Where there are more applications than places available in Year 12 at a community or voluntary controlled school, applications will be prioritised using the criteria below. They will be applied in conjunction with explanatory notes – 1 to 5 which form part of the policy.
- Students (children) looked after and previously looked after, i.e. in public care, giving priority, if necessary, to the youngest child(ren) and students who were previously looked after outside of England – see note 1.
- Students living in the catchment area who have brothers or sisters in the school at the time of their admission – see note 2.
- Students living outside the catchment area who, at the time of their admission, have brothers or sisters in the school who were allocated a place at that school by the Local Authority either (a) in the absence of a place being available in the catchment area school due to oversubscription and the school was identified by the Local Authority as the next nearest with a place available or (b) the school is named in the sibling’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) – see notes 2, and 3.
- Other students living in the catchment area.
- Students living outside the catchment area who have brothers or sisters in the school at the time of their admission – see note 2.
- Students living outside the catchment area.
Where there is a need to prioritise places within any of the above criteria except criteria1, priority will be given to those students who live nearest to the school – see note 4 and 5 overleaf.
Applications will be prioritised on the above basis. An exception will be made under the Authority's policy for the education of children with special educational needs where a child holds an Education, Health and Care Plan, that names the school.
Explanatory notes
[These notes are part of the policy]
Note 1
A child looked after is a child in public care, who is looked after by a local authority within the meaning of Section 22 of the Children Act 1989. Children previously looked after are children who were looked after, but have ceased to be so because they were adopted (under the terms of the Adoption and Children Act 2002) or became subject to a Child Arrangements Order or Special Guardianship Order (Children Act 1989).
Advice issued by the Department for Education (DfE) in July 2021 states that a child previously looked after outside of England is one that was looked after, outside England, by a public authority, a religious organisation or another provider of care whose sole purpose is to benefit society. For a previously looked after child to be considered under criteria 1, the parent or carer must provide appropriate written evidence to support the application. Without this evidence it will not be possible to consider the application under category 1 of the LA General Admissions Policy
Note 2
Brothers and sisters are those living at the same address and includes step and foster children. Priority will only be given where it is known at the time of allocating places that a sibling will be attending the school at the time of admission.
In circumstances where there is an application for more than one child in the family, and it is not possible to offer a place to all of the children concerned, it will be up to the parent or carers to decide whether they wish to accept the place[s] offered. This will also be the case in relation to twins, etc.
Note 3
If parent or carers believe they qualify for consideration under criterion 3, they should indicate this on their preference form in the place provided for this purpose.
Note 4
Distance measurements will be undertaken using the Local Authority’s computerised Geographical Information System [GIS]. This measures a straight-line measurement between the centre of the pupil’s home address and a common point on the school site as determined by the LA.
Note 5
Random allocation will be used as a tie-break in categories 4 and 6 to decide who has the highest priority for admission if the distance between the children’s home address and the school is the same. This process will be independently verified.