Consultations.

Consultation on Admissions Policy for  September 2026

This consultation has now closed. 

The Trustees of Holywell School consulted on our Admissions Arrangements for 2025-26. We are proposed some changes to our policy in response to local changes and the 3-to-2-tier programme. 

The following amendments to our admissions arrangements were made:

• Revised oversubscription criteria to reflect the change in student population as local schools transition to a Primary/Secondary model. In particular:
• Non-catchment siblings will have equal priority with catchment siblings (and highest priority after looked after and previously looked after children).
• Children living in the parish of Cranfield or attending Cranfield CoE Academy will be given higher priority than children living outside that area or attending other schools.
• Priority for church families will be limited to those living in the parishes of Marston Moreteyne, Lidlington or Wootton and the definition of Christian church has been updated.
• A new priority for children of staff members to support with recruitment and retention.

We have also taken the opportunity to update some of the technical provisions of the policy in order to remain compliant with the School Admissions Code 2021.

A full copy of our the Admissions Policy can be viewed HERE.

NB. Holywell School is putting in a Tier 1 application to the DfE to change the age range of the school as part of the area transition to Primary/Secondary provision. If this is approved, an amendment will be sought to this Admissions Policy. The catchment area and the oversubscription criteria will remain in place. There will be no new places available in Year 5; there will be an opportunity for in-year transfers into the newly-created Year 9. Admissions Policy deadlines and applications deadlines did not align. For further information, please contact the school.

Consultation on Change of Age Range for  September 2026

This Consultation has now concluded. 

The consultation was about converting Holywell School to a secondary school (Years 7 to 11) on the current site from 1st September 2026.

The Governing Board at Holywell School intends to submit an application to the Department for Education (DfE) to change the age range at Holywell. Prior to the application process, the DfE requires us to undertake a formal consultation with stakeholders.

Central Bedfordshire Council (CBC) conducted a ‘Have Your Say’ consultation which ran during Autumn 2022 (October 2022) and a Statutory Notice Consultation for maintained schools which ran from 12th May 2023 to 16th June 2023. These consultations proposed a transition from three-tier (lower/middle/upper) to two-tier (primary/secondary) in the Cranfield Cluster. This was approved at the Executive meeting on the 1st August 2023. Holywell School supported this conclusion and conducted a consultation to change the age range. This was conducted from 15th September 2023 to 16th October 2023. 55.2% of 105 respondents we supportive of the change. Central Bedfordshire Council decided to delay the programme by 1 year with the first transition year proposed as being September 2026. In line with advice from the Regional Commissioner’s Office, we were obliged to conduct a new consultation. 

The four-week consultation period commenced on Monday 4th November 2024 and closed at noon on Monday 2nd December 2024.

Background Information to the Statutory Consultation was provided and consultees were asked to respond to a series of questions.

There were 70 responses.

The Governing Board has met and has recommended that the application to change the age range of the school proceeds with a Tier 1 application. The outcomes of the consultation and the conclusions can be found below and HERE.