The Windsor Boys’ School is a 13-18 comprehensive school for boys. We aim to provide for the needs of young people aged 13 to 18 to enable them to fulfil their potential and become responsible citizens of the future.

Admissions to The Windsor Boys’ School fall into three categories:

1.  Admission at the start of Year 9
2.  Admission during Years 9 10 and 11
3.  Admission to Years 12 and 13

The policy for admissions at the start of Year 9 is formulated by Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead.

Full details of how the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead admissions procedure works can be found at www.rbwm.gov.uk or contact:

School Admissions
RBWM
Town Hall
St Ives Road
Maidenhead
SL6 1RF

Tel.:  01628 683870
Email:  school.admissions@rbwm.gov.uk

Maps showing the designated appropriate areas of Windsor & Maidenhead Schools are available on the RBWM website and in the Borough’s main libraries. For Windsor Boys’ School, it consists of Windsor, Old Windsor and Eton.

Pupils will be admitted to TWBS at the age of 13+ without reference to ability or aptitude (unless applying through the Specialist Arts College category) using the criteria below. The admission number for September 2024 will be 260 for Year 9.

The Windsor Boys’ School
Admissions Arrangements for 2024/2025 entry

Windsor Learning Partnership (the school Trust) will comply with the requirements of the Funding agreement and the School Admissions Code and recognises that its ‘relevant area’ is the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

The Windsor Boys’ School is a single sex comprehensive converter academy.  As a recently converted academy, governors are carrying out an annual review of their admission arrangements as required by law and in line with the Admissions Code which came into force in February 2012.  They also have regard to the Local Authority Consultation and proposed timeline for the co-ordinated admission arrangements.

A.    Number of Places & Applications

The number of Year 9 places available for September 2024 entry (the 2024/2025 school year) will be 260.  If you are a parent resident in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, applications for September 2024 entry should be made via the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead co-ordinated admissions scheme (for more details see the ‘school admissions’ section of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council website, (www.rbwm.gov.uk).  If you are a parent resident outside the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead application should be made through your home Local Authority’s Admissions Scheme.  

B.    Admissions Over-subscription Criteria

If there are fewer applications than there are places available for Year 9 entry in September 2024, everyone who applies will be offered a place.

Children who have an Education, Health and Care Plan or Statement of Special Educational Needs which names the school will be allocated a place at the school in accordance with their statutory entitlement.

If there are more applicants than there are places available after the admission of students with an Education, Health and Care Plan or Statement of Special Educational Needs naming the school, the following criteria will be considered, in order, to determine who will be offered a place:

1. Students who are Looked After or were previously Looked After – A ‘looked after child’ or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, residence, child arrangements order, or special guardianship order. (See below for definitions of children who are looked after or were previously looked after);
2. Students with exceptional medical or social reasons for requiring the school – Where the student, or their parent or carer, can demonstrate wholly exceptional medical or social requirement for attendance at the school and that attendance at no other school will suffice (see below for further definition of how this criteria will be applied);
3. Students who live in the ‘designated appropriate area’ of the school and who would have a sibling of compulsory school age expected still to be at a school in the trust at the time of admission of the student for whom the place is sought. (See below for definitions of ‘designated appropriate area’);
4. Students who live in the ‘designated appropriate area’ of the school. (See below for definition of ‘designated appropriate area’);
5. Students who would have a sibling of compulsory school age expected still to be at a school in the Trust at the time of admission of the student for whom the place is sought. (See below for definition of sibling);
6. Students who attend a feeder Middle School. (See below for definition of feeder middle schools);
7. Students whose parents have selected the school because of a preference for a single-sex school when the local alternative is a co-educational school.
8. All other applicants.

Tie-breakers: If more applications are received in any one criterion than there are places available the following tiebreakers will be used:

• For criteria 7: Priority will be decided by the continuous length of attendance at Windsor First, Primary and Middle schools.  When considering the length of time in the Windsor system, all children who start their statutory age schooling at a Windsor school will be treated as having started school on the same date.  This would be the earliest time that all children, regardless of date of birth, should have commenced full time education, which will be September in National Curriculum Year 1.  Continuous length of attendance will be measured in months.  Attendance at nursery will not be taken into consideration.  If it is still not possible to choose, places will be allocated on the basis of geographical distance as in the following tiebreaker.
• For all other criteria: Priority will be given to those applicants who live closest to the school. The distance will be measured in a straight line from the address point of the student’s house as determined by Ordnance Survey to the address point of the school using Local Authority’s GIS system.  In the event of two or more boys living at the same distance from the school then random allocation will be used to prioritise applicants where necessary.  The names will be drawn and the whole process scrutinised by persons who are independent of the Academy Trust.

Students of multiple births: In cases where there is only one place available at the school and the next student on the waiting list is one of a twin, triplet or other multiple birth group, both twins (or all the siblings in the case of other multiple births) would be admitted, even if this meant that the school would admit in excess of the admission number.

Definitions – see policy here

C.   Notification and Acceptance of Places

In accordance with the co-ordinated admissions policy, on TBA the Local Authority will make the formal offer of a place to parent or carers on behalf of the School Trust. The onus is on parents to contact the Local Authority by their specified date (TBA) to either accept or decline the offer of a place, using the acceptance form issued with the offer letter.  This will in no way affect parents’ right to appeal for a place at another school.  The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council will write to all parents who have not accepted or declined an offer giving them a further seven days.  If no response is received a further letter will be sent to advise that the place has been withdrawn.  Unaccepted places will be allocated to other applicants

D.    Appeals Procedure

Parents can choose to appeal against the decision of the school trust not to offer their child a place at the school.  Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council administer any admissions appeals on behalf of the school trust.  To appeal against the decision not to offer their child a place, parents must complete the appeal forms that are available on the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council website www.rbwm.gov.uk or from the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council Admissions Team (01628 683870). To be considered in the first round of appeals, the notice of appeal must be received by the Council by their specified date.

The appeal will be heard by an independent appeals panel constituted and operated in accordance with the School Admissions Appeals Code. Parents will receive written notification of the date and time of their appeal hearing, which they can attend to explain their case. If they wish, parents may be accompanied by an adviser or friend. Following the appeal, the Clerk to the appeals panel will write to parents with the decision.

E.  Waiting List for the Incoming Year 9

Parents / carers can ask for their child’s name to be put on a waiting list for the school. The waiting list will be maintained by The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council Admissions Team on behalf of the school trust from the offer date (1st March 2024) until 31st August 2024.  From 1st September 2024, the waiting list will be managed by the school.

The waiting list will give priority in accordance with the admissions criteria. Any places that become available will be filled in priority order from the waiting list or late applicants. Whenever a new applicant is added to the waiting list, the list will be reordered in accordance with the oversubscription criteria.

F.    In-Year Applications

Admission into Year 9

If a parent wants to make an in-year application for their child to join the school they should complete the Application Form for In-Year Admissions that is available from The Windsor Boys’ School In-Year admissions will be considered in accordance with the number of places available at the school in the 2024/25 school year and over-subscription criteria outlined above. Any places that become available will be filled in priority order from the existing waiting list and any current applications.

Fair access protocol

As part of the co-ordinated admissions arrangements with The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council the school may accept hard-to-place students onto the school roll from time to time in accordance with the In-Year Fair Access agreement.  This could mean a student being admitted ahead of the waiting list or in very exceptional circumstances even if the year group is full.

Admission into year groups other than the year of entry (Year 9)

Where applications are made to year groups outside the year of entry, places will be offered dependent on available vacancies, year group & subjects studied. In the event of more applications than places available the over-subscription criteria outlined previously will be applied.

Policy Reviewed by: Mrs A Thornton 
Reviewed September 2023
Next Review Date: September 2024   

Please email admissions@twbs.co.uk  for more information 

You can download a copy of the policy on our School Policies page.

Catchment area \ feeder schools and age of entry

Details on the schools catchment area, feeder schools, age of entry and key dates can be found in our admissions policy on the School Policies page here.

You can also download a copy of the current catchment area map from The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead website here