Admissions
Starting secondary school can be a very exciting and daunting time in both a parent and a child’s life.
There are so many things to do; research schools, complete an application, find out which school they will be going to and buying a new uniform.
Don’t worry, we have put together a step-by-step guide to help you with the Admissions process.
Admissions process:
New Year 7 Applications:
The Admission Application Round takes place between 1 September and 31 October every year. If you miss this deadline, there is a possibility that you will not get your chosen school.
1. Complete an application with West Sussex Admissions:
You can look at the West Sussex Admissions Arrangements here:
West Sussex Admission Arrangements
A. This is the legal application for any school in the County. If you do not complete this application, you will not be offered a place.
B. Make sure you fill in all 3 School preferences.
C. Make sure you place your school preferences in the correct order. You cannot appeal for a place at a lower ranked school.
D. You can check your catchment area by using the West Sussex Catchment Area tool – West Sussex Catchment Areas Please note: Holy Trinity does not have a catchment area, as we use our own Oversubscription Criteria to rank students (see below).
2. If you have named Holy Trinity as one of your preferences, please read our Admission Arrangements and Oversubscription Criteria:
Determined Admission Arrangements 2024/25 Click here to view this Admission document.
Determined Admission Arrangements 2025/26 Click here to view this Admission document.
A. If you qualify for one of our higher-ranking categories, please ensure you complete a Supplementary Information Form (SIF).
There is an Electronic SIF or a Paper SIF
B. If you complete an Electronic SIF, please ensure that you provide an email address for your reference. We will send them an electronic reference form to complete.
C. If you are completing a Paper SIF, and you want to provide a reference on paper, please click on the following relevant links:
Christian Commitment Form (Pink Form)
Other Religious Commitment Form (Blue Form)
Basketball Reference (Orange Form)
D. Make sure you complete and submit these forms to the school by 31 October.
E. If the school does not receive a correctly completed form, the higher category cannot be applied.
F. Please do NOT send Baptism/Catechism/Communion certificates. We do not need these or ask for them. We have specific questions that we ask the religious leader to answer about the Parent/Carer in the reference, and that is all that is required.
3. The school ranks all students who have named Holy Trinity as a preference according to the Oversubscription Criteria and submits this list to West Sussex Admissions in December.
4. Pupils are made offers on 1 March of the following year. Students that are not offered their preferred place are automatically added to the waiting list of higher preferences. West Sussex Admissions manages the waiting list until September.
5. If you do not receive an offer for a place at Holy Trinity, please do NOT call the school. West Sussex provides information in the offer letter on how to appeal the placement. Parents can appeal their placement by submitting an Appeal form on the West Sussex Website by 31 March:- West Sussex Appeal Application
The school holds Appeal Hearings in the first half of June each year.
To view the Admissions Appeals Timetable 2024 click here. [Applies for appeals lodged between 1/3/2024 – 28/2/2025]
To view the Admissions Appeals Timetable 2025 click here. [Applies for appeals lodged between 1/3/2025 – 28/2/2026]
6. Late offers of places are made at any time from April until August by West Sussex, as other parents officially withdraw their child’s place with West Sussex.
7. The school will send an electronic registration pack to you to help us prepare for your child’s start in September. Please ensure that you still have access to the email address you gave to West Sussex, as we will be emailing these to start the enrolment process.
Applications for current Year 7 to 11
1. Complete an In-Year Admission form on the West Sussex Admissions Website. West Sussex In Year Application
2. Read our Admissions Arrangements and Oversubscription Criteria and complete a Supplementary Information Form (SIF) if applicable and submit to the school. (links above)
3. West Sussex will advise if there is a space available and make an offer or advise you to place your child on the waiting list if there are no spaces available. You will need to provide your contact information, child’s name and date of birth to the school.
4. Parents can Appeal the refusal of a place by completing an Appeal form on the West Sussex Website. (links above)
5. The school will email you an electronic registration form to help us prepare for your child’s arrival. You will also be asked to bring your child in for a 1-hour English and Maths assessment to help our teachers place them in suitable classes.
Information for parents/carers of New Year 7 students joining us in September
A warm welcome to you if your child will be joining us at Holy Trinity in September. We are really looking forward to getting to know you over the coming months and years.
We hope that there will also be the chance to hear more and to meet key staff over the coming months. However, given the current unpredictable situation, we may need to be flexible in our plans for these events.
Much work will be going on behind the scenes, with your Primary school working with us to ensure we receive all the information needed to make the transition as smooth as possible. In addition, our Special Educational Needs and Disability colleagues will be working with their colleagues in the Primary school to plan for the extra support that will be needed for some of the children joining us. If you are the parent of a SEND child, please be reassured that we have a long and well-established plan for ensuring that your child’s needs are planned for before they arrive in September. For some, this may include extra visits to the school in the summer term.
Do parents and students get to visit the school?
Our plan is that parents will be invited to a talk at the school and Year 6’s come in for a whole day in July. You will receive further details of these events nearer the time, so please look out for updates. Again, due to the current pandemic, we may need to be flexible in our planning, but we do hope that we will be able to meet parents and students in person during the summer term.
If you have any urgent queries about school admission, please email: admissions@holytrinitycrawley.org.uk
We will be sending out more emails before the summer holidays, to keep you up to date with developments. Updates will also be on our website.
If you want a flavour of what is going on at the School, do take an occasional look at the website and maybe follow us on:
Twitter: @htscrawley Facebook: @TheHolyTrinitySchool
To view the Acceptable Use Policy for Pupils – relating to their Information Technology use click here.