School Admissions Policy (next academic year)

Offering A School Place (Notification Of An Offer) (2024-2025)

Parents will be sent an email which will confirm, or not, that a place is available at the school and offering them the opportunity of accepting the place. 

Decision emails in respect of Secondary School applications will be sent on the 1 March 2024 and for Primary School applications on the 16 April 2024. 

All offers will need to be accepted or rejected by parents. The email sent to parents will contain a link that will allow parents to accept or reject the offer within 21 days.

If the offer is not accepted then the place may be withdrawn and the place offered to another pupil.

 

7.1  Multi-Site School

Offers to a school operating on more than one site will be to the school and not to a particular site. The site that children attend is a matter for the internal organisation of the school. Appeals cannot be made against the site allocated.

 

7.2  Admission Outside Normal Age Group

Although most children will be admitted to a school with their own chronological age group, from time to time parents seek places outside their normal age group for gifted and talented children, or those who have experienced problems or missed part of a year, often due to ill health. While it would not normally be appropriate for a child to be placed in a year group that is not concurrent with their chronological age, admission authorities should consider these requests carefully and make decisions on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in consultation with the parents and the school, and specifically in relation to what is most beneficial to the child. Due regard should also be given to the Educational Psychologist’s report where available, and clear reasons ascertainable for such a decision to be made.

If it is decided that there are grounds to consider an ‘out of year’ application, parents refused an application for a place at a school have a statutory right of appeal. However, there is no right of appeal if a place has been offered but not in the desired year group.

 

7.3  Starting School

Unless there are exceptional reasons, a child will be expected to start school on the date as specified in the offer. Delays in starting will need to be discussed with the School, as it will not be possible to hold the place indefinitely. Decisions on how long the place will be held will be made on a case by case basis and in consultation with all the parties concerned. However, it is not anticipated that a place will be held for longer than one term.

Applications received more than a term in advance of when the place is required will be acknowledged and parents advised that the application will be processed at the appropriate time.

 

7.4  Withdrawing The Offer of a Place

The offer of a school place will be withdrawn on the basis that:

7.4.1   It is subsequently discovered that a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application was made (such a false address nearer to the School).

7.4.2   An acceptance of the place is not returned to the Local Authority by the date stated in the offer.

7.4.3   In deciding whether to withdraw the place, the length of time that the child had been at the school must be taken into account.  Where a place is withdrawn on the basis of misleading information, the application must be consider afresh and a right of appeal offered if a place is refused.