ADMISSIONS AND TRANSFERS

ADMISSIONS

In deciding where you would like your child to go to school, it is really important to find out as much as you can about the schools themselves. We hold Open days in November for parents of children due to start in Reception the following September. You simply need to turn up to one of the sessions and these will be advertised nearer the time.

We are also very happy for parents to make specific appointments to visit the school at any point during the academic year and we would ask you to arrange this with the office.

The local authority (LA) deals with all admissions for children starting school for the first time and the link below will direct you to the Kent County Council website where you will find all the information that you require. If you have a child in any other year group, and would like to enquire about places, then please do so directly through the school office.

The school follows the LA’s admissions policy, a copy of which is available from the link below. KCC oversubscription criteria is outlined below the following images and further admissions' documents can be accessed at the bottom of this page.

All information can be found on the Kent County Council Website

KCC

Determined Oversubscription Criteria for Community and Voluntary Controlled Infant Junior and Primary Schools

The over-subscription criteria for all Community and Voluntary Controlled Infant, Junior and Primary schools are as follows.

 Before the application of oversubscription criteria, children with an Education, Health and Care Plan which names the school will be admitted. As a result of this, the published admissions number will be reduced accordingly.

If the number of preferences for the school is more than the number of spaces available, places will be allocated in the following priority order:

• Looked After Children and previously Looked After Children – A looked after child is a child who is (a) in the 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 previously looked after child means such children who were adopted (or subject to child arrangements orders or special guardianship orders) immediately following having been looked after and those children who appear to the admission authority to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. 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.
• Current Family Association - a brother or sister in the same school at the time of entry where the family continue to live at the same address as when the sibling was admitted – or – if they have moved – live within 2 miles of the school, or have moved to a property that is nearer to the school than the previous property as defined by the ‘Nearness’ criterion’ (below). If sibling priority is lost, it will not be reinstated for any reason. Linked infant and junior schools are considered to be the same school for this criterion. If sibling priority is lost, it will not be reinstated when a child transfers from an infant school to the linked junior school or for any other reason. Where a child is transferring from Year 2 and would not be attending the infant school from the start of the next academic year, but applied for the linked junior school, the sibling link would not be broken for a child applying for the infant school. In this context brother or sister means children who live as brother and sister in the same house, including natural brothers or sisters, adopted siblings, stepbrothers or sisters, foster brothers or sisters.
• Health and Special Access Reasons – Medical, health, social and special access reasons will be applied in accordance with the school’s legal obligations, in particular those under the Equality Act 2010. Priority will be given to those children whose mental or physical impairment means they have a demonstrable and significant need to attend a particular school. Equally this priority will apply to children whose parents’/guardians’ physical or mental health or social needs mean that they have a demonstrable and significant need to attend a particular school. Such claims will need to be supported by written evidence from a suitably qualified medical or other practitioner who can demonstrate a special connection between these needs and the particular school.
• Nearness of children's homes to school - we use the distance between the child’s permanent home address and the school, measured in a straight line using the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) address point. Distances are measured from a point defined as within the child’s home to a point defined as within the school as specified by NLPG. The same address point on the school site is used for everybody. When we apply the distance criterion for an oversubscribed Community or Voluntary Controlled school, these straight line measurements are used to determine how close each applicant’s address is to the school.

Where new build housing development requires a new school or the significant enlargement of an existing school the ‘Nearness’ criterion will allow for a catchment area (defined by a map) to be created for the relevant school. This will be included in the Statutory Public Notice and admissions determination and will be valid for a period not exceeding three rounds of admissions.

In the event of any of the above criteria being oversubscribed, priority will be given based on distance as described above with those closest being given higher priority. In the unlikely event that two or more children in all other ways have equal eligibility for the last available place at the school, the names will be issued a number and drawn randomly to decide which child should be given the place. If siblings from multiple births (twins, triplets, etc) apply for a school and the school would reach its Published Admission Number (PAN) after admitting one or more, but before admitting all of those siblings, the LA will offer a place to each of the siblings, even if doing so takes the school above its PAN. If the admissions are to Year R, and so result in a breach of infant class size legislation, the additional pupil(s) will be treated as “excepted” for the time they are in an infant class or until the numbers fall back to the current infant class size limit, as defined in the School Admissions Code.

Waiting list will be held for at least the first term of the academic year in oversubscription criteria order.

Where an offer has been made, the school will provide for the admission of all children in the September following their fourth birthday. Parents can choose to defer the date their child is admitted to the school until later in the school year, but not beyond the start of the term after their child reaches compulsory school age and not beyond the beginning of the final term of the school year. Where parents wish, children may attend part-time until later in the school year, but not beyond the start of the term after their child reaches compulsory school age.

Requests for admission to Reception outside of the normal age group should be made to the Headteacher of each preferred school as early as possible in the admissions round associated with that child’s date of birth. This will allow the school and admissions authority sufficient time to make a decision before the closing date. Parents are not expected to provide evidence to support their request to defer their application, however where provided it must be specific to the child in question. This might include medical or Educational Psychologist reports. There is no legal requirement for this medical or educational evidence to be secured from an appropriate professional, however, failure to provide this may impede a school’s ability to agree to deferral. Parents are required to complete an application for the normal point of entry at the same time, in case their request is declined. This application can be cancelled if the school agrees to accept a deferred application for entry into Year R the following year. Deferred applications must be made via paper Reception Common Application Form (RCAF) to the LA, with written confirmation from each named school attached. Deferred applications will be processed in the same way as all applications for the cohort in the following admissions round and offers will be made in accordance with each school’s oversubscription criteria. Further advice is available at http://www.kent.gov.uk/primaryadmissions

PAN

Admissions Arrangements – Reception Class The number of pupils admitted to the Reception class in each academic year is determined by agreement with the Local Authority and with regard to the school’s facilities. In line with our Published Admissions Number of 30, the admissions limit in the Reception Class for academic year 2023/24 is 30 pupils.

Waiting List 

The school operates a waiting list for available places.  The school's Waiting List will be re-ranked, in line with the published oversubscription criteria, every time a child is added. If a place becomes available the school will work through the waiting list applying the over-subscription criteria. You should inform the school of any change in your circumstances, e.g. change of address, which might affect your position on the waiting list.

Appeals 

If your child is due to start Primary school in September 2024, you can appeal if you are refused a place at one of your preferred schools on National Offer Day (Tuesday, 16 April 2024). You needed to submit your appeal before Tuesday 14 May 2024 for it to be considered by Tuesday 16th July 2024. Any appeals received after this time will be heard within 40 school days from the deadline, or where reasonably possible in line with updated guidance from the Department for Education.

For late applications, appeals should be heard within 40 school days from the deadline for lodging appeals where possible, or within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged where reasonably possible in line with updated guidance from the Department for Education

If you are unhappy with the school place you have been offered, you can appeal for any of the schools you named in your application.  We recommend that you still accept the place you have been offered.  This will not affect your appeal and will guarantee your child has a school place if your appeal is unsuccessful.   

If your appeal is successful you must remember to tell the school you were originally offered that you no longer want the place. 

If you were not offered your chosen school,this is normally because the school is full and there were other children who more closely met the schools oversubscription criteria.