Admissions

Admissions consultation

Why we’re consulting

The Co-op Academies Trust is the admission authority for Co-op Academy Walkden. In accordance with the Department for Education's Admission Code 2021, we must undertake a public consultation on our admission arrangements every seven years - even if there are no changes - or when a change to the arrangements is proposed. This is a legal requirement. It gives parents, carers and the wider community a chance to comment.

We are not proposing any changes to the admissions criteria. We continue to follow the terms of the admissions criteria set out by Salford City Council. However, we are proposing to reduce the number of Year 7 places (also known as the Published Admission Number or PAN) at Co-op Academy Walkden from September 2027.

Why we’re reducing Year 7 places

By law, every child living in Salford must be offered a school place. We work with the Department for Education and Local Authority to make sure there are enough places.

The government says we should add places when more children need them and reduce places when fewer children need them.

There are a surplus of school places in the local Pupil Planning Area (Area 101) in Salford. For this reason, we propose to reduce the number of Year 7 places as follows:

Co-op Academy Walkden - Reduce Year 7 places from 300 to 270 from September 2027.

Our forecasts show that our local Pupil Planning Area will have more school places than needed over the coming years. So, we are suggesting reducing the number of places in our Year 7 cohort. Children already at the academy will not be affected.

High vacancy levels can negatively affect an academy’s sustainability. Reducing the number of Year 7 places will help our academy:

Plan for the future
Use its resources more efficiently
Continue to offer high-quality education

How you can take part in the consultation

This consultation must run for at least six weeks. It will take place from Monday 15 December 2025 to Monday 26 January 2026.

When submitting your response, please clearly state that it relates to “Co-op Academy Walkden”.

You can find the proposed admissions policy for 2027/8 here.

You can send a response by email to this email address: admissions.consultations@coopacademies.co.uk

Our academy is a secondary school for ages 11-16. We are a comprehensive school. We accept applications from all young people who live in our local community.

We follow Salford City Council’s admissions code and are able to admit 300 pupils per year group.

To make an application you should:

Read the Secondary School Admission Policy from Salford Council.
Complete the admissions application form online. If you have any problems, please contact the School Admissions team.
Salford City Council School Admissions Team will contact you.

If we receive more applications than we have places, we will look at each application against our admissions policy. If you wish to appeal, please see our admissions policy for information.

For further information about admissions to the academy please contact the academy reception on 0161 850 1625.

How we will deal with applications from every age group

All applications to Co-op Academy Walkden are made through Salford Admissions Authority.

For parents seeking a place for the start of Year 7 in September: applications should be made to Salford Admissions before the end of the preceding October. This process remains open until December after students have started in Year 7. From January of Year 7, any applications to any year groups are made following the In Year Applications process.
For parents seeking a place in Year 7 after December, or for any other year group: applications can be made to Salford Admissions Authority at any point in the year through the In Year Applications process. Complex cases are identified during this process and are reviewed at a monthly panel before being allocated.

What parents should do if they want to apply to send a child to Walkden

We invite all prospective parents to arrange to come and see us on a normal working day by emailing walkden.info@coopacademies.co.uk. If you apply for a place in the new Year 7, you will be notified by the Local Authority if your application has been successful on in March.

If you apply for a place in any other year groups, you will be notified by the Local Authority if your application has been successful within 20 school days of your application being received, unless it is classed as a complex case, in which case a decision will be made at the next monthly panel.

Our oversubscription criteria – How we make decisions about who is given a place if we are oversubscribed

All places are allocated by Salford Admissions Authority using the following order of priority.

Looked After Children and previously Looked After Children
Children adopted from outside of England
Children in Need, as defined by the Children’s Act (1989)
Children with siblings currently attending Coop Academy Walkden in Years 7-10
Children living nearest the academy

Full details can be found in the Admissions Policy 2023-2024 – Walkden

Come and Visit our Academy

If you are thinking about our academy as your child’s secondary school, we suggest you visit the academy.

We will hold an Open Evening on Thursday 25th September 2025 in which you will be able to see our facilities and meet our staff and students.

We have an open school policy. If you wish to tour around, with or without your child, you can book an appointment. Please email walkden.info@coopacademies.co.uk.

General Enquiries

Should you have any other enquiries, please contact us at the academy:

0161 850 1625
walkden.info@coopacademies.co.uk

How parents can find out more about our admissions from the local authority

The Co-op Academy Walkden admissions policy can be found here.

The Local Authority Admissions Policy can be found here.

Appeals

Please find full information on how to appeal here.

Appeals are scheduled to be held in May 2026

Secondary School Admissions September 2025/26

The application process for secondary applications for September 2026 opens on 1 September 2025 and closes on 31 October 2025.

Offer date: 2nd March 2026

Parent/Carer Deadline for Appeals to be Submitted: TBC

Appeal Hearings Begin: TBC

Appeals for late applications will be heard within 40 school days of the appeal being lodged. Appeals received on time will always be heard before any that are received late.

You will find our Admissions Policy here