Admissions
We are a Church of England school, welcoming children of all faiths or no faith to our close-knit and friendly community. Each year, a new group of children join us in Reception Class, and we also have a Pre-School that admits children from age 3 upwards. We also quite often have a small number of places in other years, since we have many children of academics or parents with international roles who are in Cambridge only for a few years.
St Philip’s offers a wonderful mix of relatively small community feel with incredible diversity within it. It is in an excellent location on a secure site in the south east of the city, only a short walk from the centre of historic Cambridge, with its fantastic museums and university buildings. Diversity of socio-economic status, education, faith, nationality – yet it remains small enough for many people to know each other and want to know each other. The school is the point where they meet, offering the potential to be at the heart of a community that combines the best of a vibrant village feel within the thriving, bustling city of Cambridge.
Our local Authority (Cambridgeshire County Council) should be contacted to find out about our admissions and appeal arrangements. Please visit their website or by phone on 0345 045 1370, as this contains important information on admission and appeal dates, as well as the processes.
If you are interested in your children attending our school;
- Have a look around this website for lots of information about who we are, and what you can expect at the school.
- Please feel free to arrange a visit to the school through our office (office@stphilips.cambs.sch.uk).
- When you are ready to apply, this must be done through Cambridgeshire County Council’s Admissions Service. Full details which are available on their website or by phone on 0345 045 1370.
Admission information
The School’s intake number in the academic year 2027-28 is 30 in the Reception year. This is the maximum number of children that we are allowed to have in any school year, and is determined by the size of the school site and staffing capacity. If there are more applicants than the maximum in a given year, places are allocated according to the following admissions criteria:
Children who have a Educational Health & Care Plan of special educational needs that names the school will be admitted.
Oversubscription Criteria
- Children with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) that names the school will be admitted.
NB. Those children EHCP that does not name the school will be referred to the Statutory Assessment Team (SAT) to determine an appropriate place.
1. Children in Care (CIC) and Children who were previously in care (CIC) but ceased to be so by reason of adoption, a residence order (now known as a child arrangement order) or special guardianship order.
2. Children normally living in the catchment area who have siblings attending St Philip’s at the time of admission.
3. Children normally living in the catchment area. Places will be offered in this category until a total of 41 places have been taken by children with Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP), or in accordance with criteria 1-3, or when all applicants in this category have received an offer.
4. Children applying for a Church place. (NB: A Supplementary Information Form must be submitted)
Up to four Church places will be offered to children of families who specifically wish their children to be educated at a Church of England school.
Parents applying on religious grounds must also submit a St Philip’s Supplementary Information Form which is available from the school (linked below).
These places will be prioritised in the following order:
(a) Families at the heart of their church.
(b) Families attached to their church.
(c) Families known to their church.
Within each of these categories applicants will be prioritised as follows:
(i) Families linked to St Philip's Church; the Parish Church.
(ii) Families linked to other Church of England Churches.
(iii) Families linked to other Christian Churches.
5. Other children normally living in the catchment area (and not included in 3).
6. Children not living in the catchment area who have a sibling at the school at the time of admission.
7. Children applying for a Church place (who were not offered a place under criterion 4).
8. Any remaining applicants
Tiebreaker. Where there is a need to prioritise in a category, children living nearest to the school will be given priority.