Stoke Primary School

Admissions Policy 2021/22

(Oversubscription criteria)

The Local Authority (LA) model policy has been adopted and they review this policy annually.

School Admissions Policy 2021/22

Oversubscription criteria:

If the number of applications is less than the published admission number then all applicants will be offered a place.

All applicants with an Education, Health and Care Plan which names the school must be admitted before places are allocated using the oversubscription criteria.

If there are more requests for a school than there are places available within the school’s admission number, places will be allocated in accordance with the following criteria and in the order shown below.

1. Children who, at the time of admission, are in the care of a local authority or are provided with accommodation by the authority (looked after children). Also children who were previously looked after but ceased to be so because they were adopted, or became subject to a residence order or a special guardianship order

A looked-after child is defined in Section 22 of the Children Act 1989.

2. Children who live in the catchment area served by the school, who have a brother or sister attending the school or, in the case of separate infant and junior schools, the corresponding junior school, provided that the brother or sister will continue to attend that school the following year

3. Other children who live in the catchment area served by the school.

4. Children living outside the catchment area with a brother or sister who currently attends the school or, in the case of separate infant and junior schools, the corresponding junior school, provided that the brother or sister will continue to attend that school the following year;

5. Children of Staff who have been employed at the school for two or more years at the time of application for the school place; or recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.

6. All other children.

If it is not possible to meet all of the requests in any one of the categories described above, the City Council will prioritise the requests by reference to distance.

Brothers and Sisters

The City Council sees the benefits of children from the same family attending the same school and gives priority to brother and / or sister connections in its policy for allocating places. The definition of brother or sister includes step-brothers, step-sisters, half-brothers, half-sisters and adopted brothers and sisters living at the same permanent address. However, where schools are over-subscribed no guarantee can be given that places will be available for brothers and sisters.

Staff

Under the oversubscription criteria the word staff will mean: All staff who have been continuously employed by the school for a period of at least two years for the purpose of working in the school as follows:

• All full time teaching staff
• All full time support staff –defined as those on 37 week and above contract
• All part time teaching staff with a 45% and above timetable
• All part time support staff who work at least 15 hours per week for 37 weeks or more

The two year qualification period may be waived if a post is hard to fill. The definition does not include contract staff. If a service has been ‘in house’ and is subsequently ‘contracted out’ children of staff will no longer be eligible for priority admission under this criterion. The definition does not include peripatetic staff.

Distance

If it is not possible to meet all of the requests in any one of the categories described above, the City Council will prioritise the requests within that category by reference to distance.  A straight-line measurement will be made, using a computerised mapping system, from the centre of the child's residence - to the centre of the preferred school site. The address used must be the child's permanent home address. The shortest measurement will have the highest priority. Where the final place in a year group can be taken by two or more children living an equal distance from the school, the local authority will select by drawing lots.

Home address

A pupil's home address is considered to be a residential property that is the child's only or main residence.  At the time places are allocated, proof of permanent residence at the property concerned may be required. Where documentary evidence can substantiate to the satisfaction of the Local Authority that care is split equally between parents at two homes, parents must name the address to be used for the purpose of allocating a school place.

If a school is offered on the basis of an address that is subsequently found to be different from a child's normal and permanent home address, then that place is liable to be withdrawn.

Children of UK service personnel and other Crown Servants will be treated as meeting the residency criteria for a catchment area once proof of posting has been provided.

Catchment area

One of the aims of local schools is to serve its neighbourhood and develop links with the local community to strengthen the school and the community. The area served by a school is known as the catchment area and details of specific catchment areas are available at https://www.coventry.gov.uk/catchmentareas.

Deferred entry into Primary School

Legally a child does not have to be educated until the term after their fifth birthday.  Parents may feel their child is young for their age, or there may be other reasons for wanting to delay their entry to school.  This is called deferred entry.

In this situation applications for a place should be made in the normal way.  The Authority recommends that the parent/carer contact the preferred school to discuss the matter in more detail prior to submitting the application.  If the parent/carer then decides to defer entry, a place will be reserved until the child starts as long as they start within the academic year. 

The Authority cannot allocate it to another child.  Parents/carers cannot assume however that an application for a deferred entry place will be successful.  It will be considered alongside all other applications in accordance with the general City Council admissions policy.

Where a parent/carer of a summer born child wishes to defer entry until the following academic year, and wishes their child start in reception, this will mean the child is taught out of their normal age group.  They should still make an application at the usual time but must notify us on the application that they will wish to request a place out if the normal age group.  Parents/carers will then be contacted to discuss the matter further and should note that there are no guarantees that such applications will be successful, but that each case will be considered individually.

Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group.  The application will be considered alongside all other applications in accordance with the Coventry co-ordinated admissions scheme.  Where the application is refused the parent has a right to an appeal against the refusal of a place, unless the child has been offered a place in another year group in the school.

Part time attendance

Parents can request that their child attends part time until the child reaches compulsory school age. For more information please visit the following webpage:

http://www.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/file/28497/guidance notes for applying to educate out of the normal chronological age group

Children currently attending Local Authority Maintained Nursery Classes

Parents of children already attending Nursery Classes will also need to complete an application form in order to request a place at their preferred Primary School.  The policy of the City Council is not to provide nursery classes at every school, but to provide classes which serve a wider area than the school’s catchment area.  The number of part-time places available in a nursery class therefore often exceeds the number of places available in the Reception class in the same school.  The City Council cannot therefore guarantee that a pupil who is admitted to a school’s nursery class will be admitted to the same school.  

Waiting List

The Authority cannot always offer places at a preferred school. If this is the case the child's name will be automatically placed on the Waiting List for community and voluntary controlled schools. If places become available, the Authority will allocate the places in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. Applicants may therefore move both up and down the list depending on whether others joining the list meet a higher ranked oversubscription criterion.

Waiting Lists will remain in operation until the end of the 2020 Autumn Term. Thereafter, parents will be required to register their interest in the preferred school at the beginning of each term, otherwise they will be deemed to have withdrawn their interest.

Admission numbers 2021/22

The admission number for the school is 60.  This represents the capacity of the school to admit pupils at the normal age of entry in the academic year 2021/22. 

Appeals

If you have not been offered a place at your preferred school(s) you have the right of appeal against the decision not to allocate your child a place. Accepting the place you have been offered does not affect your right of appeal.

Appeals are heard by an independent panel.

Details of the current appeals timetable for community schools can be found at:

http://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/148/school_admissions/122/school_appeals/2