Admissions

In-year applicants should follow the procedure outlined at:

http://www.hertsdirect.org/services/edlearn/admissions/inyear/​

NORTHAW C of E SCHOOL 

ADMISSIONS POLICY - RECEPTION TO YEAR 6

2021/2022

POLICY OUTLINE:

• Northaw Primary is a Church of England Voluntary Aided School. The governors will admit up to 15 children to the Reception group each academic year, without reference to ability or aptitude. The school has a PAN - Published Admission Number of 15 children in each year.
• The LA - Local Authority Hertfordshire operates an agreed co-ordinated admissions scheme in line with government legislation. The LA will manage the process on behalf of the school according to the scheme published each year. The Governing Body, as the Admission Authority, will allocate the available places in line with this policy.
• The admission arrangements detailed in this document do not apply for those being admitted into the Nursery. A separate policy is available for this. Parents of children who are admitted to the Nursery must apply in the normal way for a place at the school if they want their child to transfer to the reception class. Attendance at the Nursery does not guarantee admission to the school.
• Pupils will be admitted full time to the reception class from the September after their fourth birthday. Parents may request that their child attends part-time until they are of compulsory school age. The school does not defer admission to Reception class for summer born children.

HOW TO APPLY:

• The closing date for admission application forms to be received by the home LA is 15th January 2021. The application form and all the published information for Hertfordshire residents is found at www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/admissions
• Parents/carers are requested to complete our Supplementary Information Form and return them to the school office by the above date. If a SIF is not completed the Governing Body will apply their admission arrangements using the information submitted on the Common Application Form only, which may result in your application being given a lower priority.
• Section 324 of the Education Act 1996 requires the governing bodies of all maintained schools to admit a child with an EHC (Education, Health and Care) Plan that names the school.
• Fair Access Protocol: The school co-operates with the LA’s Fair Access Protocol for children who are hard to place. Such children will be admitted before others on the waiting list even if the school is full.
• In the event of there being more applicants than there are places available, the governors will apply the following criteria in the priority order of categories as listed:

Category 1: Children looked after and children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or a special guardianship order). See DEFINITIONS

Category 2: Siblings of children already at the school at the time of entry. See DEFINITIONS 

Category 3: Children who at the time of application are living within the Ecclesiastical Parish of Northaw and Cuffley. Click here to see a map of the parish.

Category 4: Children whose parents/guardians have, at the time of application, and for a period of six months previously, at least once in each calendar month, attended public worship at a Church which is a member of Churches Together in England or Evangelical Alliance. Applicants in this category will be required to provide written evidence of attendance from their parish priest in the form of a signed letter.

Category 5: Children for whom it can be demonstrated that they have a particular medical or social need to go to the school. The final decision in this category lies with the school’s governors. See DEFINITIONS

Category 6: Any other children.

PROXIMITY:

In the event of categories 2 to 6 being oversubscribed the determining factor will be the proximity to the child’s home to the school as defined by the Local Authority. The school uses a straight line distance measurement system provided by HCC: Distances are measured using a computerised mapping system to two decimal places. The measurement is taken from the AddressBase Premium address point of your child’s house to the address point of the school. AddressBase Premium data is a nationally recognised method of identifying the location of schools and individual residences. If a final tiebreak is needed where two different addresses are the same distance from a school, in the case of a block of flats for example, the lower door number will be deemed nearest as logically this will be closest to the ground and therefore closer. If there are two identical addresses of separate applicants, the tiebreak will be random allocation. Every child entered onto the HCC admissions database has an individual random number assigned between 1 and 1 million, against each preference school. When there is a need for a final tie break the random number is used to allocate the place, with the lowest number given priority.

The address provided must be the child’s current permanent address at the time of application. ‘At the time of application’ means the closing date for applications. ‘Permanent’ means that the child has lived at that address for at least a year and/or the family own the property or have a tenancy agreement for a minimum of 12months. The application can only be processed using one address. If a child lives at more than one address (for example due to a separation) the address used will be the one which the child lives at for the majority of the time. If a child lives at two addresses equally, the address of the parent/carer that claims Child Benefit/Child Tax Credit will be considered as the child’s main residence. If a family is not in receipt of Child Benefit/Tax Credit alternative documentation will be requested. If a child’s residence is in dispute, parents/ carers should provide court documentation to evidence the address that should be used for admission allocation purposes. If two different applications are received for the same child from the same address, e.g. containing different preferences, the application from the parent in receipt of child benefit will be processed if the applications cannot be reconciled.

Northaw School reserves the right to request proof of address from any applicant.

DEFINITIONS: 

Category 1 Children looked after:

Places are allocated to children in public care according to Chapter 7, Section 2 of the School Admissions (Admission Arrangements and Co-ordination of Admission Arrangements) (England) Regulations 2012. These children will be prioritised under Category 1. Highest priority will also be given to children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted, or became subject to a child arrangements order or a special guardianship order.

A "child looked after" is a child who is:

a) in the care of a local authority, or 

b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (section 22(1) of The Children Act 1989)

All children adopted from care who are of compulsory school age are eligible for admission under Category 1. Children in the process of being placed for adoption are classified by law as children looked after providing there is a Placement Order and the application would be prioritised under Category 1. Children who were not "looked after" immediately before being adopted, or made the subject of a child arrangement order or special guardianship order, will not be prioritised under Category 1. Applications made for these children, with suitable supporting professional evidence, can be considered under Category 5.

Category 2 Siblings:

A sibling is defined as: the sister, brother, half brother or sister, adopted brother or sister, child of the parent/carer or partner or a child looked after or previously looked after and in every case living permanently in a placement within the home as part of the family household from Monday to Friday at the time of this application. A sibling must be on the roll of the named school at the time the younger child starts or have been offered and accepted a place. If a place is obtained for an older child using fraudulent information, there will be no sibling connection available to subsequent children from that family. A sibling link will not be recognised for children living temporarily in the same house, for example a child who usually lives with one parent but has temporarily moved or a looked after child in a respite placement or very short term or bridging foster placement.

Category 5 Medical or Social need:

Category 5 applications will only be considered at the time of the initial application, unless there has been a significant and exceptional change of circumstances within the family since the initial application was submitted. All schools in Hertfordshire have experience in dealing with children with diverse social and medical needs. However in a few very exceptional cases, there are reasons why a child has to go to one specific school.

Few applications under Category 5 are agreed.

All applications are considered individually but a successful application should include the following:

• Specific recent professional evidence that justifies why only one school can meet a child’s individual needs, and/or
• Professional evidence that outlines exceptional family circumstances making clear why only one school can meet he child’s needs.
• If the requested school is not the nearest school to the child’s home address clear reasons why the nearest school is not appropriate.
• For medical cases – a clear explanation of why the child’s severity of illness or disability makes attendance at only a specific school essential.
• Evidence should make clear why only one school is appropriate.

Applications under Category 5 can only be considered when supported by a recent letter from a professional involved with the child or family, for example a doctor, psychologist or police officer. The supporting evidence needs to demonstrate why only one named school can meet the social/medical needs of the child.

Applications for children previously "looked after" but not meeting the specific criteria outlined in Category 1, may be made under this rule.

FRAUDULENT APPLICATIONS:

Address evidence is frequently requested, monitored and checked and school places will be withdrawn when false information is deliberately provided. Action will be taken in the following circumstances:

When a child’s application address does not match the address of that child at their current school; 

When a child lives at a different address to the applicant; 

When the applicant does not have parental responsibility;

When a family move shortly after the closing date of applications when one or more of the following applies:

The family has moved to a property from which their application was less likely to be successful; 

The family has returned to an existing property; 

The family lived in rented accommodation for a short period of time (anything less than a year) over the application period;

Council tax information shows a different residence at the time of application; When a child starts at the allocated school and their address is different from the address used at the time of application.

NOTES:

• Please note that the information in this policy is correct for the year shown. Policies for future years may well be different.
• Please note, where the last available place is offered to a twin or multiple birth child the other twin or multiple birth sibling(s) will also be admitted as exceptions to the infant class size rule.
• Please note that in the case of older children who apply to join the school, admission will be on the basis of places being available in the relevant class group. If there are more applicants for places than places available, then the above admissions policy will apply.
• Notification of the places to be offered will be confirmed by the home Local Authority. Parents must inform the LA of their decision to accept / reject the place offered by the date set by the LA. Unsuccessful applications - Parents wishing to appeal who applied through Hertfordshire’s online system should log in to their online application and click on the link "register an appeal". Out of county residents and paper applicants should call the Customer Service Centre on 0300 123 4043 to request their registration details and log into www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/ schoolappeals and click on the link "log into the appeals system".
• In Year Admission Appeals - If your in year application is unsuccessful the county council will write to you with registration details to enable you to login and appeal online at www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/schoolappeals
• Continued Interest. After places have been offered, the school’s continuing interest (waiting) list will be maintained by Hertfordshire County Council. A child’s position on the CI list will be determined by the admission criteria outlined above and a child’s place on the list can change as other children join or leave it. The county council, on behalf of the school’s governing body, will contact parents/carers if a vacancy becomes available and it can be offered to a child. Continuing interest lists will be maintained until the summer term (date to be confirmed). To retain a CI application after this time, parents must make an In Year application.