BOROUGH OF POOLE

ADMISSIONS POLICY 2009/10

1

Pupils who are “Children in Care” (see Note 1)

2

Pupils who live (see Note 2) within the school's catchment area. If there are too many applications from the catchment area, criteria 3 (a) to (e), will be used in order to prioritise the applications with criterion 4 used as the final determining factor.

3

Pupils who live (see Note 2) outside the school's catchment area, in the following priority order:

a)

Pupils who have a sibling (see Note 3) who is already on the roll of the school and will continue to attend the school at the time of admission.

b)

Pupils who have a significant medical or psychological condition where the application is supported by appropriate written evidence from a Consultant for medical grounds or a Clinical Psychologist for psychological grounds, giving reasons why only a specific school can meet the medical or psychological needs of the individual pupil.

c)

For Church of England Voluntary Controlled schools only - children who are members of the Anglican Church who attend worship at least once a month and whose parents request admission on denominational grounds (see Note 4).

d)

For Church of England Voluntary Controlled schools only - children who attend a mainstream Christian church and who attend worship at least once a month and whose parents request admission on denominational grounds (see Note 5).

e)

All other pupils who do not qualify in any of the categories (a) to (d) above.

4

If a school is oversubscribed in any of the categories 1, 2, and 3 (a) to (e) above, pupils who live closest to the school will be given priority. The distance is measured by a Geographical Information System (see Note 6). If applicants live at the same address or in the same block of flats the allocation of places will be made by way of drawing lots (see Note 7).

Pupils with a Statement of Special Educational Needs.

Pupils with a Statement of Special Educational Needs issued by a local authority naming a specific school where a pupil should receive his/her education will be admitted to that school before preferences are considered for admission in September.

Admissions arrangements.

Admission to all Poole schools will be in accordance with the agreed primary scheme for co-ordinated admission arrangements 2009/10.

Transfer from Nursery to Reception.

At schools that have Nursery classes, parents should be aware that transfer to the Reception year is not an automatic process. Parents must fill in and submit an application form. Applications for places in the Reception Year from parents with children already attending a Nursery class will be considered at the same time as applications from parents whose children are not attending the school's Nursery. If there are more applications than places available places will be allocated in accordance with the priorities set out in 1 - 3 above, with distance as described in 4 being used to prioritise applications. Children currently attending the Nursery class do not receive priority when applications are considered.

Deferred entry.

Children born between 1 September 2004 and the 28 February 2005 will attend part-time in September 2009 moving to full time attendance after the Autumn half term. Parents of children born between 1 March 2005 and 31 August 2005 can defer entry to the Reception Year until the start of Spring term in January 2010 at which time the child will attend full-time. A place that has been offered will be kept available for those parents wishing to defer their child's entry.

Applications for a place in any year group other than a pupil's correct age related National Curriculum year group.

Applications for pupils to be educated outside their normal national curriculum year group will be considered by a specialist panel comprising: a Senior Officer from the School Admissions Team in Children & Young People's Integrated Services, The Principal Educational Psychologist or her representative in Children & Young People's Integrated Services and the Headteacher of the school concerned.

Applicants must provide with their application form the following information in support of their request:

(A pupil would need to meet Criteria 1 and 2 above in all cases, for agreement of an out of year group admission. The existence of Criterion 3 would serve to strengthen a case.)

In-Year Fair Access

The admission authorities in Poole have established an In-year Fair Access Panel in accordance with the School Admissions Code of Practice. The purpose of the Panel is to ensure an equitable distribution of in-year admission placements and managed moves of particular groups of pupils with challenging behaviour, or pupils who have been unable to secure a school place at any school in Poole. Decisions of the Panel may mean that individual schools may have to admit pupils which will result in the Published Admission Number being exceeded. Admission authorities will not be asked to admit a pupil to Year R or Year 1 due to infant class size restrictions. However, admission authorities may be asked to admit to a child to Year 2 as the child would be considered as an “excepted pupil” for the remainder of that academic year.

In-year admissions - Children in Care

A Child in Care may be admitted to a school above the Published Admission number if it is felt by the local authority that a particular school is the most appropriate placement to meet the needs of the individual child.

Applications from separated parents.

Only one application can be considered for each pupil. Where parents are separated it is essential that agreement is reached by both parties concerning the nominated preferred schools. If agreement cannot be reached the local authority will only consider the application from the parent who is the prime carer for the child. The prime carer is the parent in whose name Child Benefit payments are made.

Applications for children of multiple births.

If there are insufficient places to accommodate all the children of a multiple birth (i.e. twins, triplets etc) the parents of the children will be asked to nominate the child or children to take up the available number of places.

Notes

1.

“Children in Care” means any child who is the care of a local authority in accordance with Section 22 of the Children Act 1989.

2.

The local authority will consider that a child lives at the address at which he/she lives during the school week. Where a child lives at more than one address during the school week the local authority will consider the home address as being where the prime carer resides. The “prime carer” is the person in whose name Child Benefit payments for the individual child are made. The final decision on the home address of a child will be made by the local authority. If any information supplied by an applicant is judged by the local authority to be fraudulent or intentionally misleading the local authority may refuse to offer a place or if already offered may withdraw the offer.

3.

“Sibling” means a full brother or sister, and a half brother or half sister, adoptive brother or sister and non-blood related children who live with married or cohabiting parents in the same household.

4.

In criterion 3(c), applications on denominational grounds must be supported by a signed form by a parish priest confirming attendance at worship at least once a month. The supporting information form can be obtained from the school or from The School Admissions Team in Children and Young People's Integrated services.

5.

In criterion 3(d), applications on denominational grounds must be supported by a signed form by a priest, minister or leader of the church. “Mainstream Christian church” means a church which subscribes to Churches Together in Britain and Northern Ireland. The supporting information form can be obtained from the school or from The School Admissions Team in Children and Young People's Integrated services.

6.

The distance from home to school is measured by using the shortest, safest, practicable walking route using the centre line of public roads and footpaths from a point outside the centre of the pupil's home address (see Note 2 above) to a point opposite the nearest school gate that is for the use of pupils.

7.

If there are insufficient places to accommodate all applicants and the distance criterion is used, the local authority will use random allocation for applicants living at the same address or in the same bock of flats who are eligible for the remaining places. Applicants will have their names drawn as lots to see who should be offered the place(s). The person drawing the names will be an officer within Children & Young People's Integrated Services who has no involvement in the school admissions process.