Dear Colleague As You Are Aware, the Governing Body
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Dear Colleague Consultation - Admissions Policy 2016-17 As you are aware, the Governing Body of a voluntary school is legally required to consult on any changes in its admissions policies and criteria. I am pleased therefore to attach a copy of the proposed admissions criteria for Christ’s School, Richmond, for 2016-17 entry, which the Governing Body has approved for consultation. You will also find proposed criteria on the school website and paper copies are available from the school office. If you wish to make any comments, we would be grateful to have them by 25 thth March 2015 at the latest. You can write to the above address or email our Admissions Officer, Kim Tullick at [email protected].. Yours sincerely Canon Robert Titley Chair, Admissions Committee 11 Christ's School Admissions Criteria for 2016-17 Draft Criteria for Consultation Introduction This document sets out the proposals agreed at a meeting of the Full Governing Body of Christ’s School (hereafter, 'the Governors’, 'we', 'us', 'our') at its meeting on 8th July 2014. The Governors commend these proposals for further consultation, during the designated consultation period 1st November 2014 –– 1st March 2015. Sections 1-3 of the document describe proposed amendments of the following kinds Section 1 - General Section 2 - Foundation Places Section 3 - Sixth Form Section 4 then sets out a draft text of the amended Criteria, with supporting Notes of Guidance. 1 Amendments - General The draft in Section 4 below incorporates amendments to make terminology consistent (eg 'student' everywhere, not 'pupil') and to reflect both five-form entry and the advent of the Sixth Form. 2 Amendments - Foundation Places 2.1 Embracing the Borough The Borough have asked us to consider amending our criteria to be more inclusive of applicants from the whole Borough. 2.1.1 One possibility was to link places to all Church of England (hereafter 'Anglican') primary schools, or allall faith primary schools, in the Borough. This would have other effects, however. It would introduce an additional element to the criteria, that of attending certain schools as well as attending a church, and it would put at a disadvantage Foundation applications for children who attended community primary schools. 2.1.2 Our proposed amendments continue to work on our two present principles, church attendance and proximity, but now embrace the whole Borough. They also now permit non-Anglican applications in each category. 22 2.1.3 The Board advises that the law does not allow us to stipulate residence within a particular local authority area. Instead, therefore, these proposals stipulate residence within certain Anglican deaneries (geographical groups of parishes within a diocese): 1.1. the Deanery of Richmond and Barnes in the Diocese of Southwark, which covers nearly all of the Borough south and east of the Thames 2.2. the Deanery of Kingston in the Diocese of Southwark, which covers the rest of the Borough south and east of the Thames, and also a part of the London Borough of Kingston 3.3. the Deanery of Hampton in the Diocese of London, which covers nearly all of the Borough north and west of the Thames 4.4. the Deanery of Hounslow in the Diocese of London, which covers the rest of the Borough north and west of the Thames, and also a part of the London Borough of Hounslow. 2.1.4 Though these deaneries spread beyond the Borough, the proximity criterion will tend to work in favour of applications from residents of the Borough if places are over-subscribed. If places are not over-subscribed, the wider catchment will help us to fill a larger proportion of Foundation places. It is unlikely that Anglican secondary schools outside the Borough will perceive this as a difficulty, given that most out-of-Borough applicants will live some distance from Christ's. 2.1.5 The present criteria consider applications first from Anglican worshippers and then from non- Anglican worshippers living within 5 kilometres of the school, then those living between 5 kilometres and 10 kilometres from the school, again considering first applicants from Anglican worshippers and then non-Anglican. Those living further way are not eligible for Foundation places. Many residents within the Borough, however, live more than 5 kilometres from Christ's, and some live more than 10 kilometres away. We could retain the present 'less-than-5 kilometres' criterion and only then go Borough-wide, but the number of Anglican applicants is unlikely to be so great that they will swamp the Foundation allocation if we admit Anglicans from the whole Borough (and a little beyond) before considering others. Our proposals therefore remove any reference to a distance limit. If places are over-subscribed, the proximity criterion will still favour those applicants who are nearer to Christ's, most of whom are likely to reside in the Borough. 2.1.6 In sum, our Foundation Criteria proposals provide for, in descending order: 1.1. Borough-wide Anglican applications, and some from beyond the Borough 2.2. Borough-wide non-Anglican applications, and some from beyond the Borough 3.3. other Anglican applications from beyond the Borough 4.4. other non-Anglican applications from beyond the Borough. 2.2 Church membership To reflect the current recommendations of the Board, our proposals amend the list of eligible ecumenical umbrella bodies for establishing non-Anglican church membership: Churches Together in England (in place of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland) The Evangelical Alliance (unchanged) Affinity (new) The Federation of Independent Evangelical Churches (new). 2.3 Minister's Supplementary Form 33 At the end of Section 4 is a draft of our proposed revisions to this reference form. It requests reference numbers for membership of ecumenical umbrella bodies, except for Churches Together in England, which does not have such a system. 3 Amendments - Sixth Form The admissions policy proposed below treats all places as Open, and uses the same criteria as for Open places lower down the School, with the addition of the need to meet academic entry requirements. These criteria are those already followed for the 2014-15 cohort. 44 4 Draft Criteria For ease of reference, paragraphs are numbered in a manner consistent with the rest of this consultation document. The published Criteria will be referenced differently. 4.1 Governors' Admissions Policy 2016-2017 4.1.1 Headteacher Helen Dixon 4.1.2 Type Voluntary Aided School 4.1.3 Age 11-18 4.1.4 Admission Authority Governing Body of Christ’s Church of England School 4.1.5 Number of Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 Places for September 2016: 150 per year group Number of Year 11 Places for September 2016: 120 per year group 4.1.6 Christ’s is an 11-18 school, building up to a maximum roll of 900 (including 6th form) by 2017-18. 4.1.7 Christ's Church of England School has a distinctive Christian ethos which is at the heart of this School and provides an inclusive, caring and supportive environment where children learn and flourish in a setting shaped by Christian values. We welcome applications from all members of the community and we ask all parents to respect the Christian ethos of our School and its importance to our community. 4.1.8 Parents applying for places for their children do so knowing that Christ’s School provides an education based on Christian principles, and therefore the Governing Body expects that all students will take part in the Christian worship at the School and will attend religious education lessons.s. 4.1.9 The School is part of the locally agreed co-ordination scheme and the timescales for applications to be received and processed are those agreed with the local authority. Parents must complete the Local Authority’s Common Application Form (CAF) and return the form to the Authority; i f applying for a place at this school, parents must name this school as one of the preferences on the CAF. Parents who wish to apply for a Foundation place must also complete the School’s Foundation application form (see 4.10.1 below) and return this to the School. Failure to return this form will mean that the School cannot consider the application under the Foundation criteria; in this case the application will be considered under the next most appropriate criterion, based on the information on the CAF. 4.2 Admissions Criteria 4.2.1 Total Places Available: The School will admit a total of 150 students each September in Year 7. This admission number has been agreed between the Governors and Richmond Education Authority. This policy applies to all admissions in the academic year 1st September 2016 - 31 stst August 2017. 4.2.2 Christ's School is committed to taking its fair share of students who are hard to place in accordance with the locally agreed fair access protocol. Students admitted under the protocol will take priority over any children on the waiting list and this may include, on occasion, admitting above the planned admission number. 4.2.3 Places are divided into 75 FOUNDATION and 75 OPEN places, priority being given to Foundation places (up to the 75 quota) and then Open places according to the criteria outlined below. Where two or more applicants have equal right to a place priority will be given, within the criterion concerned, on the basis of proximity to the School by the shortest route: that is, the shortest route to 55 the school by road and publicly maintained footpath, measured from the middle of the residence (the Geographic Information System, or GIS, ‘seedpoint’)) by the local authority.