Applying for primary school place outside of LEA

flea72

Rainey_LB wrote: »

But if it is a faith school the applications are dealt with by the school, not the LEA so you must have their application in on time, even if the county application is later

faith schools are also dealt with at county level, unless they are independent schools. however the schools usually request you fill in one of their own forms too, but being faith schools their admissions criteria are usually set in such a way, that only the ones they want, actually get a place at the school

F

Rainey_LB

flea72 wrote: »

faith schools are also dealt with at county level, unless they are independent schools. however the schools usually request you fill in one of their own forms too, but being faith schools their admissions criteria are usually set in such a way, that only the ones they want, actually get a place at the school

F

Thats not the case where I work, it is a state primary faith school, you are required to fill in a county application but you must also fill in the school application, and return it to the school directly along with any supporting paperwork. ie priest reference, baptism certificate.

The school then sorts the applications into criteria following their OWN admissions policy, the governors then check the list of children to be admitted and that the criteria has been followed, the whole admissions process is dealt with by the school, apart from right at the end when the list is passed to county for them to write to the parents. Its the school that checks the application form, the baptism certificate, the priest reference, etc, county has no involvement in this.

Yes it does help if you are of the right faith to get in obviously, but the admissions criteria is followed very strictly.

EDIT : there are children of other faiths in the school and the admissions criteria must be followed properly or when appeals are held when a child doesn't get in, county could then award said child a place, for infants this would then mean the school having to employ another teacher if the class then became over 30, which the school could not afford so believe me it is done to the letter and checked and then double checked!!!

msb5262

Although it's strictly illegal to have an infant class of over 30, there are exceptional circumstances where it's allowed. One example is that a school in my nearest town has a published admission number of 60 (2 classes x 30 children) but the education authority messed up and sent out letters to parents offering 61 places, all of which were taken up...so one class has 30, the other 31.
Similarly if the school has 1 space but a pair of twins are next on the list, both children will be admitted.
HTH
MsB

Rainey_LB

msb5262 wrote: »

Although it's strictly illegal to have an infant class of over 30, there are exceptional circumstances where it's allowed. One example is that a school in my nearest town has a published admission number of 60 (2 classes x 30 children) but the education authority messed up and sent out letters to parents offering 61 places, all of which were taken up...so one class has 30, the other 31.
Similarly if the school has 1 space but a pair of twins are next on the list, both children will be admitted.
HTH
MsB

Not always, our had 1 space left and offered 1 twin, rejected the other, parents understandably rejected the 1 place and took them elsewhere.

Rather than debating what could or should happen, my advice is please just check with both LEA's and the school what you should do, I think the procedure varies up and down the country. If you follow their guidelines unless the school if heavily oversubscribed you should be OK.

Good luck!!

mrcow

As as lready advied - the best thing you can do is to call the school in question today and talk to them about their admissions. It's also advisable (if they can accomodate) to ask if you can have a look around - just so that you're sure (my children's primary gave me a tour). With this promary school, we put our name down on their list and they put the school's name on the form for us for when it came through.

We're on the border of two LEAs too and so cross applications are quite common here.

flea72

Rainey_LB wrote: »

Thats not the case where I work, it is a state primary faith school, you are required to fill in a county application but you must also fill in the school application, and return it to the school directly along with any supporting paperwork. ie priest reference, baptism certificate.

The school then sorts the applications into criteria following their OWN admissions policy, the governors then check the list of children to be admitted and that the criteria has been followed, the whole admissions process is dealt with by the school, apart from right at the end when the list is passed to county for them to write to the parents

but county still have overall say in how the criteria are adhered to, and the school have to abide by their own admission policy.

should there be any appeals, they will be dealt with at County level, and the school will be severely reprimanded, should they have admitted children above others in the pecking order

you seem to infer that the school have overall say in who attends, and that is not the case with state schools. ok faith schools can do their own admin, but that still would have no bearing on whether your child would be allocated a place. in fact faith schools can only request that all possible applicants fill in one of their own application forms, but as it isnt part of their selection criteria, it cant be upheld that a child cannot attend, should they not have filled one in. as long as the child applying fulfils the admission policy, they will be treated in exactly the same way, as all other children, who have gone via the faith schools own application process

F

kimmi_b

Thanks to all who have replied - very useful advice guys!

I've checked my local authority website, and the LEA for ther school I would like her to attend and my LEA has started accepting applications so I am going to complete the application form this week. The school / LEA I want her to attend is not accepting applications yet and has not published their admissions criteria for 2011/12 so I am going by their criteria for last year.

When you make an application, do you have an option to submit supporting statements for your reasons for choosing that school? I think our application will not be successful unles we can outline why we have chosen the school in question as we are more than 20 miles from the chosen school.

flea72: You say the school has no input into pupil selection - I rang the school earlier this year and was told they had a list for registering interest in that school. If they don't have any input into admissions, then why do they pre-register pupils?

Thanks for any guidance!

flea72

kimmi_b wrote: »

flea72: You say the school has no input into pupil selection - I rang the school earlier this year and was told they had a list for registering interest in that school. If they don't have any input into admissions, then why do they pre-register pupils

just so they can get a rough idea on how to plan the coming year. ie if not many children wanting to attend, could they merge year groups. maybe other years higher up the school would fit better into certain classrooms, so moving big and small year groups to other rooms. maybe they have enough space and applicants that would warrant taking on another teacher and having two classes for that year group

you can include supporting statements, but they will have no bearing on your application, as it can only be decided based on that schools admission policy

so where i live, we have alot of children attending the school, who are looked after by grandparents, due their parents working. ok, the child has an affinity with the school in that area, and it would make life hell of a lot easier for the parents. but the fact the parents dont live there, means their application would be bottom of the list, due to not meeting the higher ratings on the school admissions policy

if children got put to the top of the list, just based on a parents sob story, and social preferences, then it kinds defeats the object of the admission policies, which is to make the entry to education system fair for all

F

Rainey_LB

flea72 wrote: »

but county still have overall say in how the criteria are adhered to, and the school have to abide by their own admission policy.

should there be any appeals, they will be dealt with at County level, and the school will be severely reprimanded, should they have admitted children above others in the pecking order

you seem to infer that the school have overall say in who attends, and that is not the case with state schools. ok faith schools can do their own admin, but that still would have no bearing on whether your child would be allocated a place. in fact faith schools can only request that all possible applicants fill in one of their own application forms, but as it isnt part of their selection criteria, it cant be upheld that a child cannot attend, should they not have filled one in. as long as the child applying fulfils the admission policy, they will be treated in exactly the same way, as all other children, who have gone via the faith schools own application process

F

Your missing my point.......yes it is all fed back to county at the end and the school has to adhere to its OWN admissions policy BUT if you don't fill in the school's own application and return it with the correct supporting information on time, it is classed as a late application by the SCHOOL and our COUNTY. We have the same application dates as the county we are in, but the neighbouring county sometimes varies, therefore if their one is later you still need to get our application in ontime for OUR counties deadline or it classed as late.

We have a list for pre-registering pupils/applicants, the only thing we use this for is to invite all interested parents to the school for an open morning, give them a tour of the school and explain the admissions procedure and to give them a copy of our application pack. It is a one form entry school and always oversubscribed.

Your experience seems to differ with mine, I know procedures vary in different areas, are you involved in school applications?

From our county online admissions website

Many voluntary aided and foundation schools have an additional form, called a Supplementary Information Form (SIF), that you need to complete as well ascompleting the COUNTY application form either on paper or online. You should complete a SIF if needed for any school you have named in your application. This is used to help the governors consider your child's application fully. If you do not submit a SIF your application will still be considered but it may not be possible for your application to be accurately assessed against the school's admission rules. Therefore the chances of your child being offered a place at the school may be reduced.

From the school
To apply for a place at this school, you should complete and return both required forms by [closing date]. In order to make a valid application you should complete the school’s Supplementary Information Form and
return it to the Governors Admissions Panel via the school office, together with all other relevant paperwork required for your application. You should also complete a Common Application Form from COUNTY Local Authority and return it to the local authority as per their instructions. This form should NOT be sent to the
school. Both forms must be received by the appropriate persons by [closing date].
You will be advised of the outcome of your application by [date], initially by letter or email from the Local Authority on our behalf. If you are unsuccessful (unless your child gained a place at a school you ranked higher) you may ask us for the reasons, related to the oversubscription criteria listed above, and you have the right to a hearing by an independent appeal panel.
If you do not complete the Supplementary Information Form described above and return it by the closing date, the governing body will have difficulty assessing the application and it is likely to be considered under one of the lower criteria. If you do not complete a Common Application Form as described above and return it by the closing date then there is no application to consider. Therefore it is essential that you complete BOTH forms as described above.

So my point all along, is just make sure you check you have done everything you need to for that school/county and get it all in on time.

peachyprice

flea72 wrote: »

you can include supporting statements, but they will have no bearing on your application, as it can only be decided based on that schools admission policy

I would disagree with this statement.

If you have specific reasons for wanting that scool you MUST make them aware at the time of application. If refused a place and they are not aware of your reasons you cannot then bring further information into play at an appeal, the appeal will only be heard based on the information provided at the time of application.

So yes, send a supporting statement.