General

Alec Reed Academy is a publicly funded independent school. The Academy has an agreed annual admission number of 90 pupils per year for the Primary School and 180 students for the High School. The Academy is not a selective school and admits children against the following process and criteria:

Consideration of applications

1. The Academy will consider all applications for places. Where fewer than 90 Primary applications and 180 Secondary applications are received, the Academy will offer places to all those who have applied.
2. The Academy may refuse admission to particular applicants in cases where fewer than the published admission number have applied. These are applicants who have been excluded from two or more other schools, and the ability to refuse admissions runs for a period of two years from the last exclusion

Procedures where the Academy is oversubscribed

Where the number of applications for admission is greater than the published admissions number, applications will be considered against the criteria set out below. The criteria will be applied in the order in which they are set out below:

a. Looked after children and previously looked after children (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 arrangements order or special guardianship order);

b. Confirmed special medical reason which necessitates attendance at Alec Reed Academy (a letter from a qualified medical practitioner is required as proof of such a reason);

c. Special personal circumstances relating to the child which necessitate attendance at Alec Reed Academy (supporting written evidence will be required from a professional e.g. social worker).

The School Service Panel will consider all claimed exceptional medical or personal circumstances in line with admissions criteria and inform parents of their decision;

d. Brother or sister is still in attendance at Alec Reed Academy Primary or High School at the date of admission. This includes siblings living in the same household, step-siblings and adopted siblings, but does not apply to cousins;

e. Distance from home to the Academy, as measured by straight line from a point in the property determined by Ordnance Survey to the nearest gated entrance which is used by pupils to enter the Academy grounds.

In cases where there is a shared responsibility arrangement and the pupil spends part of the week with one parent/guardian and part with another, the address where the pupil resides which is the closest of these residences as measured by straight line from a point in the property determined by Ordnance Survey to the nearest gated entrance which is used by pupils to enter the Academy grounds will be used. The measuring system is an integral part of the admissions software produced by Tribal Technology Ltd. It uses Ordnance Survey maps and is accurate to 1 meter;

f. Where the comparison and calculation of distance in e. above is the same for more than one application, any remaining places will be randomly allocated.

Deferred entry to the Academy - Admissions of children below compulsory school age and deferred entry to school 

DEFERRED ENTRY

Parents do not have to ensure their child receives full time education until the start of the term following their fifth birthday. However parents have the right to start their child in school in the September following their fourth birthday if they feel this is best for their child. Parents also have the option to start their child on a part–time basis or defer their child’s entry.

If you decide you prefer to defer your child’s entry to the school offered, that place will be held for your child and will not be offered to another child. You would not, however, be able to defer entry beyond the beginning of the term after your child‘s fifth birthday, nor beyond the academic year for which the application was accepted. For example, if your child was born in August 2016, you will not be able to defer entry until September 2021, as this will be the start of the next academic year.

Parents wishing to defer entry need to apply by the closing date and when an offer is made the parents need to inform the Local Authority and the school that they want to defer entry or only attend school part-time.

DELAYED ENTRY INTO RECEPTION

Parents may seek places outside of their child’s normal age group.  The decision is made by Admission Authorities, in the case of Community Schools it is the Council and all other schools it is the governing body of the school concerned.  The decision to admit outside of their normal age group is made on the basis of the circumstances of each case.

If parents wish to apply for delayed entry into Reception, for a Community School, they need to make a request to the Head of Admissions, providing reasons for the request with supporting documentation from a professional. Requests for delayed entry into Reception for other schools would need to be made to the governing body for the school concerned.

The request should be made in the September prior to the normal entry in the following September in order to give sufficient time for the case to be considered by the Admissions Panel prior to the deadline for applications of 15 January.  In the case of community schools, the Local Authority will look at the following factors, when considering the case put forward by the parent but these are not exhaustive:

• The needs of the child and the possible impact on them of entering Year 1 without having first attended the reception class;
• In the case of children born prematurely the fact that they may have naturally fallen into the lower age group if they had been born on their expected date of birth;
• Whether delayed social, emotional or physical development is adversely affecting their readiness for school;
• Any other information which the parent requests the Local Authority to consider.

If the parents case for delayed admission into reception is agreed, the application for a place in the next cohort would have to be made in the following September and would be considered along with all the other applicants for admission in that year.  There would be no guarantee that a place would able to be offered in the preferred school

If the parents request for delayed admission into reception is refused, the parents could still apply by the closing date of 15 January for admission to Reception to the child’s normal age group. After the offer of a place had been made the parent could then inform the Local Authority and the school that they want to defer entry as outlined above.

Parents who are refused a place at a school for which they have applied have the right of appeal to an independent admission appeal panel. They do not have a right of appeal if they have been offered a place and it is not in the year group they would like. However, if the parents are dissatisfied with the outcome of the request for delayed entry into reception they would have the right to complain against the decision through the Council’s complaints procedure for decisions made by Council Officers or under the school’s complaints procedure where the school are the admissions authority.

Operation of waiting lists

Where in any year Alec Reed Academy receives more applications for places than there are places available, a waiting list will operate. This will be maintained by the Academy 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 and, if wanted, an appeal for the school. The child will remain on the waiting list for one term.

Children’s position on the waiting list will be determined solely in accordance with the over-subscription criteria set out above.

Arrangements for appeals panels

a. Parents will be given 14 days to lodge an appeal on receipt of notification that their application for a place was unsuccessful. The reasons for refusal will be indicated on this notice. Appeals will be heard by an appeal panel.

b. The Appeal Panel will be independent of the Academy and will be composed of three members who will include:

• At least one person who has no personal experience of the Academy defined as a ‘lay member’;

• At least one person with experience in education.

c. Parents will be given 14 days notice of their appeal panel hearing. Decisions by the appeal panel are final. The arrangements for appeals will be in line with the Code of Practice on School Admission Appeals published by the Department for Education as it applies to Foundation and Voluntary Aided Schools.                                  

Arrangements for admitting pupils to other year groups, including to replace any pupils who have left the Academy. 

Applications to the school for places other than the normal admission round will be considered on an ongoing basis and places will be offered, subject to the admission criteria above, where vacancies are available.

Alec Reed Academy will reserve the right to refuse entry to the school to any applicants who have been excluded from two or more other schools, and the ability to refuse admissions runs for a period of two years from the last exclusion.

The following specific criteria are applied when considering the admission of children to the Primary Phase of the Academy:

1. Special or social needs supported by the relevant agencies.
2. Children with brothers and sisters currently on roll at the Academy.
3. Proximity of home address to ARA Primary School.

These admission criteria are applied at entry to the main section of the Primary.  There is a separate admission criteria for the Nursery.

Please note that a place in the Nursery does not guarantee a place in the main Academy, although we hope that children will be with us throughout their primary years.  Please talk to us about completing the relevant forms.  You have the right to appeal should a place in the main Academy be refused.