External Admissions

We welcome applications to our Sixth Form from both current students and external applicants. Each year, we offer places to external candidates up to a maximum of 35 students, subject to meeting the academic entry requirements detailed below and the availability of places on chosen courses.

Oversubscription Criteria for External Applicants

Where applications from external students exceed the number of available places (35), priority will be given in the following order:

1. Looked after children and previously looked after children (in accordance with the School Admissions Code).
2. Students with exceptional medical or social needs, where the school is uniquely placed to meet those needs.
3. Applicants with the highest average GCSE point scores across their best eight subjects (or equivalent qualifications).

If two or more students meet the same oversubscription criterion and there are not enough places remaining, priority will be determined by random allocation, supervised by an independent person.

Entry Requirements

All applicants, including external candidates, must meet the minimum entry requirements for Sixth Form study and for their chosen courses, as published annually in our Sixth Form Prospectus.

SIXTH FORM ADMISSION RULES FOR THE MARLBOROUGH SCIENCE ACADEMY

Students will be admitted to Year 12 in accordance with our Single Equality Policy.  Admission into the Sixth Form does not guarantee a place on any particular course.  The Academy publishes separate course entry requirements.  Entry requirements are based on an individual and their desired pathways and can be seen in our post 16 prospectus which is available from our school website.

The admissions number for external students for September 2024 is 20. Over-subscription for external candidates will be based on meeting the academic entry requirements for the course.

ORDER OF PRIORITY

1. Students who are looked after or were previously looked after (children looked after or children previously looked after who ceased to be looked after because they were adopted or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order), 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.
2. Students who were on roll at The Marlborough Science Academy in the Year 11 preceding the admission year.
3. Students for whom it can be demonstrated that they have a particular medical or social need to go to the Academy, (evidence must be provided by a professional dealing with the child’s case).    
4. Students whose permanent address is closest to the Academy address point.  A ‘straight line’ distance measurement is used.  Distances are measured using a computerised mapping system to two decimal places.  The measurement is taken from the Address Base Premium address point of your child’s house to the address point of the school. Address Base Premium data is a nationally recognised method of identifying the location of schools and individual reasons.

NOTES

The Academy will use these rules in the order they are printed above.  Rule 4 will apply as a tiebreaker for rules 2 and 3. In each category, priority will be given to those living nearest the Academy, measured in a straight line from the student’s permanent home address to the main Academy address point. If more children qualify under a particular rule than there are places available, a tie-break will be used by applying the next rule to those children. In the case of two applicants with exactly the same priority under the admission rules, but only one place being available, the Governing Body will offer places to both families.