Admissions Policy for reception class and years 1 to 6

Krishna-Avanti Primary School (“the School”) is an I-Foundation Hindu faith Freeschool and welcomes Hindu and non-Hindu children into an open, supportive Hindu environment that extends understanding both within and beyond the boundaries of .

The School has worked since its inception with the International Society for Consciousness (ISKCON) as its official Faith Partner.

The Vision Statement of the School reflects its distinct character which is to help children realise their spiritual, moral and academic potential in a welcoming, secure and supportive environment centred about loving service to Lord Krishna. The school enables pupils to enjoy learning, to develop character and competence, and to prepare for secondary education & the responsibilities of adult life in contemporary Britain.

We ask all parents applying for a place here to respect this ethos and its importance to the school community. This does not affect the right of parents who are not of the faith of this school to apply for and be considered for a place here.

Krishna-Avanti is a two-form entry school and the Governing Body intends to admit no more than a total of 60 pupils into its Reception Class for 2011 and subsequent years. Parents should be aware that the School does receive more applications than the number of places available and that the submission of an application does not guarantee the offer of a place at the School.

ADMISSIONS AND OVERSUBSCRIPTION CRITERIA

Where there are more applications for places than the number of places available, places will be offered according to the ‘community’ and ‘faith’ oversubscription criteria set out below. When the school is oversubscribed 50% of the places will be offered to children without reference to faith.

After the admission of pupils with Statements of Special Educational Needs where the school is named in the Statement, priority for admission will be given to those children who meet the criteria set out below, i n priority order:

Community children (non faith places) – 30 places

1) Children in the care of a Local Authority

2) Siblings of children who will be attending the school at the start date of the new entrant

3) Children who live the shortest distance to school gate (measured in a straight line).

If the school is oversubscribed overall but undersubscribed within the ‘faith’ category below, additional ‘community’ children will be admitted until the admission number of 60 is met.

Hindu children (faith places) – 30 places

1) Practising Hindu children in the care of a Local Authority

2) 10 Children from practising Hindu families prioritised as follows: a: children from Families who have taken initiation (diksha) within ISKCON and are regularly attending Sanga (registered congregation programmes) b: Families who are registered candidates for initiation within ISKCON and are regularly attending Sanga. c: Families who have taken initiation within ISKCON OR who have graduated from an ISKCON gurukula. d: Families who worship at least weekly at an ISKCON temple Evidence that a child meets these criteria will be sought from the ISKCON Temple which the child’s family attends.

3) Children from practising Hindu families who live the shortest distance to school gate (measured in a straight line).

Tie-break

If a tie-break is necessary within faith criteria 2(a)-(d) and 3 above to determine which child is admitted, priority will be given to those who live the shortest distance to the school gate (measured in a straight line).

If the school is oversubscribed overall but undersubscribed within the ‘community’ category above, additional ‘faith’ children will be admitted until the admission number of 60 is met. Where two or more applicants live equidistant from the school and places cannot be offered to all children, the places will be offered using random allocation in the presence of an independent witness.

Children with a Statement of Special Educational Needs

The admission of children with a statement of Special Educational Needs is dealt with by a completely separate procedure. Details of this separate procedure are set out in the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice.

Hindu and ISKCON Places

Evidence of Hindu practice or attendance of regular worship at ISKCON Leicester (if claimed) is provided by applicants on the Supplementary Information Form. Applicants must complete the relevant parts of the form and then ask an authorised officer at their local temple or at ISKCON Leicester (as the case may be) to countersign the form. ISKCON helped to establish the School, assists with setting the ethos of the School and nominates a Governor to the School Governing Body. Priority is therefore given for 10 places to children who worship with their families at ISKCON Leicester. The other places are for local Hindu children.

In-Year Admissions Applications for In-Year admissions are made in the same way as those made during the normal admissions round. This will be coordinated by the Local Authority.

Admission Procedure

1. Although not part of the procedure applicants are encouraged to attend Open Days or to make an individual appointment to meet the Head Teacher before applying.

2. Applicants must complete the Local Education Authority (LEA) “Common Application Form” (CAF) that must be returned to the LA. They must also complete a Supplementary Information Form (“SIF”) if wishing to apply for a place on the basis of Hindu practice or attendance or for an ISKCON Leicester place.

3. The SIF must be returned to the School office and not the LA.

4. The CAF and SIF forms can be obtained from the Leicester City Council website www.leicester.gov.uk and the School office. The SIF form can also be obtained online at www.krishna-avanti-leicester.org.uk 5. Applications must be submitted no later than the date specified for the return of the LA’s CAF.

6. Applications received after the closing date will be considered after those received on time.

7. Offers of Reception places will be sent to applicants from the City Council.

8. Unsuccessful applicants will be placed on a waiting list for each year group. If a place becomes available this will be allocated using the School’s admissions policy and oversubscriptions criteria.

9. Unsuccessful applicants have the right to appeal and information will be sent with the decision letter from the City Council.

INTERPRETATION OF THE TERMS USED IN T HE ADMISSIONS POLICY AND OVERSUBSCRIPTION CRITERIA

Looked after Children - Any child in the care of a Local Authority or in accommodation on provided by them e.g. a child who has been placed with foster carers, as defined by section 22 of The Children Act 1989.

Definition of ‘practising Hindu’ (this applies to ISKCON and other Hindu children)

We will, first of all, require a reference from the [priest] at the child’s temple to confirm that the child and the family are practising Hindus.

However our definition of ‘practising’ for the purpose of these admission arrangements will include:

Children who or whose parents and siblings (applying for an ISKCON place) have/are:· taken initiation (diksha) and are regularly attending Sanga (registered congregation programmes)

· registered candidates for initiation and are regularly attending Sanga

· taken initiation

· graduated from a gurukula

· worship weekly at an ISKCON Temple

For the other Hindu places, children who or whose parents and siblings are participating in worship at least weekly at a .

Family - Those individuals who live at the residential address of the parents and/or parent carers and or legal guardians who are submitting an application for a place on behalf of a child.

Sibling - A child’s brother or sister living at the same address. This includes a child’s half brother or sister, adopted/foster brother or sister and step brother or sister. However this will not apply where the older child will leave school before the younger one starts.

Distance - Measured in a straight line from home to school, using the Local Education Authority’s computerised mapping system based on ordnance survey data. All school official entrances are mapped onto the system. The journey is measured from the address point for the home address to the school entrance.

Home Address - Where a child lives with parents with shared responsibility, each for part of a week, the home address will be taken as the address of the parent who receives child benefit. In cases where parents are not eligible for child benefit the address will be that of the parent where the child is registered with the doctor.