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 Voluntary Aided or Foundation schools in all the above Local Authority areas.
Applications
Parents/Carers 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 application form is on the Council’s website (for on-line applications) 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 beginning of the academic year). 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 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 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 to be anounced early September 2009. 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 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 please see their admission procedure in the 'Read more' section of this page.
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. In February (date to be decided) 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 (date to be decided) February 2009.
Offers of a School Place
Offers will be posted 2nd class (date to be decided for 2009) and will also be available on-line from late that same afternoon (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 of children resident within its area. Where a child qualifies for a place at more than one school the highest ranked place available will be offered.
In the case of parents/carers of children resident in South Gloucestershire being refused a place at their preferred schools, 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 (date to be decided) March 2009. South Gloucestershire Council will contact parents/carers of the need to respond and point out that the place may be withdrawn if they do not. Where a place has been withdrawn this will be con?rmed in writing to parents/carers.
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 (date to be decided) 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 a 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
- where the preferred school is a Voluntary Aided school which has made arrangements with South Gloucestershire Council in respect of admissions and to comply with parental/carer preference would be contrary to those arrangements; or
- where a pupil has been permanently excluded from two or more schools and at least one of the exclusions took place after 1 September 1997.
The information parents/carers provide on the application form will be shared with other Admission Authorities.
Admission Authorities and Governing Bodies of 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 of the Admission to Secondary Schools Booklet (due to be released September 2008) 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.