the process, please contact Miss A. Jones at the school by calling 01704 228940.
Sefton School Admissions and Reports
Here you can find:
1. Determined admission arrangements for Sefton Primary Community, Voluntary Controlled and some Academy schools and the majority of Secondary Academy Schools for September 2027.
2. Policy for children starting primary school outside of their normal age group.
3. In Year School Admissions Policy (updated September 2024), including the Fair Access & School Transfer Protocols.
4. Sefton’s 2025 (Annual School Admissions report to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA).
For further information, please check the link below: