This scheme will apply to all applications from parents/carers, for Reception Year admission in September 2009 for schools with the following Admission Authorities:
- South Gloucestershire Council, as Admissions Authority for its own Infant and Primary schools within South Gloucestershire.
- Admission Authorities for Voluntary Aided primary schools in South Gloucestershire.
Applications
Applications for Reception Year places at an infant/primary school for September 2009, for any of the Admission Authorities listed above, must be made by parents/carers on an application form. This form can also be completed on-line on this website (early September 2009) and is also included in this booklet for parents/carers, available from South Gloucestershire primary schools and South Gloucestershire Student Access & Support Team, from early September 2009. All parents/carers are strongly advised to give three preferences in rank order, stating reasons for their application, which can be for South Gloucestershire Community or Controlled infant/primary schools, or for South Gloucestershire Voluntary Aided primary schools.
Parents/Carers of children who do not live in South Gloucestershire but who wish to apply for a place at a South Gloucestershire infant/primary school must return the completed application form to South Gloucestershire’s Student Access & Support Team.
Applications by parents/carers of children resident in South Gloucestershire for Reception Year places at infant or primary schools outside South Gloucestershire must be to the relevant Local Authority or school Admission Authority where applicable.
Although all applicants must complete the application form, for Voluntary Aided primary schools applicants must provide proof of baptism to the respective school(s) by (date to be decided). Any applications received directly by a Voluntary Aided primary school Admission Authority will be forwarded immediately to South Gloucestershire Council.
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 Council has received the completed application form by the set closing date. This date will be announced at the begining of September 2008. Applications received after the closing date are ‘late applications’ and will not normally be considered for the initial allocation of places.
Consideration of Applications and Allocation of Places
Applications for all schools will be considered under an ‘equal preference’ system. All preferences (1st, 2nd or 3rd) will initially be considered equally regardless of ranking.
South Gloucestershire will pass the applications received on to the relevant Admission Authorities named on the application forms. South Gloucestershire Council will keep a copy of all applications but will send the original application forms or evidence from an on-line application to the relevant Voluntary Aided primary school Admission Authorities.
South Gloucestershire and Voluntary Aided primary school Admission Authorities will consider and rank all applications received, including any supplementary data, with reference to their own over-subscription criteria where necessary. Ranked lists of potential offers will then be returned to South Gloucestershire Council by the Voluntary Aided primary school Admission Authorities, 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 Reception Year place to be made to parents/carers. South Gloucestershire will inform all Community and Controlled infant/primary schools and Voluntary Aided primary school Admission Authorities of the offers to be made to parents/carers.
Offers of a School Place
Offers will be posted 2nd class (date to be decided) and will also be available on-line from late afternoon on that same day. (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 Reception Year to parents/carers. Where a child qualifies for a place at more than one school the final offer will be the highest ranked preference.
In the case of parents/carers 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.
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 reason why the application is late 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 or 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 in March 2009 (date to be decided). If any under-subscribed school becomes over-subscribed owing 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 for application)
Parents/Carers who wish to apply for a place for their child at a Community or Controlled Infant, Junior or Primary school in South Gloucestershire at any time during the academic year should contact the Student Access & Support Team or the individual school for an application form, no more than 4-5 weeks (excluding school holidays) before they wish their child to start school.
The Student Access & Support Team will, on request, provide information to these 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). All applications will be considered in accordance with the same principles and rights of preference and appeal as stated for admissions made at the normal time of application.
In-Year Admission applications for a place at a Voluntary Aided primary school must be made directly to the school.
Parental 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 maintained by South Gloucestershire Council.
- a school maintained by another Local Authority (in this case parents/carers must make their own arrangements with the relevant Admissions Authority);
Where parents/carers prefer an independent school or a school maintained by another Local Authority, they are asked to inform the Student Access & Support Team. If a place is not required at a school maintained by South Gloucestershire Council the Student Access & Support Team will not offer a place. However, parents/carers are advised that if they have any preference for another school in South Gloucestershire, then they should also indicate it on the form included with this booklet, in case their highest ranking preference is unsuccessful.
The information parents/carers provide on the preference form may be shared with other Local Authorities and schools in the area, including Voluntary Aided schools, as far as is necessary.
An Admission Authority must comply with parental/carer preference regarding parents’/ carers’ preference for school except:
- when to do so would prejudice the provision of ef?cient education or the ef?cient 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 preference would be contrary to those arrangements; or
- where to do so would result in exceeding the limit on infant class sizes, as imposed by Section 1(6) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998; or
- where a child has been permanently excluded from two or more schools and at least one of the exclusions took place after 1 September 1997 (Section 87, School Standards and Framework Act 1998).
Local Authorities and Governing Bodies of Voluntary Aided schools are required to set admission levels that 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. The 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 the Admission Number of each school for 2009/2010 (see booklet due out September 2009) admissions is clearly indicated for the Reception Year intake for infant, junior and primary schools. 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.