This scheme will apply to all applications from parents/carers resident in South Gloucestershire at the time of application for Year 7 admission in September 2009 for schools with the following Admission Authorities:
- South Gloucestershire Council, as Admission Authority for Community and Controlled secondary schools within South Gloucestershire;
- Bath & North East Somerset Local Authority;
- Bristol Local Authority;
- Gloucestershire Local Authority;
- Wiltshire Local Authority;
- Admission Authorities for Academies, Voluntary Aided or Foundation schools in all the above Local Authority areas;
- Admission Authorities for other maintained secondary schools in England
Applications
Parents/Carers of children resident in South Gloucestershire must complete the South Gloucestershire application form for Year 7 places at secondary school for September 2009. This includes applications for schools in any of the Admission Authorities listed above. The On-line application form is on the Council’s website and is available from 3rd September in the 'Do it now' section of this page and is also included in the booklet for parents/carers (also available from South Gloucestershire secondary schools and from South Gloucestershire Student Access & Support Team from the 3rd September 2008). All parents/carers are strongly advised to give three preferences in rank order for schools in South Gloucestershire or other Admission Authorities. South Gloucestershire will inform the other Local Authorities of these applications.
Parents/Carers of children who do not live in South Gloucestershire but who wish to apply for a place at a secondary school in South Gloucestershire, must complete the common application form available from the Local Authority in which they live. If an application form is received from a parent/carer of children living outside South Gloucestershire, the form will be passed on to the appropriate authority.
All parents/carers must complete the application form. However, individual Admission Authorities for Academies, Voluntary Aided or Foundation schools may wish to use supplementary forms to collect additional information in order to apply their over¬subscription criteria. Parents/Carers will need to contact the individual schools for information.
Completed application forms must be returned directly to South Gloucestershire Student Access & Support Team. Applications for a place will only be considered if South Gloucestershire Student Access & Support Team has received the completed application form by the closing date of 4.30pm on Friday 24 October 2008. Applications received after the closing date are ‘late applications’ and will not normally be considered for the initial allocation of places. On-line applications will also receive their letter in the post, please await receipt of this letter before making queries as your queries may be answered within the letter.
Consideration of Applications and Allocation of Places
Applications for all schools will be considered under an ‘equal preference’ system. All preferences will initially be considered equally regardless of ranking.
South Gloucestershire Council will produce a report of all applications and pass this to the relevant Local Authorities and Admission Authorities on November 14 2008 by electronic data transfer. South Gloucestershire will keep a copy of all applications (including on-line applications) but will send the original application forms and supporting information to the relevant Admission Authorities.
In the case of admission to John Cabot Academy all applications will be considered with reference to the Academy’s own over-subscription criteria set out in section 8. Ranked lists of potential offers will then be returned to South Gloucestershire Council including the reason why each applicant qualified for a place. The list will also include those pupils, for whom a place cannot be offered, in rank order, explaining the reasons for refusal against the over-subscription criteria, and in the order in which additional offers will be made should places become available.
South Gloucestershire Council then considers all potential offers in order to determine the single offer of a secondary school place to be made to parents/carers living in its area. By 16 February 2009 South Gloucestershire Council will inform other Local Authorities and Admission Authorities of the offers to be made to parents/carers living in its area.
South Gloucestershire Council will inform all secondary schools in its area of the offers to be made to parents/carers by 27 February 2009.
Offers of a School Place
Offers of a school place will be available on-line from late afternoon on 2 March 2009 and will also be posted (2nd class) to parents/carers on 2 March 2009. South Gloucestershire Council is unable to inform parents/carers of the offer by telephone. South Gloucestershire Council will make the single offer of a place for Year 7 to parents/carers. Places will be allocated against the published admission criteria without reference to the applicant’s order of preference. Where a child qualifies for a place at more than one school, the final offer will be the highest ranked school with a place available.
Please note: applicants who did not apply using the on-line application form will not be able to access offer details using the on-line system. On-line applicants must make a note of their username and password to access their details.
In the case of parents/carers of children resident in South Gloucestershire being refused a place at their preferred school(s), an alternative school place will be offered to their child and they will be informed of the options available at that stage including their right of appeal. Parents/Carers must respond to the offer directly to South Gloucestershire Council by 16 March 2009. Parents/Carers are advised that failure to respond by this date may result in the offer of a place being withdrawn. Where a place has been withdrawn this will be confirmed in writing.
Late Applications
Applications received after the closing date are ‘late applications’ and will not normally be considered for the initial allocation of places. However, South Gloucestershire Council will consider the circumstances of a late application before deciding whether or not to consider it along with the on-time applications.
For over-subscribed schools, if places become available following the allocation of places for a school, the same criteria will be applied to ‘late applications’, formal appeals and applications for children whose parents/carers have indicated in writing that they still wish to be considered for a place.
For under-subscribed schools ‘late-applications’ will be offered as soon as possible after 16 March 2009. If any under-subscribed school becomes over-subscribed due to the number of late applications, places will be allocated using the published over-subscription criteria.
Admission During the School Year (outside the normal time of application)
Parents/Carers who wish to apply for a place for their child at a South Gloucestershire Community or Controlled secondary school at any time during the academic year should contact the Student Access & Support Team or the individual school. If the preferred school has spaces in the year group these may be allocated by the school. If the school is full in the relevant year group parents/carers will need to apply to South Gloucestershire Council.
The Student Access & Support Team will, on request, provide information to parents/carers on the procedure for applying for a school place and their right of appeal against any decision not to offer a place at their preferred school(s).
Applications for a place at an Academy, Voluntary Aided or Foundation school must be made directly to the school.
Parental/Carer Preference
Parents/Carers have the right to express a preference for the school they wish their child to attend. This preference can be for:
- Community or Controlled schools;
- a Voluntary Aided school;
- a school maintained by another Local Authority;
- an Academy.
In these cases parents/carers living in South Gloucestershire need to complete the application form on-line at www.southglos.gov.uk/admissions or the form contained within the admissions booklet.
Please ensure that if you apply on-line you have checked the order of preference and that you have submitted the application. If you have not submitted your application by the closing date (to be decided) it will not be considered. The on-line application process will not be available after the closing date. You will therefore have to complete the application form in the booklet and this will be considered as a late application.
Parents/Carers may express a preference for a school:
- on transfer from junior/primary to secondary school; or
- at any other time that parents/carers wish to transfer their child from one school to another,
- maintained by the relevant Admission Authority.
South Gloucestershire Council, as Admission Authority, must comply with parental/carer preferences regarding parents’/carers’ preference for school except:
- when to do so would prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources; or
- when a child has been permanently excluded from two or more schools and the most recent exclusion has taken place within 2 years.
The information parents/carers provide on the application form will be shared with other Admission Authorities.
Admission Authorities and Governing Bodies of Academies and Voluntary Aided schools are required to set admission levels which reflect fully the accommodation capacity of the school. No child should be refused admission to the school preferred by parents/carers unless it is genuinely full. This admission level is called the Admission Number; it takes account of a school’s capacity to accommodate pupils and applies to each year group as it proceeds through the school.
In the list of schools in section 5 the Admission Number for each school is clearly indicated for 2009/2010. When the number of applications for places at a particular school exceeds the Admission Number, allocations will be made in accordance with the published over-subscription criteria.