This policy applies to the following community and voluntary controlled schools:
- Balliol Primary
- Brickhill Primary
- Bromham Primary
- Camestone Primary
- Carlton Primary
- Cotton End Forest Primary
- Kempston Rural Primary
- King’s Oak Primary
- Milton Ernest Primary
- Sheerhatch Primary
- Westfield Primary School
The local authority will apply the following criteria (in the rank order shown) to decide the order in which places will be allocated when there are more requests from parents / carers than the number of places available:
- All 'looked after' children and all previously ‘looked after’ children, including those children who appear (to the admission authority of the school) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted (see definitions).
- Pupils living in the catchment area with siblings at the school (see definition of sibling).
- Other pupils living in the catchment area.
- Other siblings (see definitions).
- Any other children.
Notes
- If applying these criteria results in there being more children with an equal right to admission to the school than the number of available places, the tie break will be the distance the pupil lives from the school, measured in a straight line, using the local authority’s computerised measuring system, with those living closer to the school receiving the higher priority. The local authority will measure the distance from the address point of the pupil’s home to a point on the school site or nodal point/points, agreed with the governing body of the school (published in the ‘Starting School’ and ‘School Transfer’ admissions booklets). The local authority will not give priority within each criterion to children who meet other criteria.
- If a pupil moves into the catchment area outside the normal admissions round (or after the allocation process has begun) it may be more difficult to offer a place at the catchment area school if this would mean exceeding the admission number at the school. In this case, a place will normally be offered at the next nearest school or academy which caters for pupils of the same age and has places available.
- Pupils who have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) are required to be admitted to the school which is named on their EHCP, even if the school is full. Pupils identified for admission through the Fair Access Protocol will also be admitted even if the school is full.
Definitions
- 'Looked after' children - A ‘looked after’ child is a child in the care of a local authority as defined by Section 22 of the Children Act 1989. In relation to school admissions legislation a ‘looked after child’ is a child in public care at the time of application to a school.
- Previously ‘looked after’ children - A previously ‘looked after’ child is a child who was ‘looked after’ but ceased to be so because they were adopted or became subject to a child arrangements order or a special guardianship order.
- ‘Looked after’ children from outside of England - A child is regarded as having been in state care in a place outside of England if they were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation or any other provider of care whose sole purpose is to benefit society.
- Catchment area - A catchment area is a geographical area from which children are given priority for admission to a particular school. Please see see our catchment area webpages for more information. for more information on school catchment areas.
- Sibling - A sibling refers to a brother or sister, half brother or sister, adopted brother or sister, step-brother or sister, foster brother or sister where foster care has been arranged by a Local Authority or the child of the parent / carer’s partner, and in every case, the child should be living at the same address. The sibling must be in the school at the time of application and be likely to remain in the school at the proposed date of admission.
- Home address - A child’s home address will be regarded as the address of the parent / carer with parental responsibility with whom the child normally lives. This will not usually include grandparents, aunts or uncles. Where a child spends time with parents / carers at more than one address, the address used to allocate a school place will be the one at which the child spends the majority of the school week (Mondays to Fridays) including nights. If there is any query on the home address this will be checked against original official documentation eg Council Tax bill, a recent utility bill (gas, electricity or water), a rental agreement, child benefit annual statement or family tax credit information.