Admissions

In accordance with the 1996 Education Act the allocation of academy places for children with a statement of special educational needs will take place first. We will then allocate the remaining places in accordance with this policy.

For entry into Year 7 in September we will allocate places to parents who return an application before we consider any parent who has not returned one.

The over subscription criteria are listed in order. Words marked with a number are explained separately in the definition and notes section.

Oversubscription Criteria

A. Looked after children and all previously looked after children, including those children who appear to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted (1)

B. There is a brother or sister (2) at the school who will still be attending when the child is due to start. 2

C. The distance from the home to the academy. Priority will be given to the child living nearest the academy, as defined in note 3.

Definitions and Notes

A ‘looked after child’ is a child who is (a) in care of a local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989) at the time of making an application to a school. A child is regarded as having been in state care outside of England if they were in the care of or were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation, or any other provider of care whose sole or main purpose is to benefit society. Previously looked after children are children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order). This includes children who were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 (see section 12 adoption orders) and children who were adopted under the Adoption and Children’s Act 2002 (see section 46 adoption orders). Child arrangements orders are defined in s.8 of the Children Act 1989, as amended by s.12 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Child arrangements orders replace residence orders and any residence order in force prior to 22 April 2014 is deemed to be a child arrangements order. Section 14A of the Children Act 1989 defines a ‘special guardianship order’ as an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian (or special guardians).
Brother or sister. • A full brother or sister, whether or not resident in the same household. • Another child normally living for the majority of term time in the same household, where an adult in the household has parental responsibility as defined by the Children Act 1989. Or any child in the household where an adult in the household is defined as a parent for the purposes of Section 576 of the Education Act 1996. • In the case of twins, or brothers and sisters in the same year group, where there is only one place available in the academy, both will be considered together as one application. The academy will be allowed to go above its admission number by one
The nearest address to the relevant academy site is found by measuring the distance from your address to the relevant academy site (Marian or Tollfield 3 Campuses) by straight line distance. We measure electronically from the Post Office Address Point of the home to the Post Office Address Point of the academy. By home we mean the address where the child lives for the majority of the academy term time with a parent who has parental responsibility as defined in the Children Act 1989. Or any child in the household where an adult in the household is defined as a parent for the purposes of Section 576 of the Education Act 1996. This could include a person who is not a parent but who has responsibility for her or him. It could include a child’s guardians but will not usually include other relatives such as grandparents, aunts, uncles etc unless they have all the rights, duties, powers and responsibilities and authority, which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and their property. Where the child lives normally during the school week with more than one parent at different addresses, the home address for the purposes of admission will be the choice of the parent. If the child has more than one home, we will take as the home address the address where the child normally lives for the majority of the school term time.
If any of the oversubscription criteria have too many applicants then the tie-break will be by distance using the method in note 3. If the distance criterion is not sufficient to distinguish between two applicants for the last remaining place then a lottery will be conducted by an independent person.
For admission into Year 7 the academy will keep a waiting list. If a parent does not get a place at their first preference school the child is automatically put on the reserve list for other schools they listed lower. This list is in the order of the oversubscription criteria. Names can move down the list if someone moves into the area and is higher placed on the oversubscription criteria. The list is kept by the Schools Admission Team until the end of August. After this the academy will keep the waiting list until the end of the autumn term, parents should contact the academy for information about the waiting list. The academy is not required to keep any lists for any other year groups.
In order to meet the government’s military covenant aimed at helping service personnel, and Crown Servants returning from abroad we have adopted the following arrangements. Process an application in advance of the family arriving in the area provided it is accompanied by an official letter that declares a relocation date and a Unit postal address, intended address or quartering area address to use when considering the application against the school’s oversubscription criteria. Accept a Unit postal address or quartering area address for admissions purposes for a service child, where the parent requests this. The Governors will not refuse a service child a place because the family does not have an intended address or does not yet live in the area. 4 Evidence of an intended address will be required such as tenancy agreement, or mortgage statement. Please contact the school for more details. For late co-ordinated applications and mid year applications we will aim to remove any disadvantage to UK service personnel (UK Armed Forces) by applying the academy’s oversubscription criteria to their address. We will check to see if the address is within the distance of the last child admitted in the last admission round that was oversubscribed on offer day. If the address is within the distance the governors will be asked to consider admitting providing all children in public care and siblings have already been admitted. We will consider exceeding PAN providing that it is accompanied by an official notice. The governors have discretion to admit above the admission number in these circumstances if they wish, but are not obliged to do so. If a place is refused, you will be informed of your right of appeal. We will need the notice of posting or official government letter and posting address before we can consider an application under these arrangements.
As an admission authority we have the right to investigate any concerns we may have about your application and to withdraw the offer of a place if we consider there is evidence that you have made a fraudulent claim or provided misleading information, for example a false address was given which denied a place to a child with a stronger claim. We reserve the right to check any address and other information provided so we can apply the oversubscription criteria accurately and fairly.