Secondary school admissions September 2016 For children born between 1 September 2004 and 31 August 2005 Important dates to remember September/October 2015 School open evenings 31 October 2015 Closing date for applications 1 March 2016 Offer day 15 March 2016 Acceptance deadline 31 March 2016 Appeals deadline Correct at time of publication, and subject to change. www.hillingdon.gov.uk/schooladmissions Foreword Dear parent/carer Our School Placement and Admissions Team Starting secondary school is a big milestone co-ordinates applications for Hillingdon for you and your child. In Hillingdon, we are residents with all of the other 32 London committed to ensuring every child has a high boroughs, as part of the pan-London quality school place as close to home as coordinated admissions system. The team possible. If your child is due to start works hard to ensure that, as far as possible, secondary school in September 2016, I hope you are offered your highest-preference that this brochure will help you make an secondary school in London. For the second informed choice when deciding which school year running, Hillingdon was well above the is right for your child. Parents have more London average with 93 per cent of children choice than ever before about where to who applied for a secondary place in educate their children. In Hillingdon, a Hillingdon starting in September 2015 being number of our secondary schools specialise offered one of their top three schools despite in subject areas such as music and an all time high number of applications. performing arts, sports, languages, science I encourage you to attend a selection of open and technology. evenings so that you can tour the facilities If your child is entering Year 9 and and meet teachers and current pupils. That considering their options for 14-19 provision way, you can be reassured you are selecting I am proud to announce that Hillingdon is a school that is right for your child, where leading the way with new Studio Schools and they will thrive and meet their full potential. University Technical Colleges and we have Each school also publishes a prospectus the highest number of specialist year 10 (obtainable from the school), which gives providers in London. From September 2016, information about the school, including its Hillingdon will have 4 establishments results. Many schools also have websites, offering specialist education for 14 - 19 year and the results of inspections can be found olds. These establishments still offer on the Ofsted website. Here in Hillingdon, we traditional subjects such as Maths, English are firmly putting our families first to ensure and Science GCSE courses but are able to every child in the borough receives the best offer additional vocational subjects as a possible education. Our children and young result of having a longer school day. people deserve nothing less. We want the process of making an application for a school place to be straightforward and recommend you do this online, where possible. To ensure you have the best possible chance of securing a place in one of your preferred schools, it is very important that you make your application by 31 October 2015. I wish you and your child every success in education in Hillingdon. Cllr David Simmonds Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services 2 Secondary school admissions September 2016 Closing date for applications: 31 October 2015 Contents Open evening dates 4 Choosing the right school for your child 5 Making an application 6 Creating and submitting an online application 8 The application criteria 10 Address information 11 How places are offered 13 Offer day 14 What happens next? 15 Additional information 16 Secondary schools in Hillingdon 20 Abbotsfield School (Boys) 22 Barnhill Community High School 23 Bishop Ramsey C of E School 24 Bishopshalt School 26 The Douay Martyrs School 27 Guru Nanak Sikh Academy 28 The Harefield Academy 29 Harlington School 30 Hayden School 31 Hewens College 32 Northwood School 33 Queensmead School 34 Rosedale College 35 Ruislip High School 36 Stockley Academy 37 Swakeleys School for Girls 38 Uxbridge High School 39 Vyners School 40 Applying for a year 10 school place 41 De Salis Studio College 43 Global Academy UTC 44 Heathrow Aviation Engineering UTC 45 Parkside Studio College 46 In-year admissions 47 September 2015 intake 49 Schools contact information 50 Useful contact information Back cover 3 Secondary school admissions September 2016 Closing date for applications: 31 October 2015 Open evening dates Each secondary school has an open evening during the Autumn Term for parents and pupils to visit the school. These evenings usually include a talk by the headteacher and a tour of the school. Often it will be possible to see current pupils at work and meet staff. We suggest you visit the secondary schools on their open evenings if you can. A school prospectus will also be available. Programme of open evenings for secondary transfer Autumn 2015 School Date Time Abbotsfield School (Boys) Wednesday 23 September 6.30pm Barnhill Community High School Wednesday 30 September 6.00pm Bishop Ramsey CofE School Thursday 8 October 6.00pm Bishopshalt School Wednesday 16 September 6.30pm Guru Nanak Sikh Academy Tuesday 6 October 5.00pm Harlington School Tuesday 29 September 6.00pm Haydon School Thursday 24 September 6.00pm Hewens College Thursday 1 October 6.30pm Northwood School Tuesday 22 September 6.00pm Queensmead School Wednesday 23 September 6.00pm Rosedale College Tuesday 22 September 6.30pm Ruislip High School Thursday 1 October 5.00pm Stockley Academy Monday 21 September 6.00pm Swakeleys School for Girls Thursday 24 September 6.30pm The Douay Martyrs Catholic School Wednesday 7 October 6.30pm The Harefield Academy Tuesday 6 October 6.30pm Uxbridge High School Monday 28 September 6.00pm Vyners School Tuesday 29 September 6.00pm These times were correct at time of publication. If you are unable to attend an open evening, please contact the school for alternative arrangements. To find out the dates of the open evenings for schools outside of Hillingdon, you must contact the local authority (LA) in which the schools are located or alternatively contact the schools direct (see back cover for neighbouring LA contact numbers). 4 Secondary school admissions September 2016 Closing date for applications: 31 October 2015 Choosing the right school for your child Things to do before making your Top tips when choosing your decision preferences • Attend the schools’ open evenings. It is Make sure you are realistic when deciding important to visit as many schools as possible. your preferences; your child may end up For schools outside Hillingdon, please contact without a preference school offer if you do the borough in which the school is located. not meet a high enough criteria for the Open evening dates are on page 4. schools you apply for. This may happen, for example, if you live too far from the school or • Look at each school’s oversubscription criteria (pages 22–40). The higher the if you name a faith school and do not meet criteria your child meets, the greater the faith criteria. chance of being offered a place. Try and use all six preferences, or as many as you can. Failure to do so will restrict our • Does your child need to take a test? If you ability to offer you a place at a school of your are applying for a school that has a choice if your other preferences cannot be banding criteria or an out-of-borough met. If you only apply to one school, you will grammar school, your child will be only be considered for one school. You are, required to take a test. Please contact the therefore, wasting the opportunity to be school for further details. considered for other schools should your • Look at each school’s exam results; these preference not be successful. If a place cannot are published in their prospectus. be offered at your preference school, an offer • Check the school’s recent OFSTED will be made for a school that is within a Inspection Report online at reasonable distance from your address that www.ofsted.gov.uk has vacancies. • Many schools have their own website; Include your local community, foundation schools’ web addresses are listed on or academy school in your preferences, pages 50–52 of this brochure. even if you list the school as your lowest preference. Failure to apply now may mean the school is full after offer day. Do not make decisions based on other people’s opinions or experiences. Your situation is different and things change every year. Once you have been to the open evenings you will be able to make your own observations about the school. 5 Secondary school admissions September 2016 Closing date for applications: 31 October 2015 Making an application If your child was born between 1 Pan London co-ordinated September 2004 and 31 August 2005 and admissions scheme your child lives in the London Borough of Hillingdon, you need to apply for him/her to As part of the pan London co-ordinated start secondary school. admissions scheme, parents must make an application to the authority in which they live If you live in another borough, you must and pay council tax. Parents must list the complete the admissions form in the schools that they want to apply for on one form, borough that you live, even if you are ranking them in order of preference. This form applying for Hillingdon schools. must then be returned to the council in which When to apply the child lives. All the councils taking part in the pan London co-ordinated admissions scheme You can apply online from 1 September 2015 will then pass on details of applications for via www.hillingdon.gov.uk/schooladmissions schools in other areas and co-ordinate the offer You can continue to make changes to your of places to make sure that nobody gets offered online application up until the closing date of more than one school place.