Leigh Academies Trust is the Admissions Authority of the Academy. Applications for places will be made in accordance with London Borough of Bexley’s co-ordinated admissions scheme and timetable. Although the process of admissions is managed by the Local Authority on behalf of the school, the Governing Body is responsible for decisions relating to admissions to the school.
Admission Number
Leigh Stationers’ Primary Academy has an agreed Published Admission Number (PAN) of 30 pupils for entry in reception. The Academy will accordingly admit at least 30 pupils in the relevant age group each year if sufficient applications are received. All applicants will be admitted if 30 or fewer apply.
Oversubscription Criteria
If the Academy is oversubscribed, after the admission of pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan where the Academy is named in the Statement or Plan, priority for admission will be given to those children who meet the criteria set out below, in priority order.
- Children in Care and previously Looked-After Children
A Child in Care 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 Care functions (Section 22(1) of the Children’s Act 1989). A previously Looked-After Child is a child who was adopted or subject to a residence order, or special guardianship order, immediately following having been “Looked-After”.
The highest priority must be given, unless otherwise provided in this Code, to looked after children and all previously looked after children, including those children who appear (to the admission authority) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in care as a result of being adopted. Previously looked after children are children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangement order or special guardianship order). All references to previously looked after children in this Code means such children who were adopted (or subject to child arrangements orders or special guardianship orders) immediately following having been looked after and those children who appear (to the admission authority) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in care as a result of being adopted.
- Sibling(s)
Siblings of children who will be attending Leigh Stationers’ Primary Academy at the time the child is due for admission to the academy. For this criterion sibling means children who live as brother and sister in the same house, including natural brothers or sisters, adopted siblings, stepbrothers or sisters, foster brothers or sisters. Children residing in the same households as part of an extended family, such as cousins, will not be treated as siblings. If siblings from multiple births (twins, triplets, etc.) apply for the Academy and the Academy would reach its Published Admission Number (PAN) after admitting one or more, but before admitting all of those siblings, the Academy will offer a place to each of the siblings, even if doing so takes the Academy above its PAN. If the admissions are to Year R, and so result in a breach of class size legislation, the additional pupil(s) will be treated as “excepted” for a period of one year, in line with the School Admission Code.
- Child of a staff member
The son or daughter of a member of staff who has been employed at the academy for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the academy is made, or who has been recruited to fill a vacant post at the academy for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage. For this criteria son or daughter means a child who lives in the same house as the member of staff, including a natural son or daughter, an adopted child, stepson or daughter, or foster child. Children residing in the same households as part of an extended family, such as cousins, will not be eligible under this criterion. If children come from multiple births (twins, triplets, etc.) and the Academy would reach its Published Admission Number (PAN) after admitting one or more, but before admitting all of those children, the Academy will offer a place to each of the children, even if doing so takes the academy above its PAN. If the admissions are to Year R, and so result in a breach of class size legislation, the additional pupil(s) will be treated as “excepted” for a period of one year, in line with the School Admission Code.
- Health and Special Access Reasons
Medical and social reasons will be applied in accordance with the Academy’s legal obligations, in particular those under the Equality Act 2010. Priority will be given to those children whose medical or social reasons mean they have a demonstrable and significant need to attend the Academy. Equally this priority will apply to children whose parents’/guardians’, medical or social needs means that they have a demonstrable and significant need to attend the Academy. Such claims will need to be supported by written evidence from a suitably qualified medical or other practitioner, and submitted at the time of application.
- Nearness of children’s homes to the Academy
We use the distance between the child’s permanent home address and the Academy, measured in a straight-line using Ordnance Survey address point data. Distances are measured from a defined point within the child’s home to a defined point within the Academy as specified by Ordnance Survey. The same address point on the Academy site is used for everybody. These straight-line measurements are used to determine how close each applicant’s address is to the Academy with those living closest being given priority. If more than one applicant lives in a multi-occupancy building (e.g. flats) priority will be given to the applicant whose door number is the lowest numerically and/or alphabetically. Where parents live at separate addresses, and have joint custody, the address used will be the one where the child spends the main part of the academy week (i.e. Sunday night to Thursday night inclusive).
Applications eligible under criteria 1 – 4 are each ranked in order of nearness of the child’s home to the Academy, using the method given in criterion 5.
Deferred Entry for Infants
Where an offer has been made, the academy will provide for the admission of all children in the September following their fourth birthday. Parents can choose to defer the date their child is admitted to the academy until later in the academy year, but not beyond the start of the term after their child reaches compulsory school age and not beyond the beginning of the final term of the academy year.
Admission of children outside their normal age group
Requests for admission outside of the normal age group should be made to the Principal as early as possible in the admissions round associated with the child’s date of birth. This allows the Academy and admissions authority sufficient time to decide before the closing date. Parents are not expected to provide evidence to support their request, however where provided it must be specific to the child in question and may include medical or Educational Psychologist reports. There is no legal requirement for this medical or educational evidence to be secured from an appropriate professional, however, failure to provide this may impede the Academy’s ability to agree to a request for admission outside of the normal age group Parents are required to complete an application for the normal point of entry at the same time, in case their request is declined. This application can be cancelled if the Academy agrees to accept a deferred application for entry into Year R the following year. Deferred applications must be made via paper CAF to the Local Authority, with written confirmation from the academy Principal. Deferred applications will be processed in the same way as all applications for the cohort in the following admissions round, and offers will be made in accordance with the Academy’s oversubscription criteria.
Fair Access Protocols
The Academy works in accordance with the in-year Fair Access Protocols held by the Local Authority. Should a vulnerable child within the protocols require a place at the Academy, they will take precedence over any child on the waiting list.
Tiebreaker
If it is necessary to use a tie-breaker to distinguish between two or more applications, a distance criterion will be used. Priority will be given to the applicants who live nearest to the Academy as measured in a straight-line using Ordnance Survey address point data. Distances are measured from a defined point within the child’s home to a defined point within the Academy as specified by Ordnance Survey. The same address point on the Academy site is used for everybody. In the event that two or more children in all other ways have equal eligibility for the last available place at the Academy, names will be issued a number and drawn randomly to decide which child should be given the place.
Operation of Waiting Lists
Subject to any provisions regarding waiting lists in the co-ordinated admission scheme, the Local Authority will operate a waiting list. Where in any year the Academy receives more applications for places than there are places available, a waiting list will operate until 31st December. This will be maintained by the Local Authority and it will be open to any parent to ask for his or her child’s name to be placed on the waiting list, following an unsuccessful application. Places from the waiting list will be offered in the priority order set out above, not in order of the date applications are made. The waiting list will be re-ranked each time a child is added or removed and before the offer of any place.
All waiting lists will be deleted at the end of the Summer Term.