Admissions Policy

Aims 

This policy aims to:

Explain how to apply for a place at the school

Set out the school’s arrangements for allocating places to the pupils who apply

Explain how to appeal against a decision not to offer your child a place

Legislation and statutory requirements

This policy is based on the following advice from the Department for Education (DfE):

School Admissions Code

School Admission Appeals Code

Definitions

The normal admissions round is the period during which parents can apply for state-funded school places at the school’s normal point of entry, using the common application form provided by their home local authority. 

Looked after children are children who, at the time of making an application to a school, are:

• In the care of a local authority, or 
• Being provided with accommodation by a local authority in exercise of its social services functions 

Previously looked after children are children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they:

• Were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 or the Adoption and Children Act 2002, or 
• Became subject to a child arrangements order, or
• Became subject to a special guardianship order

A child reaches compulsory school age on the prescribed day following his or her fifth birthday (or on his or her fifth birthday if it falls on a prescribed day). The prescribed days are 31 December, 31 March and 31 August.

How to apply

For applications in the normal admissions round you should use the application form provided by your home local authority (regardless of which local authority the schools are in). You can use this form to express your preference for a minimum of 3 state-funded schools, in rank order. 

Admission arrangements for our school are determined by Essex County Council Planning and Admission Department.  Please visit their website www.essex.gov.uk/Education-Schools/Schools/Admissions for further details and to make an application.

You will receive an offer for a school place directly from the local authority.

Please note pupils already attending our nursery will not transfer automatically into the main school. A separate application must be made for a place in reception.

Requests for admission outside the normal age group

Parents are entitled to request a place for their child outside of their normal age group. 

Admission arrangements for our school are determined by Essex County Council Planning and Admission Department.  Please visit their website www.essex.gov.uk/Education-Schools/Schools/Admissions for further details and to make an application.

Decisions on requests for admission outside the normal age group will be made on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. In accordance with the School Admissions Code, this will include taking account of:

• Parents’ views
• Information about the child’s academic, social and emotional development
• Where relevant, their medical history and the views of a medical professional
• Whether they have previously been educated out of their normal age group
• Whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely
• The headteacher’s views

Wherever possible, requests for admission outside a child’s normal age group will be processed as part of the main admissions round. They will be considered on the basis of the admission arrangements laid out in this policy, including the oversubscription criteria listed in section 6. Applications will not be treated as a lower priority if parents have made a request for a child to be admitted outside the normal age group.

Parents will always be informed of the reasons for any decision on the year group a child should be admitted to. Parents do not have a right to appeal if they are offered a place at the school but it is not in their preferred age group.

Allocation of places

Spring Meadow Primary School has an agreed admission number of 50 pupils for entry in Reception.

There is no guarantee of a place for children living in the priority admission area. In the event of oversubscription places will be allocated using the following criteria in the order given:

1. Looked After Children (as defined above)
2. children with a sibling attending the school
3. children living in the priority admission area
4. remaining applications

In the event of oversubscription within any of the above criteria, priority will be determined by straight line distance from home to school, those living closest being given the highest priority.

Children below compulsory school age 

Where children below compulsory school age are offered a place at the school, they will be entitled to attend the school full-time in the September following their fourth birthday.

Parents may defer their child’s entry to the school until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which the child reaches compulsory school age, and not beyond the beginning of the final term of the school year the offer was made for.

Where the parents wish, children may attend part-time until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age.

In-year admissions

You can apply for a place for your child at any time outside the normal admissions round. As is the case in the normal admissions round, all children whose statement of SEN or EHC plan names the school will be admitted. 

Likewise, if there are spaces available in the year group you are applying for, your child will always be offered a place. If there are no spaces available at the time of your application, your child’s name will be added to a waiting list for the relevant year group. When a space becomes available it will be filled by one of the pupils on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria listed in section 6 of this policy. Priority will not be given to children on the basis that they have been on the waiting list the longest.

In-year admission arrangements for our school are determined by Essex County Council Planning and Admission Department.  Please visit their website www.essex.gov.uk/Education-Schools/Schools/Admissions for further details and to make an application.

Appeals

If your child’s application for a place at the school is unsuccessful, you will be informed why admission was refused and given information about the process for hearing appeals. If you wish to appeal, you must set out the grounds for your appeal in writing and send it to Clerk to the Independent Appeal Panel at the following address:

PO Box 11, Chelmsford, CM1 1LX

Monitoring arrangements

This policy will be reviewed and approved by the Governing Body every year.

Whenever changes to admission arrangements are proposed (except where the change is an increase to the agreed admission number), the Governing Body will publicly consult on these changes.