Making an application

 

Applications for admission to the school for September 2009 should be made on the common application form enclosed with the Local Authority’s brochure between 1^st September 2008 and 17^th October 2008

 

Parents must complete the Local Authority application form. 

It is not normally possible to change the order of your preferences for schools after the closing date.

 

Applications may also be made on-line by using the common application form.

 

Letters informing parents of whether or not their child has been allocated a place will be sent out by the Local Authority by Monday 9^th March 2009.

 

Parents of children not admitted will be informed of the reason and offered an alternative place by the Authority. 

 

Admission procedures

 

Arrangements for admission have been agreed following consultation between the governing body, the Blackburn Diocesan Board of Education, Local Authorities and other admissions authorities in the area. 

 

The number of places available for admission to the Reception class in the year 2009 will be a maximum of 30.

 

The governing body will not place any restrictions on admissions to the reception class unless the number of children for whom admission is sought exceeds their admission number.  By law, no infant class may contain more than thirty children.  The Governing Body operates a system of equal preferences under which they consider all preferences equally and the Local Authority notifies parents of the result. In the event that there are more applicants than places, after admitting all children with a statement of educational need naming the school, the governing body will allocate places using the criteria below, which are listed in order of priority.

 

Admission Criteria

 

1.     a) Children in public care.
b) Children with special medical or social circumstances affecting the child where these needs can only be met at this school.
NOTE: Professional supporting evidence from e.g. a doctor, psychologist, social worker, is essential if admission is to be made under the criterion for special, medical or social circumstances, and such evidence must set out the particular reasons why the school in question is the most suitable school and the difficulties which would be caused if the child had to attend another school.

2.     Children with a parent/guardian/carer worshipping in a Church which is a member of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. 

NOTE:  Churches Together in Britain and Ireland is taken on the 1^st September in the year prior to admission to the school. A list may be obtained from its website or from the school. Parental worshipping is normally taken to mean a minimum of monthly attendance at church at public worship for over at least six months.  The relevant date is 1^st September in the year before admission to the school. The governors will request confirmation of this from the relevant member of the clergy or church officer.  Where a family has changed churches, then information about all of them will be required. A maximum of 22 children will be taken under this criterion. 

 

3.     Children who have a sibling attending the school on the date of application and on the date of admission. Siblings include step, half, foster, adopted brothers and sisters living at the same address.

4.     Other children.

 

Where there are more applicants for the available places within a category, then the distance between the Ordnance Survey address points for the school and the home measured in a straight line will be used as the final determining factor, nearer addresses having priority over more distant ones.  This address point is within the body of the property and usually located at its centre.  Where the cut off point is for addresses within the same building, then the single measure between address points will apply and the Local Authority's system of a random draw will determine which address(es) receive the offer(s).

 

Admission Information

 

In 2008 the school was able to admit all pupils whose parents applied.

 

Late applications for admission to Reception

 

Where there are extenuating circumstances for an application being received after the last date for applications, and it is before the governors have established their list of pupils to be admitted, then it will be considered alongside all the others.

 

Otherwise, applications which are received after the last date will be considered after all the others, and placed on the waiting list in order according to the criteria.

 

Waiting list

 

Where we have more applications than places, the admissions criteria will be used. Children who are not admitted will have their name placed on a waiting list. The names on this waiting list will be in the order resulting from the application of the admissions criteria. Since the date of application cannot be a criterion for the order of names on the waiting list, late applicants for the school will be slotted into the order according to the extent to which they meet the criteria.  Thus it is possible that a child who moves into the area later to have a higher priority than one who has been on the waiting list for some time.  If a place becomes available within the admission number, the child whose name is at the top of the list will be offered a place. This is not dependent on whether an appeal has been submitted.

 

This waiting list will operate until the second week of the autumn term only.

 

After that, parents may request, in writing, that their child’s name is placed on an “interested” list, which will be held in the order resulting from the application of the admissions criteria. If a place becomes available then it will be offered to the child at the top of the list.

 

Address of pupil

 

The address used on the school’s admission form must be the current one at the time of application, i.e. the family’s main residence.  If the address changes subsequently, the parents should notify the school.  Where the parents live at different addresses, and there is shared parenting, the address used will normally be the one where the child wakes up for the majority of Monday to Friday mornings.  If there is any doubt about this, then the address of the Child Benefit recipient will be used. Parents may be asked to show evidence of the claim that is being made for the address, e.g. identity cards of various sorts showing the child’s address as the one claimed.  Where there is dispute about the correct address to use, the governors reserve the right to make enquiries of any relevant third parties, e.g. the child’s GP, Council Tax Office, Electoral Registration Officer, utilities provider. For children of UK Service personnel and other Crown Servants returning to the area proof of the posting is all that is required.

 

Non-routine admissions

 

It sometimes happens that a child needs to change school other than at the “normal” time; such admissions are known as non-routine admissions. Parents wishing their child to attend this school should arrange to visit the school.  They will be provided with an application form once they have a definite local address.  If there is a place in the appropriate class, then the governors will arrange for the admission to take place.  If there is no place, then the admissions committee will consider the application and information about how to appeal against the refusal will be provided. Appeals for children moving into the area will not be considered until there is evidence of a permanent address, e.g. exchange of contracts or tenancy agreement with rent book.

 

Please note that you cannot re-apply for a place at a school within the same school year unless there has been relevant, significant and material change in the family circumstances.

 

Appeals

 

Where the governors are unable to offer a place because the school is over subscribed, parents have the right to appeal to an independent admission appeal panel, set up under the School Standards and Framework Act, 1998, as amended by the Education Act, 2002.  Parents should notify the clerk to the governors at the school by 11^th May 2009.

 

Parents will have the opportunity to submit their case to the panel in writing and also to attend in order to present their case. You will normally receive 14 days’ notice of the place and time of the hearing.

 

If your child was refused a place in Reception or Key Stage 1 because of Government limits on Infant class sizes, the grounds on which your appeal could be successful are limited.  You would have to show that the decision was one which in the circumstances no reasonable governing would have made, or that your child would have been offered a place if the governors’ admissions arrangements had been properly implemented. 

Please note that this right of appeal against the governors’ decision does not prevent you from making an appeal in respect of any other school.

 

Fraudulent Applications

 

Where the Governing Body discovers that a child has been awarded a place as a result of an intentionally misleading application from a parent (e.g. a false claim to residence in the catchment area or of involvement in a place of worship) which effectively denies a place to a child with a stronger claim, then the Governing Body is required to withdraw the offer of the place.  The application will then be considered afresh and a right of appeal offered if a place is refused.

 

Deferred admission

 

If your child is due to start school during the next academic year, it is important that you apply for a place for September.  If your child’s fifth birthday is between the months of September and December, then, if you wish it, admission may be deferred until January; if it is between January and April, then admission may be deferred until the start of the summer term though it is likely to be in your child’s interest to start no later than January.

 

Twins, etc

 

Where there are twins, etc wanting admission and there is only a single place left within the admission number, then the governing body will exercise as much flexibility as possible within the requirements of infant class sizes. If places for both twins or all triplets, etc cannot be offered, the family will be advised accordingly. This may also apply to siblings who are in the same year group.  If only a single place can be offered for twins, then the Local Authority's system for a random draw will decide which pupil receives an offer.

 

This Policy was reviewed and updated in Autumn Term 2008.