Orchard Lea Infant School Admission Policy for 2010-2011 

 

 

This policy will apply to all admissions from 1 September 2010, including casual admissions. It will be used during 2009-2010 for allocating places for September 2010 as part of the main admission round for Year R.

 

 

Admission Criteria

 

Hampshire County Council is the admission authority for all community and voluntary controlled primary and secondary schools.  The admission arrangements are determined by the County Council, after statutory consultations.

 

 

The County Council will consider first all those applications received by the published deadline of midday on Friday 20 November 2009. Late applications (i.e. those submitted after midday 20 November 2009) will be considered after all on-time applications have been fully processed unless exceptional circumstances merit earlier consideration. Letters to parents offering a infant school place will be sent by the County Council on 22 January 2010.

 

 

The published admission number (PAN) for Orchard Lea Infant School for 2010-2011 is 60.

 

 

For the main admission round, all on time preferences will be considered simultaneously and ranked in accordance with the admission criteria. If more than one school can offer a place, the parent’s highest stated preference will be allocated.

 

 

If the school is oversubscribed, places will be offered in the following priority order. Places for late applications will be allocated using the same criteria:

 

 

1.         Children who are in the care of a local authority or provided with accommodation by that authority in accordance with Section 22 of the Children Act 1989. (A letter from the Children’s Services Department confirming the child’s status must be provided.)

 

 

2.         Children or families who have a serious medical, physical or psychological condition which makes it essential that the child attends the preferred school rather than any other. (Appropriate medical or psychological evidence must be provided in support.)

 

 

3.         Children living within the catchment area of the school who at the time of application have a brother or sister (including children living as siblings in the same family unit) on the roll of Orchard Lea Infant School or its linked junior school (Orchard Lea Junior School) and who will still be on roll at the time of the sibling’s admission. 

 

 

4.         Other children living within the catchment area of the school.

 

 

5.         Children living outside the catchment area of the school who at the time of application have a brother or sister (including children living as siblings in the same family unit) on the roll of Orchard Lea Infant School or its linked junior school (Orchard Lea Junior School) and who will still be on roll at the time of the sibling’s admission.

 

 

6.         Other children living outside the catchment area of the school.

 

 

            N.B. School Closures statement.

 

            In the event of a school closure, pupils from the closing school may be given a higher priority (for example this might include the child being treated as in-catchment) within the admission criteria for any school nominated as the receiving school.  Specific arrangements will be determined by the Local Authority in accordance with the School Admissions Code and will be published at the time for the specific schools affected by a particular closure.

 

 

 

Siblings

 

Criteria 3 and 5 include children who at the time of application have a sibling for whom the offer of a place at Orchard Lea Infant School or its linked junior school (Orchard Lea Junior School) has been accepted, even if the sibling is not yet attending.

 

 

Distance measurement

 

If the school is oversubscribed from within any of the above categories, straight line distance will be used to prioritise applications; applicants living nearer the school have priority. Hampshire County Council’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) will be used to determine distances. Distances to multiple dwellings will give priority to the ground floor over the first floor and so on. On individual floors, distances will be measured to the stairs leading to the communal entrance. This method of prioritising admissions will also apply to any ‘school specific’ criterion unless otherwise stated in the school's brochure.

 

 

Multiple births

 

If the last pupil to be offered a place within the school’s published admission number (PAN) is a multiple birth or same cohort sibling, any further same cohort sibling will be admitted, if the parents so wish, even though this may raise the intake number above the school’s PAN. The PAN will remain unchanged so that no other pupil will be admitted until a place becomes available within the PAN.

 

 

 

Pupils with statements of special educational needs

 

The governing body will admit any pupil whose final statement of special educational needs names the school.

 

 

 

In-Year Fair Access placements by the local authority

 

The local authority must ensure that all pupils are placed in schools as quickly as possible. It may therefore sometimes be necessary for a pupil to be placed by the local authority, or a local placement panel acting on behalf of the authority, in a particular school even if there is a waiting list for admission. Such placements will be made in accordance with the provisions of any protocol approved by the Admission Forum, based on legislation and government guidance. If an admission through In-Year Fair Access raises the number on roll above the PAN, no further pupil will be admitted from the waiting list until a place becomes available within the PAN.

 

 

 

Waiting list

 

When all available places have been allocated, a waiting list will be operated by the local authority. Outside the main admissions round, parents who wish their child to be included on the waiting list must inform the local authority in writing. Any places that become available will be allocated according to the criteria in the admission policy with no account being taken of the length of time on the waiting list. In-year fair access and school closure arrangements will take priority over the waiting list.

 

 

The waiting list will be reviewed and revised –

 

·        each time a child is added to, or removed from, the waiting list;

 

·        when a child’s changed circumstances affect their priority;

 

·        at the end of each school year, when parents with a child on the waiting list will be contacted and asked if they wish to remain on the list for the following school year.

 

 

Parents may keep their child’s name on the waiting list of as many schools as they wish and for as long as they wish.

 

 

Deferred entry to Year R

 

Pupils reach statutory school age at the beginning of the term following their fifth birthday, but, in Hampshire, most pupils are admitted as rising fives. Places for pupils whose parents wish to defer entry to Year R may be held open until the beginning of the spring term of the academic year of the child’s fifth birthday. Places will not be reserved beyond this date. If parents of summer born rising fives wish to defer their admission until they reach statutory school age, admission will be considered for Year 1, their appropriate year group.