Richard Lander School Admissions Policy

Richard Lander School

Admissions Policy

Richard Lander School follows the Local Authority Admissions Policy and, along with all other LA schools in Cornwall, places on transfer from primary school are allocated by the County team who follow the agreed Common Admissions Policy.

The policy complies with the School Admissions Code 2014, the School Admission Regulations 2008, the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, the Education Act 1996 and CornwaII Council’s Fair Access Protocol and offers admission to students irrespective of social, racial or religious considerations.

The Governing Body, however, reserves the right to consider each applicant individually. This applies particularly to any student who has been permanently excluded from another school, both within this Local Authority and within any other.

Children with a Statement of Special Educational Needs that names Richard Lander School will be admitted to the School, regardless of the number on roll in the year group. The school will participate fully in the Cornwall Local Authority’s Fair Access Protocol (See Appendix 1). Children in Care who are directed to the school by the Local Authority will be admitted to the school, regardless of the number on roll in the year group.

Our ‘published admission number’ is 270 students in years 7-11. These figures relate to the 2015–16 academic year. It is essential that parents realise that there is always a high demand for places at Richard Lander, consequently once the school year has commenced, the preference for specific subjects in Years 10 and 11 cannot always be met.

All applications for school places at Richard Lander School must be made to Cornwall Local Authority. For children moving from primary school to secondary at the start of Year 7, this is part of the school transfer process administered directly by Cornwall Council. For admissions to other year groups, or for Year 7 after the month of September then application should also be made through the LA, although parents are encouraged to contact the school to notify the school of their intention to apply for a school place; this will enable the school to make contact with the child’s current school and ensure minimal delay in the child starting at Richard Lander.

All appeals concerning our inability to admit pupils are handled by the Cornwall Schools Admissions team at County Hall.

The responsibility for managing in-year applications rests with the Local Authority. The Admissions Code states that Local Authorities must:  be informed of the receipt and outcome of all in-year applications;  on request, provide information to a parent about the places still available in all schools within its area;  provide a suitable form for parents to complete when applying for a place for their child at any school for which the Local Authority is the admitting authority;  refer an objection to the Schools Adjudicator if they are of the view or suspect that schools or other admission authorities are acting unlawfully.  Richard Lander School fully participates in CC’s co-ordinated admission schemes for secondary transfer and in-year admissions. All applications for secondary transfer

places at Richard Lander School must be made directly to Cornwall Council on the Cornwall Admission Common Application Form (CACAF).

There is no supplementary information or application procedure required by the School Governors.

All applications to the school’s Area Resource Base (ARB) must be made through the Local Authority. The school itself cannot accept applications to the ARB.

The majority of in-year admission applications will be straightforward and places will be allocated immediately where the designated number on School roll in the year group in question is below the Published Admission Number (PAN). However, if a preference cannot be met, the application will then be considered to see whether priority can be given to the application under CCs Fair Access Protocol. (See Appendix) Details of secondary school designated areas are available from the School or Cornwall Council.

Oversubscription Criteria

In the event of there being more than 270 applications for school places in Year 7 for the 2015-16 academic year the following oversubscription criteria, in descending order of priority, will be used to prioritise applications.

1. Children in Care or children who were previously in care.

2. Children who live in the designated area of Richard Lander School, or whose parents can provide evidence that they will be living in the designated area of Richard Lander School by the beginning of the autumn term of the 2015-16 school year or, if an admission mid-year, by the date of requested admission.

If there are more designated area children applying to the school than there are places available criteria 3 to 6 will be used to decide which children should have priority for admission. If there are still places available after all of the designated area children have been allocated places, criteria 3 to 6 will be used to decide which of the remaining children should have priority for any remaining places.

3. Children with an unequivocal professional recommendation from a doctor, school medical officer, educational psychologist, health visitor, education welfare officer or social worker that non-placement at Richard Lander School would cause harm to the child and that placement at Richard Lander School is essential. Such recommendations must be made in writing and must give full supporting reasons.

4. Children with siblings who will still be attending Richard Lander School at the time of their admission.

5. Children on the roll of a feeder primary school (at the time of allocation) whose designated area is contained within or forms part of the designated area of Richard Lander School.

6. All other children (see below special consideration for twins and other multiple births in the section ‘Siblings’).

Tie- Breaker

If any of the criteria outlined above leave more children with an equal claim than places available, the following tie-breaker will be used: where two or more children fulfill the same criterion, priority will be given to the child who lives nearer to Richard Lander School.

NOTES and DEFINITIONS

Children in Care

"Children in Care" are also referred to as "Looked After Children" and they are children who are in the care of the Local Authority.

Designated area

The Children's Services Authority (CSA) has divided the county into geographical areas. Each of these areas is served by a specific secondary school. These areas are called "designated areas". (Parents may also have heard these areas referred to as "catchment" areas.) A child's designated school will not always be the one nearest to his/her home address.

Maps of designated areas, including the map for Richard Lander School, will be provided on the Council's website (www.cornwall.gov.uk/admissions) and at the back of the secondary transfer booklet to help parents to identify their child's designated school. Please note, however, that these maps are, of necessity, small scale and if a property is near a border it is advisable to check the designated school with the Admissions and Transport (Policy) Team. Larger scale maps are available for all designated areas on request. Parents can also ask to be notified of the designated school for any address. These requests should be made to:

Admissions and Transport (Policy) Team, Children, Schools and Families, County Hall, Treyew Road, Truro, TR1 3AY.

Tel: 0300 1234101 email: [email protected]

List of primary schools who lie within Richard Lander School designated area -sometimes called 'feeder schools' Threemilestone School Truro Learning Academy Bosvigo School Blackwater Primary School Mount Hawke Primary School St. Agnes Primary School Mithian School Chacewater School Shortlanesend Community Primary School Cusgarne Community Primary School

Professional recommendation for admission

If you think your child meets this criterion, you must send the relevant written evidence to the Admissions and Transport (Policy) Team, at the address above. Directorate of Children, Schools and Families, Cornwall Council, County Hall, Treyew Road, Truro, TR1 3AY.) Siblings

Sibling means brother or sister. Siblings are defined as children with at least one natural or adoptive parent in common, living at the same or a different address. Children living in the same household at the same address would also be counted as siblings, regardless of their actual relationship to each other.

To qualify as a sibling a child must be on the roll of Richard Lander School at the date of application, allocation and admission. Where an application is made for twins or other multiple birth siblings, the school will admit all those children even if this takes the school above PAN.

Distances

Home to school distances used for tie-breaking will be measured by a straight-line measurement as determined by CAPITA One and supported by the CSA's Geographical Information System (data Map). Measurements will be between the child's home address using Ordnance Survey's Point Dataset (usually the centre of the main building of the property) and the main gate of the school (as determined by the CSA).

Home address

Each child may have one registered address only for the purposes of determining priority for normally resident. If there is shared residency of the child or a query is raised regarding the validity of an address, it may be necessary to use the address of the person receiving child benefit for the child or to request a copy of a utility bill in order to make a decision.

Appeals

All parents who are refused a place for their child at Richard Lander School will be advised of their right of appeal to an independent appeal panel. Such appeals will be administered by the Local Authority on behalf of the governing body.

APPENDIX 1

Fair Access Protocol

Richard Lander School's Published Admission Number (PAN) is 270 for each year group. If the year group to which an application is made has a roll below 270 then a place will automatically be awarded unless the circumstances detailed below apply.

The Fair Access Protocol ensures that children who are most vulnerable can be offered a place at a suitable school as soon as possible, even if that school is already full. In most instances that 'suitable school' will be the school applied for by the parents or the closest school to the child's address. Parents will, therefore, be invited to identify whether they consider their child to be in one of the categories listed below. It should be noted, however, that this information will not be referred to as part of the initial consideration by Cornwall Council of whether a place is available.

The categories of children who would qualify for consideration under the Fair Access Protocol (stage 1) are:

 children who have been out of education for longer than one school term;  children whose parents have been unable to find them a place within a reasonable travelling distance after moving to the area because of a shortage of places ("reasonable travelling distance" for a secondary age child would usually be 10 miles, with travelling times not exceeding 75 minutes for a secondary child and 60 minutes for a primary child);  children withdrawn from schools by their family, following fixed term exclusions and unable to find another place;  children of refugees and asylum seekers;  homeless children (including those in a registered refuge);  children with unsupportive family backgrounds where a place has not been sought;  children known to the police or other agencies;  children without a school place and with a history of serious attendance problems;  traveller children;  children who are carers;  children with special educational needs (but without a statement);  children with disabilities or medical conditions;  children returning from the criminal justice system;  children for whom a managed move is considered appropriate;  children of UK service personnel and other Crown Servants; and  children returning from elective home education.

Where applicable, parents would be required to provide evidence if they state that they consider their child to meet one or more of the above criteria.

For the children in the categories defined above, if the preference is for Richard Lander School, and the school is not already 5% above PAN, CC will allocate a place at the School.

If the child lives in the Richard Lander catchment area and their preference is not Richard Lander School and/or there are reasons why Richard Lander School would not be an appropriate placement, CC will allocate a place at the operational capacity for the relevant year group. If no preferences can be met, CC will name an alternative school as the nearest school with room, irrespective of PAN. This school would usually be the nearest appropriate school to the child's address that is not more than 5% above PAN or agreed operational capacity in the relevant year group.

Fair Access Protocol (stage 2- reintegration)

A minority of children will be deemed to have challenging behaviour and the LA must ensure that all schools admit their fair share of these children. The LA must also consider whether the needs of children with challenging behaviour would best be met in mainstream schooling or in another setting, such as a further education School. The children who would be considered for placement under this part of the Protocol would include:

 children attending short stay schools (previously known as Pupil Referral Units or PRUs) who need to be reintegrated back into mainstream education;  children who have been permanently excluded from a school;  children who are in year 11 for whom an in-year application is made for admission to a new school from January or later; and  children for whom an appropriate education setting has not been agreed, including those whom it has not been possible to place under the standard in• year application procedures or under the Fair Access (stage 1) Protocol.

The Government makes it clear that there is a balance to be struck between finding a place quickly and finding a place that is appropriate for the child, and that no school should be asked to take an excessive or unreasonable number of pupils who come under the above categories. In order to achieve this, the placement of children who are considered under the Fair Access Protocol (stage 2) will be referred to the Short Stay School Pupil Placement Panels (PPP), held in North Cornwall as part of the Behaviour for Learning Partnership.