Admission Arrangements for Community Schools
2008/2009 School Year

1 This is the admission arrangements for the 2008/2009 school year to schools for which Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council (the LA) is the Admission Authority i.e. community schools.

2 Only the LA is able to decide who is eligible for a place in these schools. Neither the Headteacher nor their representatives are able to offer a school place.

General Statement

3 In Doncaster, each school serves a local community, usually referred to as the ‘catchment area’. These arrangements reflect the philosophy that ‘efficient education’ is particularly fostered by closely associating a secondary school and a group of linked primary schools, in a pyramid. In this way, each school becomes part of the provision for a community and the education of the community’s children benefits greatly from the association of its schools.

Admission Number

4 A school must have an admission number for each ‘relevant age group’, defined in law as ‘an age group in which pupils are or will normally be admitted to the school in question’. The admission number for each year group is set with regard to the capacity assessment for the school taking into account the nature and type of the school buildings and provides for an acceptable amount of space for each pupil. Therefore, the admission number is set to benefit the children who are taught in the school and those who teach and support them. Each school year, the LA consults with the Governing Body of the school before the admission number is set.

5 Before making a final decision, the LA consults schools on the number, and size, of classes or registration groups planned. These are determined within resources available. Where this results in places in excess of the admission number being available, places are offered strictly in criteria order.

6 In the case of the year of entry, a child may not normally be refused admission to a school on the grounds of prejudice to efficient education or the efficient use of resources unless the number of applications for admission exceeds the admission number or a child is offered a school which is ranked higher on a Common Application Form (CAF) under a Coordinated Admission Scheme (CAS).

Expressing A Preference - Year of Entry

7 Applications for admission to a schools year of entry should be made in accordance with the relevant CAS.

Closing Date For Receipt Of Parental Preferences

8 The closing dates for receipt of preferences for the year of entry are in accordance with the Authority’s CAS.

Late applications are processed in accordance with the relevant CAS.

Eligibility For A Place At A School - Over subscription Criteria

9 This section outlines the criteria to be used to decide upon eligibility for a place where the number of preferences exceeds the admission limit.

Preferences for each school will be sorted in the order of the criterion outlined below. Each of the remaining criterion are applied in order of priority as tie breakers, with criterion e) being the final tie breaker.

a) Children In Public Care

b) Catchment Area
Children who are ordinarily resident in the catchment area of the preferred school.

For applications for the year of entry received by the closing date for late applications, a catchment area school will be determined in relation to the address at which the pupil is ordinarily resident on that date. Once a waiting list is formed, a child’s place on that list will be updated in light of any new address.

c) Siblings
Children who are living within the same family unit (e.g. stepchildren) who will be attending the requested school, (excluding sixth form and nursery), at the point of admission. Where the requested school is an infant or junior school, attendance at a linked infant or junior school will be included.

Where there are insufficient places in the appropriate year group to enable all siblings from a family unit to be admitted, including twins, triplets, etc, priority for available places will be given in order of birth, eldest first.

d) Link Schools
Children attending a school which is a linked pyramid school and who have, on the initial closing date for late applications, attended that school continuously for more than one calendar year.

This criterion does not apply in the case of the admission of pupils from nurseries.

e) Proximity
Children who live nearest to the requested school measured in a straight line from the point of the front entrance of the pupil’s place of ordinary residence iv, to the entrance nearest to the reception point of the school building.

In the case of split site schools, ‘entrance nearest to the reception point’ will refer to the site the pupil attends for the purpose of morning registration. If two or more pupils live equidistant from the school, the distance each pupil lives by road from the preferred school will be measured and the place offered to the pupil who lives nearest by this means.

Measurements will be made using EMS for Windows provided by Capita Education Services and/or ArcView GIS provided by Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc or suitable substitute.

The Offer Of A Place At A School

10 Decisions will be posted to parents in accordance with the Authority’s CAS.

Unsuccessful Applications

11 If a Doncaster pupil is not eligible for a place at any school, one will be allocated at another Doncaster school in accordance with the CAS.

12 Any parent whose child is not offered a school place for which they have expressed a preference has the right to an independent appeal.

Waiting Lists

13 Pupils will be added to the waiting list(s) of community schools where they were refused a place and those schools were ranked higher on the CAF than the place offered. Places on the waiting list will be strictly prioritised in criteria order given above and will operate until 15 school days from the start of the autumn term.

14 Places will only be allocated from the waiting list when the number of pupils falls below the Admission Limit of the school. Whilst the waiting list is in operation, when a place does become available it will be allocated to the child at the top of the list on the day that the LA receive written confirmation of the vacancy.

In Year Transfers

15 Applications for admission outside of the normal admission round (In Year Transfers) are normally considered each school week. They should be made on the Authority’s In Year Transfer Form. The deadline for applications is Tuesday at 5.00pm.

16 Where there are sufficient places an application will normally be agreed unless specific circumstances apply . However, admission may be refused if circumstances have changed since the year group was the year of entry and admission of an additional child would ‘prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources’ i.e. class size prejudice in year 1 or 2.

17 Where there are insufficient places for the number of applicants, all applications will be ranked in accordance with the criterion listed above and places awarded accordingly.

18 Where a place is not available, the application will normally be refused and the applicant will be offered the right of appeal to an independent appeals panel.

19 If a place is agreed, the headteacher will, within two weeks of receiving confirmation from the LA of an offer of a place, determine a start date.

20 Pupils are normally admitted to a school at the start of the next new term other than with the prior approval of the Headteacher of the school or in circumstances beyond the parent’s control, e.g. movement into the Borough.

21 Pupils are required to start at the school within two weeks of the start date offered by the headteacher and places cannot be held open beyond this period. Applicants must be in a position to take up a place within this stated period.

22 In the case of a child in public care iii, an application will be approved, in so far as no year group will be taken more than two above the admission limit, providing that the following criteria are met;

· The child lives in the catchment area for that school, or
· The child lives with a family where other children attend that school, or
· The school has particular resources or specialist services that cannot be provided by another school within Doncaster.

Prior to the application being agreed, the following will apply;

· A meeting convened by the LA LAC team with the school to determine a package of support prior to the young person’s admission. This may include additional teaching, or additional support from the reintegration officer or EWO for LAC. The designated governor for LAC (or their representative) should be invited to attend this meeting.
· Support from the Learning Mentor service following the guidance set out in ‘Managing Pupil Mobility’.

23 Repeat applications made for entry to the same year group at the same school will not be considered, unless there has been significant and material change to either the families or the schools circumstances, since a previous application, and this is relevant to the application for admission. Where information was known at the time of the original application or appeal, but parents chose not to use it, this will not be considered as additional information or a change in circumstances.

Allocation Of Places

24 If, following the consideration of an application from a Doncaster resident, an application is refused and the pupil does not currently have a place in a Doncaster school a place will be offered at an alternative school.

25 The alternative school will be the next nearest community school with vacancies, taking into account the Authority’s transport policy.

Admission To Sixth Form

26 The total number of children to be admitted each year will depend upon the published Admission Limit for the sixth form of the school preferred.

27 A pupil will only be admitted to the sixth form of a school provided they meet the sixth form admission criteria of the school preferred.

28 Application for admission to sixth forms, including pupils currently attending the school, must be made in writing direct to the school.

29 Any parent whose child is not offered a school place for which they have expressed a preference has the right to an independent appeal.

General Information

Deferred Entry
Where parents apply for admission to a reception class for a child who is not of statutory school age, and parents wish to defer entry, a child should be admitted to the class no later than the beginning of the summer term in the reception year.

False Information
Any place offered on the basis of a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application will be withdrawn, e.g. giving a false address. It is for parents to satisfy the LA of their circumstances as they apply to the admission criteria at the time of application.

Multiple Addresses
Where a child is resident with parents at more than one address, the address used for admission purposes shall be the place at which the child spends the majority of the school week (Monday to Friday) during term time. Where there is a clear 50/50 split, parents should decide.

Further Information
Further, more detailed information about the admission process can be found in the Admission To School Booklets, available from the school or the LA as follows:-

Telephone: 01302 737204 or 01302 737234
Address: Admissions and Pupil Services, PO Box 266, College Road, Doncaster DN1 3AD
Email address: admissions@doncaster.gov.uk
Web: www.doncaster.gov.uk