The Chalk Hills Academy Admission Arrangements for 2018 - 19 The Chalk Hills Academy Admission Arrangements 2018-2019 The Chalk Hills Academy Admission Arrangements for 2018 - 19 Background to the The Chalk Hills Academy 1. The Chalk Hills Academy is a state funded, non-fee paying, co-educational independent secondary school and has an agreed admission number of 240 for the Year 7 intake in 2018-2019 2. The Chalk Hills Academy is a member of The Shared Learning Trust, including The Stockwood Park Academy, The Linden Academy and The Vale Academy. Located at its site on Leagrave High Street, Luton, it is situated within the Luton Borough Council catchment area for September 2018-2019. Admissions to The Chalk Hills Academy for 2018-2019 3. The Chalk Hills Academy admission arrangements 2018-2019 shall apply to applications made in the academic year 2017/18 onwards, for admission to The Chalk Hills Academy in the Academic year 2018-2019. 4. For Year 7 applicants within the normal admissions round, applications for The Chalk Hills Academy for September 2018 onwards will be in accordance with the Luton Borough Council coordinated admissions arrangements and will be made on the Common application form provided and administered by Luton Borough Council. Feeder Primary Schools 5. The Trust aims to offer parents a choice of an all through academy model of education from primary to secondary provision. We will provide a level of priority of access to The Chalk Hills Academy, for both year 7 transfers and other in year applications for available places from The Shared Learning Trust primary schools, as outlined and named below. Places will be allocated in accordance with the oversubscription criteria which is outlined in section 20. The following named schools are regarded as feeder schools to The Chalk Hills Academy for the year 2018-2019. a. The Linden Academy b. The Vale Academy Application Form 6. For admissions in 2018-2019 during the normal admission round, applications can be made on the common application form provided by the Local Authority in which you live. This should be returned to your Local Authority. 7. Applications for admission in September 2018, must be received in accordance with the Luton Borough Council co-ordinated admissions arrangements. Parents can express up to three preferences on the application form. 8. The national closing date for the normal admission round for secondary school applications is 31st October 2017. In Year Admissions 9. In-Year admissions are applications to enter a year group that has either already started at the academy or has expanded, providing additional year group places. The Shared Learning Trust is responsible for co-ordinating all in-year applications for children wishing to access a Trust academy. The Chalk Hills Academy Admission Arrangements for 2018 - 19 In year applications outside the normal admission round, which name The Chalk Hills Academy as a preference, can be made on the form provided by the Local Authority and this should be forwarded direct to Trust’s Central Admissions Dept, c/o The Chalk Hills Academy. Late applications 10. Application forms received after the closing date will not be considered in the initial allocation of places, except in very exceptional circumstances (i.e. if there is independent written evidence of exceptional medical, pastoral or compassionate grounds). 11. Where parents have submitted a transfer form before the closing date, but then seek to change their preference after the closing date, this late expression of preference will be treated as a “late” application and will not be considered in the initial allocation of places. Proof of residence 12. Applicants may be required to provide proof of address/residence. The Chalk Hills Academy regards a pupil’s home address as where she or he spends the majority of the school week (Monday to Friday including nights) with his or her parents or legal guardian. The address of a childminder or family member who looks after the child before or after school cannot be used. The Governing Body reserves the right to seek verification from the Local Authority in which the home is situated. In Year Fair Access Protocol 13. Priority may be given to the admission of challenging pupils in accordance with the In-Year Fair Access Protocol exercised by the Local Authority. Such placements take place outside the usual co-ordinated admission arrangements; this includes the admission of children above the planned admission number. Definitions 14. Catchment Area The Chalk Hills Academy will draw its students from within the ‘Combined Catchment Area’ covered by the attached Appendix 1 (the Combined Catchment Area) . The Combined Catchment Area covers the specific wards and Post Codes (see attached Appendix 2) associated with the Luton Borough Council wards listed, these being Leagrave, Biscot, Challney, Saints, Lewsey, Round Green, Luton Icknield, Dallow, High Town, Limbury, Stopsley, Bramingham, Barnfield, Northwell, Wigmore, Crawley, Farley, South and Sundon Park. 15. Priority Catchment Area The Chalk Hills Academy will also operate a Priority Catchment Area (set out in Appendix 3) made up of the Post Codes associated with the roads named within Luton Borough Council’s Catchment Area, details of which are set out in Appendix 2. 16. Admission numbers for the 2018-2019 admission year will be defined by year group as shown below: The Chalk Hills Academy Admission Arrangements for 2018 - 19 Year Group Planned admission number (PAN) Year 7 240 240 Year 8 270 Year 9 270 Year 10 270 Year 11 Parents will be notified of the admission number for future years, with details published through the Local Authority and Trust web sites. Where fewer applications are received 17. The Chalk Hills Academy will consider all applications for places. Where fewer than the published admission number apply, the academy will offer places to all those who have applied. 18. Notwithstanding the above paragraph, The Chalk Hills Academy may refuse admission to particular applicants in cases where fewer than the published admission number have applied. The ability to refuse applications applies to applicants who have been permanently excluded from two or more other schools and the ability to refuse admission runs for a period of two years from the date of the last exclusion. Exclusions which took place before the child concerned reached compulsory school age do not count for this purpose and this provision does not apply to children with Statements of Special Educational Needs (SSEN) or EHC Plans; children who were reinstated following a permanent exclusion; and children who would have been reinstated following a permanent exclusion had it been practicable to do so. Over subscription criteria In accordance with the Education Act 1996, children with a Statement of SEN or EHC Plan are required to be admitted to the school named in the Statement/Plan. Where numbers of applications for year 7, or other year groups, exceed the published admission numbers for relevant published year places, after the admission of pupils with a SSEN or EHC Plan naming The Chalk Hills Academy, the following oversubscription criteria will apply in consecutive order: a) A ‘looked after child’ or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order1. A looked after child is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority, or (b) being 1 An adoption order is an order under the Adoption Act 1976 (see section 12 adoption orders) and children who were adopted under the Adoption and Children’s Act 2002 (see section 46 adoption orders). A ‘child arrangements order’ is an order settling the arrangements to be made as to the person with whom the child is to live under Section 8 of the Children Act 1989 as amended by s.14 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Section 14A of the Children Act 1989 defines a ‘special guardianship order’ as an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian (or special guardians). The Chalk Hills Academy Admission Arrangements for 2018 - 19 provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989). b) Children of staff employed by The Chalk Hills Academy who the Academy reasonably considers has been recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage and/or who have 2 or more years of service at the time of the application to The Chalk Hills Academy. The Academy currently considers teachers employed to undertake roles in maths, English and science as areas of demonstrable shortage and therefore compliant with this Code, however this criteria may change during the course of an academic year. c) Children who live within the Priority Catchment Area as defined above - as shown on the map in Appendix 3. d) Children who attend the Trust’s feeder primary schools. Applicants who have been on the admission roll at the close of the previous year of any of the designated Feeder Primary schools set out above. A list of the current Feeder Primary Schools is shown above. e) Children who have siblings currently at The Chalk Hills Academy and will continue to be on the academy roll at the point of admission. Siblings are defined as meaning two or more children who have at least one parent in common and/or who reside at the same house as one another (for example foster children). Where a child has been legally adopted, he or she will be regarded as the sibling of any other children of the same legal guardian on the academy roll at the point of admission.