Where schools have more application than places the following factors
will be taken into account in priority order when deciding which pupils will
be allocated places.
Children with Statements of Special Educational Needs
In
accordance with the Code of Practice for Special Educational Needs, the allocation
of school places for pupils with a statement of special educational needs will
take place before the allocation of other places as part of the annual admissions
process. Where a school is named in a child's statement the school
has a duty to admit the pupil.
Factor 1
Children in care
The definition of a 'child in care' is a person under the age of
18 who is in their care or is provided with accommodation by a local authority,
acting in its social services capacity, for a continuous period of more that
24 hours, by agreement with the parents or is the subject of a relevant court
order under Part IV of the Children Act 1989. Children looked after under
an agreed series of short term placements (respite care) are excluded.
Factor 2
Children who live in the school's designated catchment area.
Information about catchment areas can be obtained from the Admissions Team.
The address taken under this factor will be that on the 25 March 2009 for admission
to infant and primary schools and 13 February 2009 for admission to junior schools.
Parents who move after submitting their preference must inform the Admissions
Team (tel 01724 297133/4) of any change of address.
For
admission purposes, the home address is where a child usually lives with their
parent or carer. You must not give the address of a childminder or
relative. Where a child lives with parents with shared responsibility,
each for part of the week, and the LA has been given more than one address,
the Admission Team will apply the address of the parent who claims the child's
benefit as the pupil's address for determining this criteria. If it is
found that you have given a false address your child may lose their school place.
Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary Schools - variation from the
standard factors
In Church of England (Voluntary Controlled) schools, priority may be given to
children whose parents are actual communicant members of the Church of England.
In this case, written supporting evidence to this effect from their Parish Priest
will be required. In the case of more applications in this category than
there are places, priority would be given to children of parents who regularly
attend the parish church in that school's geographical catchment area.
For the 2009/10 intake no school have stated they wish to use< this factor.
Factor 3
Children who will have a sibling attending the school at the time of their admission.
Included in this factor are siblings (step-brothers and sisters and half-brothers
and sisters) living at the same address and who will be attending the school
at the expected time of admission. In the event of two applications for
one vacancy using the above criteria, the Authority will apply a tie breaker
decision based on geographical distance.
Siblings for the same year group (twins/ multiple births)
Where there are twins or multiple births to be admitted to a school in the same
year group. If there are insufficient places available for all siblings,
and one can be allocated a place, the admission number will be exceeded to allow
them to be placed in the same school as long as they comply with the infant
class size regulations. In the event only one child can be allocated a
place, to comply with infant class size, this will be given to the child born
first.
Factor 4
Children who live closest to the school.
The distance will be determined by measuring the shortest available route using
the public road network from the pupil's home to the main school gate,
as determined by the LA. The distance will be measured by using a computerised
geographical information system (GIS). Priority will be given to those
living nearest to the school using this system.
Tie Breakers
Where the offer of a place would lead to oversubscription under any of the above
factors places will be allocated by reference to subsequent factors in order.
Waiting Lists
A
waiting list will be maintained for over-subscribed schools based on the published
criteria up to the start of the school year.
If a place in an oversubscribed school becomes available it will be allocated
in accordance with the priority criteria above.
Any unsuccessful appeal will also be maintained on a waiting list if parents
express a wish to do so.
Withdrawing Offers of Places
Once an offer of a school place has been made it may only lawfully be withdrawn
in very limited circumstances. These include when the admission authority
offered a place on the basis of a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application
from a parent (for example, a false claim of residence in a catchment area)
which effectively denied a place to a child with a stronger claim. It
would not generally be lawful for an admission authority to withdraw a school
place once the child was attending that school, except where that place was
fraudulently obtained; in deciding whether to withdraw in such a case, the length
of time that the child had been at the school will also be taken into account.
Where a place is withdrawn, the application must then be considered afresh,
and a right of appeal offered if a place is refused.