ADMISSIONS POLICY 2024-2025

St Mary’s is a Catholic Voluntary Aided, Primary School in the Diocese of Portsmouth, principally serving the parishes of Gosport, Bridgemary, Stubbington and Lee-on-Solent.  It is maintained by Hampshire County Council.

The school Published Admissions Number is 30.

ADMISSIONS

The Local Authority (LA) operates a timetabled co-ordinated admissions procedure for all primary schools in line with Government legislation.

The LA will manage the process on behalf of the school according to the scheme which they will publish on the Hampshire County Council Website. However, it is still the Governing Body, as the Admission Authority for this school, who will allocate the available places in line with this policy.

CLOSING DATES FOR THE RECEPTION CLASS - SEPTEMBER 2024

The closing time/date for applications is midnight on 15^th January 2024.

Late applications (i.e. those submitted after midnight on 15^th January 2024 and before 16^th April 2024) will, unless exceptional circumstances merit earlier consideration, only be considered after all on time applications have been fully processed.

The school’s Admissions Panel will notify the Hampshire County Admissions team of their decisions regarding applications.  Decision letters for all on-time applications will be sent to parents by the County Council on 16^th April 2024.

The Governors will admit up to the published admissions number (30) for the school.  The Governors operate an equal preference admissions policy.

All applications need to be made on an Application for Year R form via www.hants.gov.uk/admissions. Parents can also request a paper copy from the school office.  In addition to the application for year R form parents/carers applying under categories 1 to 6 (excluding 5) are asked to complete a separate supplementary information form.  The additional information on this form assists governors in placing applications in the correct oversubscription criteria.

Over Subscribed Criteria

Should there be more applications than places available, the school governors will admit children according to the following category order:

Category  1         Catholic looked after and previously looked after children (see note 1)

Category  2         Other Catholic children

Category  3         Non Catholic looked after and previously looked after children

Category  4         Heritage Catholics (see note 2)

Category  5         Children of other Christian/Faith categories (see note 3, 3.1 & 3.2)

Category  6        Any other children

All applications will be considered under the relevant category in priority order.  Should the number of applications exceed the number of vacancies in any of the above categories, applications will be considered in the following order:

A                          Siblings of children already on roll at the time of admission           (including children living as siblings in the same family unit at the same address)

B                             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

C                          In the unlikely event of the distance between two children’s homes and

                            the school being the same, random allocation will be used which will be  

    the supervised by the local authority

NOTES :     

For the purpose of these admission arrangements a baptised Catholic means a person baptised in a church in communion with the See of Rome, or a person received into the Catholic Church. 

The understanding of Catholic practice for the purpose of admission to schools in the Diocese of Portsmouth is “membership of the Catholic Church and attendance at Sunday Mass (this includes a Saturday evening Vigil Mass) and evidenced by a priest on the supplementary information form.

1. This criterion provides priority for children who are (a) in the care of a local authority, [b] children who appear to have been in state care outside of England or [c] being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989). It can also be used for children who were previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption order, child arrangements order, or special guardianship order. An adoption order is an order under section 46 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 or section 12 of the Adoption Act 1976. Child arrangements orders are defined in section 8 of the Children Act 1989, as amended by section 12 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Child arrangements orders replace residence orders and any residence order in force prior to 22 April 2014 is deemed to be a child arrangements order. Section 14A of the Children Act 1989 defines a ‘special guardianship order’

1. “Heritage Catholics” – Unbaptised children with (a) Catholic parent(s)
2. In admission arrangements other Christian denominations are defined as: children who belong to other churches and ecclesial communities which, acknowledging God’s revelation in Christ, confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the Scriptures, and, in obedience to God’s will and in the power of the Holy Spirit commit themselves: to seek a deepening of their communion with Christ and with one another in the Church, which is his body; and to fulfil their mission to proclaim the Gospel by common witness and service in the world to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. An ecclesial community which on principle has no credal statements in its tradition, is included if it manifests faith in Christ as witnessed to in the Scriptures and is committed to working in the spirit of the above.

       3.1 All members of Churches Together in England and of CYTUN are deemed to be

              included in the above definition.

1. 1. Admission authorities do not expect members of other Christian denominations to demonstrate Catholic expectations of religious practice.  It is for the religious leader of the relevant Christian denomination to determine commitment to that denomination.

1. Children whose Education Health & Care Plan names the school, will be admitted to the school and count towards the published admission number.

Applications for twins/multiple birth children

If the last pupil to be offered a place within the school’s published number is a multiple birth, further siblings may be admitted even though this might raise the intake number above the school’s PAN.        

RIGHT OF APPEAL

Parents whose children are refused admission to the school have the right of appeal.  An information leaflet and Appeal Form are obtainable from the School Office and we would ask that a letter should be sent within 14 days of receipt of the LA’s letter of refusal to admit, to the Chair of Governors c/o St Mary’s School.  The envelope should be marked on the outside ‘Private and Confidential’ and should also be marked with ‘Admissions Appeal’

WAITING LIST

If the school is unable to accept an application due to being over-subscribed, the child can be placed on a waiting list.  The waiting list will be reviewed at the end of the school year and parents asked whether they wish their child’s name to remain on the list for the next school year.  Parents are asked to confirm their decision in writing.

The waiting list is operated according to the admissions criteria (not according to the date on which the application was received), therefore every time a child is added the list will be ranked again in line with the published oversubscription criteria.

DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED IN SUPPORT OF AN APPLICATION

Completion of the SIF is not obligatory. Only those applying under categories 1 to 5 need to complete a SIF. If a SIF is not submitted, governors, will still consider the application.  However, governors can then only rank the application on the basis of the information received. The additional information given on the SIF may determine the over-subscription category in which the child will be considered; if this information isn't received the child may be considered in Category 7.

Relevant documentation (as stated under each category) should accompany the application form:

• A letter from Social Services confirming child’s status as being in the care of the local authority- categories 1 and 4. A copy of the adoption order, child arrangements order or special guardianship order and a letter from the local authority that last looked after the child confirming that he or she was looked after immediately prior to that order being made.

• Practising Catholic – certificate of baptism and certificate of Catholic practice. The certificate must be obtained from the parish not the school and be signed by the priest. – electronic signatures from priests are accepted - category 2

• Child’s Baptismal Certificate / evidence of reception / Parents Baptismal Certificate – electronic copies of baptismal certificates are accepted categories 1, 2 and 4
• Evidence of membership for Christian/other faiths should be a statement of membership made on a letter from a faith leader - electronic letters from faith leaders are accepted - category 5

STARTING SCHOOL

Pupils born between 1 September 2017 and 31 August 2018 (inclusive) are entitled to full-time schooling from September 2022. Parents can request that their child’s admission is deferred until later in the year (usually at the start of a school term), but not beyond the point they reach compulsory school age, at the beginning of the term following their fifth birthday. Parents can request that their child attends part-time until the child reaches compulsory school age. Exceptionally, parents of children with birthdays between 1 April and 31 August 2018 (inclusive) may wish to defer admission until September 2023 and may request admission to Year R (see below).

ADMISSION OF CHILDREN OUTSIDE THEIR NORMAL AGE GROUP/SUMMER BORN CHILDREN

Parents of gifted and talented children, or those who have experienced problems or missed part of a year, for example due to ill health, can seek places outside their normal age group.

Where the parents of a summer born child choose not to send that child to school until the September following their fifth birthday, they may request that they are admitted out of their normal age group – to Reception rather than Year 1. It is recommended that before deciding to decelerate a child’s admission, parents first contact the school. School staff will be able to explain the provision on offer to children in Year R, how it is tailored to meet the needs of summer born children and how those needs will continue to be met as the children move up through the school. If parents still wish to decelerate their child’s admission to school, they must seek approval from the school governors. Parents would be expected to state clearly in writing why they felt deferred admission to Year R was in their child’s best interests. Parents are also advised to make an application as part of the main admission round for the year group that their child would normally be admitted to school, until a decision on the request for deceleration has been reached.

More advice on summer born children can be found at http://www3.hants.govl.uk/ad-summerborn

APPLICATIONS THROUGHOUT THE SCHOOL YEAR

Any parent can apply for a place for their child at any time to any school without the need for the Local Authority to coordinate in-year admissions.

In accordance with statutory regulations the Governing Body will admit:

• A child with a statement of special educational needs or EHC plan that names St Mary’s and whose parent request in-year admission even if the school is full. In cases where classes are already oversubscribed the Governing Body reserves the right to appeal to the Schools Adjudicator.
• A looked after child or a previously looked after child as directed by the local authority, even if the school is full. In cases where classes are already oversubscribed the Governing Body reserves the right to appeal to the Schools Adjudicator.

Children of UK service personnel will normally be admitted to infant classes outside the normal admissions round as ‘excepted pupils’ even if the year group is full. However, total class number will not be allowed to increase above 31 in KS1 and 34 in KS2.

FAIR ACCESS PROTOCOLS – by the local authority

The local authority must ensure that all pupils are placed in school 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 the local authority’s In-Year Fair Access Protocol. The Protocol is based on legislation and government guidance.