Beccles Primary Academy admission arrangements for
2019/20

Beccles Primary Academy is a primary academy in Beccles in Suffolk and is part of REAch2 Academy Trust. This admissions policy was finalised following public consultation on a Trust-wide approach to admissions. Our aim is to ensure all our academies have simple, consistent admissions arrangements that focus on serving the local community, reflect our vision and values and are as easy as possible for parents/carers of potential pupils to understand. More information about REAch2 is available on our website: www.reach2.org.

Beccles Primary Academy School caters for pupils aged 3-11 and serves the community around the school in Beccles. As a school we have a very strong ‘family’ feel and welcome partnerships with our families and wider community. The school also has a Nursery. (Pupils admitted to the Nursery are admitted under separate arrangements and, in accordance with the statutory School Admissions Code, admission to our Nursery Class does not guarantee a full-time place in Reception further down the line.)

Admission number and process

The school has an admission number of 45 for entry in Reception.

The school will accordingly admit this number of pupils if there are sufficient applications. Where fewer applications than this are received, the Academy Trust will offer places at the school to all those who have applied.

Applications in the ‘normal round’ (that is the main cycle of applications for Reception places from the beginning of the school year) are administered on behalf of the Academy Trust by Suffolk Local Authority as part of the local coordinated scheme.

Other applications (so called ‘in-year’ applications for Reception or other year groups) are administered directly by the school – parents/carers should contact the school in the first instance to see if places are available.

Oversubscription criteria

When the school is oversubscribed (that is, there are more applications than places available), after the admission of pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan that names the school, priority for admission will be given to those children based on the criteria set out below, in the order shown:

1. Looked after children or previously looked after children i.e. children in foster care,c are homes or who were before being adopted
2. Children with siblings in the school
3. Children of school staff fulfilling a skills shortage role
4. Home-to-school distance – meaning that the remaining places are allocated in order
   of each child’s proximity to the school.

Definitions relating to the criteria

1. 1. ‘Looked after children’ are (a) in the care of a local authority or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989). ‘Previously looked after children’ are children who were previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to adoption, a child arrangements order, or special guardianship order.  These definitions are set nationally, by the Department for Education.
   2. Sibling: where the child has a sibling in the school or a sibling has already been offered a place at the school, and where the sibling will still be attending the school at the time of admission but not in the sixth form. Priority will be given, where necessary, to applications where there is the smallest age gap. The term ‘sibling’ includes: natural, half, step, and adopted brothers and sisters; a child of the partner of the parent/carer; and children who are fostered into the family. In all these cases, the child and their sibling will both be living at the same address (that is where the child is ordinarily resident) in a single family unit. This means that children from different family units, where those separate families are living together at the same address, are not considered siblings under this criterion.
   3. This option is only available for teaching or leadership staff with a permanent contract to work at the school (and not employees in REAch2 regional or central teams); it will be subject to confirmation by an independent REAch2 regional non-executive that, on the evidence available, the post does indeed relate to a skills shortage in the area.  This is compliant with the statutory School Admissions Code – in fact the code allows for a wider definition/scope for children of staff but REAch2 has chosen a more limited approach.
   4. ‘Home-to-school distance’ is defined/measured as “the distance by a straight line (‘as the crow flies’). All straight line distances are calculated electronically by Suffolk County Council using data provided jointly by the Post Office and Ordnance Survey.  The data plots the co-ordinates of each property and provides the address-point between which the straight line distance is measured and reported to three decimal places. Where there is more than one home within a single building (for example apartments) we will measure to a single point within that building irrespective of where those homes are located”.

Ordinarily resident: By ordinarily resident we mean the place where your child usually lives. We consider this to be where they sleep overnight. We may need proof of this address. If you use another address to give the impression that your child lives at a different address to where they are ordinarily resident, such as a second home or a grandparent’s address, so that you have a higher priority for a place at that school; we consider this to be a fraudulent application. Where a child lives at two or more addresses, each for part of the week, the address at which the child is ordinarily resident will be considered to be the address that the child lives at for most of the week (excluding weekends and school holidays). Separate evidence in writing from each parent must be provided to confirm the child’s living arrangements at the time of application.In cases where the child spends an equal proportion of the school week at two or more different addresses, evidence of which is to be considered the main contact address will be required to support the application. Agreement in writing by the parents will be required to state which address is to be used as the ordinarily resident address. This address will then be used when processing all school preferences expressed. It is not acceptable to use one address for one school preference and another address for another school preference.

If we are aware of a parental dispute affecting the application, we may not be able to deal with the application and you may need to seek independent legal advice in order to resolve the matter.

Note – these definitions are used by the Local Authority in relation to admissions to schools that they maintain – REAch2 schools adopt the same definition to avoid any confusion and keep arrangements as simple as possible for local parents and carers. The school and REAch2 as admissions authority reserve the right to carry out additional checks on the accuracy of the home address provided.

Tie-breaker

Where the admission number given above is reached part way through one of the above over-subscription criteria, the remaining places available are allocated on proximity to the school; but only after any applications are considered where there is third party evidence (e.g. from a medical specialist or a social worker), provided at the time of the application, setting out the exceptional medical/social need of the child (or their parent/carer) and why only this school, rather than any other, is able to meet that need; the final decision on such applications will be made by the school’s governors.

Late applications

All applications received by the Local Authority after the deadline will be considered to be late applications. These will be considered after those received on time. If all available places are allocated to children whose applications were received on time, parents or carers who have made a late application may request that their child is placed on the school’s waiting list.

Deferred entry for Reception places

Parents/carers offered a place in Reception for their child have a right to defer the date their child takes up the place, or to take the place up part-time, until the child reaches compulsory school age. Children reach compulsory school age on 31 August, 31 December or 31 March – whichever of those three dates follows (or falls on) the child’s 5th birthday.

Places cannot be deferred beyond the beginning of the summer term of the school year for which the offer was made.

Admission of children outside their normal age group, including for ‘summer-born’ children

Parents or carers may request that their child is admitted outside their normal age group. To so do, they should include a written request with their application, setting out the year group in which they wish their child to be allocated a place and the reasons for their request.

When such a request is made, the Headteacher will make a decision on the basis of the circumstances of the case, based on their professional judgement of what is in the best interest of the child, taking account of the evidence and rationale provided by the parents/carers.

Waiting lists

Where the school receives more applications for places (in the ‘normal round’ for Reception in-take) than there are places available, a waiting list will be maintained by the Local Authority until end August 2018 and then by the school until 31 December 2018. It will be open to any parent or carer to ask for his or her child’s name to be placed on the waiting list, following an unsuccessful application.

Children’s position on the waiting list will be determined solely in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. Where places become vacant, they will be allocated to children on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. The waiting list will be re- ordered in accordance with the oversubscription criteria whenever anyone is added to or leaves the waiting list.

Waiting lists are not held, by either the school or the Local Authority, at any other time or for any other year group. Applications made to the school will be held on file by the school and remain live for 15 school days, after this time they will archived.

Appeals

All applicants refused a place have a right of appeal to an independent appeal panel constituted and operated in accordance with the School Admission Appeals Code.

Appellants should contact Suffolk County Council Admissions Team at [email protected] or Education Appeals Office P.O. Box 579 Ipswich Suffolk IP1 2BX to lodge an appeal, after reviewing the guidance on appeals available at https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/children-families-and-learning/schools/school- places/education-admission-appeals-and-permanent-exclusion-reviews/ .

The appeals process is run in accordance with the statutory processes and timescales set out in the School Admissions Appeals Code. For appeals on the ‘normal round’ of

Reception intake decisions, the deadline for appeals to be submitted to Suffolk is expected to be 14 May 2018. For appeals outside of the ‘normal round’, the deadline to lodge an appeal to Suffolk will be set out in the letter responding to the application for a place.