Admissions policy for 2011/12

Admissions criteria reception year
Set out below are the criteria that are used to decide who will be offered a place at a community school if there are more applications than there are places available. All applications are considered in accordance with the admissions criteria. The Local Authority (LA) operates an equal preference system whereby all preferences listed by parents on the common application form are considered under the over-subscription criteria for each school without reference to the parental ranking. Only if a pupil is able to be offered a place at more than one school will the ranking be used to determine the single offer by selecting the one ranked highest of the places able to be offered.

The criteria listed in order of priority are:

1. Children in public care living within or outside the catchment area.
Children in public care are as defined in section 22 of the 1989 Children’s Act (this includes foster children).

1a. Children who have recently (within the last year of the closing date for applications) been made the subject of an adoption order or the subject of a special guardianship order living within or outside the catchment area. 

Catchment
2. Catchment children with a brother or sister who will be attending the main school (not the nursery class) at the time of admission.*

3. Catchment children with a brother or sister who will be attending the main school (not the nursery class) on the same site* (this refers only to Berrymede Infant and Junior schools) at the time of admission.

*The words brother and sister refer to all blood, half, foster, step and adoptive brothers and sisters (not cousins) who live at the same home and in the same family unit  as the child on a permanent basis or for the majority of time in any calendar year. A sibling relationship does not apply when the older child(ren) will leave before the younger one starts.

4. Catchment children with exceptional medical or social circumstances.
The medical circumstances must relate to the child, and parents will be expected to provide supporting evidence from a consultant who is monitoring the child’s condition (not General Practitioner [GP]) in relation to medical circumstances or a social worker (or other appropriate professionally qualified person) in relation to social circumstances. All supporting evidence showing why priority should be given to the first preference school must be submitted at the time of application. Priority under this criterion can only be given for the first preference school.

The Schools Service Panel will consider all claimed exceptional medical or social circumstances in line with admissions criteria and inform parents of their decision.

5. Catchment children on the basis of distance from the child’s permanent home address to the preferred school. 
The distance from home to school is measured by straight-line, from a point in the property determined by Ordnance Survey to the nearest gated entrance which is used by pupils to enter the school grounds.

The measuring system is an integral part of the admission software produced by Tribal Technology Ltd. It uses Ordnance Survey maps and is accurate to 1 metre.

It does not mean that we will be able to allocate a place at the school nearest to your address.

Out-catchment
6. Out-catchment children with a brother or sister who will be attending the main school (not the nursery class) at the time of admission (as in 2 above).

7. Out-catchment children with a brother or sister who will be attending the main school (not the nursery class) on the same site (this refers only to Berrymede Infant and Junior Schools) at the time of admission (as in 3 above).

8. Out-catchment children with exceptional medical or social circumstances (as in 4 above).

9. Out-catchment children on the basis of distance from the child’s permanent home address to the preferred school (as in 5 above).

Any combination of two or more criteria gives higher priority than one criterion. For example, a brother/sister connection and agreed medical/social circumstances would give priority over a brother/sister connection.

If two or more children have equal priority under the criteria, the criterion of distance set out in point 5 above will then be applied.

Tie break
In the event that the distances are equal the LA (not the school) will draw lots to determine which applicant should be offered the place.

Twins, triplets or other children from multiple births
The LA does not give priority under its admission criteria for twins, triplets or other children from multiple births, however, the LA will endeavour wherever possible not to separate these children whilst still operating within the infant class size legislation.

Waiting lists
If the preferred school(s) cannot offer a place the parent will have the opportunity of placing their child’s name placed on the waiting list(s). The child will only be placed on the waiting list(s) if the parent requests it on the reply slip which is sent out with the letter.

When vacancies arise, places will be allocated according to the oversubscription criteria. Vacancies will be offered to the pupil with the highest priority on the waiting list at the time the vacancy arises, not on a “first come, first served” basis.  The position of a pupil on the waiting list changes frequently and can move down as well as up if other pupils having higher priority have their names added to the waiting list.  Length of time on a waiting list does not give any priority.  Places are offered from the waiting list if they become available. These places cannot normally be held open and it is expected that they will be taken up almost immediately unless the child has not reached compulsory school age, has not yet started school and the parent wishes to defer entry to school.

The community schools in Ealing will hold waiting lists for all year groups. Parents will have to re-register on a termly basis if they wish to continue on the waiting list.

Children of newly appointed staff
After the published offer date, where there is a demonstrable skills shortage for a vacant post (independent evidence is required), the admission authority will place the children of a new appointee for the post in question, at the top of the waiting list for places at the school.

Deferred entry to primary schools
If a child has not reached compulsory school age, the parent has the option of deferring their child’s entry. Parents can request that the date their child is admitted to the school is deferred until later in the school year or until the child reaches compulsory school age in that school year.  Parents can also request that their child attends part-time until the child reaches compulsory school age. If a child does not reach compulsory school age until September 2012 and the parent wishes to delay admission to school until then, he/she will need to apply direct to the school in mid-June 2012 for a place in year 1 for September 2012, as the child will be placed in that year group.

Note that children reach compulsory school age the term after they are five.

Shared responsibility
Where the parents have shared responsibility and the child is residing with one parent for the majority of the time or on a permanent basis, the address of this parent will be used for the purposes of the application.

Where parents have shared responsibility and the child lives with each parent for half of the calendar year, the parents must come to an agreement as to whose address will be used for the application.  This address will be used to process the child’s application and can only be changed after the beginning of the academic year unless the address of the chosen parent changes during the admissions process.  Proof of residency will be required.  In all other cases of personal or family arrangements the address of the mother will be taken as the main residence.  

Applying for 2011/12
Start date for 2011/12 applications is September 2010.

Admissions criteria nursery schools and nursery classes
Please note that admission to a nursery class does not guarantee admission to the main school on the nursery class site.  Nursery schools and nursery classes take children aged between three and five years old.  Parents can apply to any of the nursery schools or nursery classes.

Parents can register their interest for a nursery place with the school by completing an application form when their child is two.

Admission to community nursery schools and nursery classes is based upon residence in the London Borough of Ealing. Any remaining places may be offered to children living outside the London Borough of Ealing in accordance with the admission criteria.

Children generally start nursery the September after their third birthday.  If there are places still available after those children have been offered and accepted places, younger children will be considered and my start nursery when they are three.

Parents will be informed of the outcome of their admission at the end of the spring term.

The criteria are listed in order of priority as follows:

1. Children in public care – children who are in public care as defined in Section 22 of the 1989 Children’s Act (this includes foster children) living within or outside the catchment area.

1a. Children who have recently (within the last year of the closing date for applications) been made the subject of an adoption order or the subject of a special guardianship order living within or outside the catchment area. 

2. Children living in the catchment area with a brother or sister who will be attending the main school at the time of admission.

The words brother or sister refer to all blood, half, foster, step and adoptive brothers and sisters (not cousins) who live at the same home address as the child. A sibling relationship does not apply when the older child(ren) will leave before the younger one starts.

3. Children living in the catchment area with exceptional medical or social circumstances.

The medical circumstances must relate to the child and parents will be expected to provide supporting evidence from a consultant – not a General Practitioner (GP). The social circumstances must be substantiated by a social worker or other appropriate professional. All supporting evidence showing why education should be at the preferred school must be submitted at the time of application.

4. Children living in the catchment area on the basis of distance  from the child’s permanent home address to the preferred school.

5. Children living outside the catchment area with a brother or sister who will be attending the main school at the time of admissions (as in 2 above).

6. Children living outside the catchment area with exceptional medical or social circumstances (as in 3 above).

7. Children living outside the catchment area on the basis of distance from the child’s permanent home address to the preferred school.

Any combination of two or more criteria give a higher priority than one criterion. If two or more children have equal priority under the criteria, the criterion of distance will be applied.

In the event that the distances are equal the drawing of lots will be used to determine who is offered the place.

Waiting list
Vacancies are filled from the waiting list using the admissions criteria. A vacancy is offered to the child with the highest priority on the waiting list.  The position of a child on the waiting list can change when other children leave or join the waiting list.

Documentary evidence to be provided with the application form
You are required to provide a photocopy of your child’s short birth certificate, passport or immigration papers as proof of his/her date of birth.  This information is required when you return the reply slip accepting the offer of a school place.

You are required to provide one of the following as documentary evidence:

If you do not pay council tax, one of the following may be accepted:

If none of the above are available, a letter explaining the circumstances.

Important
Provision of an incorrect home address or other false information is likely to lead to the withdrawal of an offer of a nursery place.  If you change address after registering your child for a place in a nursery school or nursery class, you should advise the school in writing immediately.