Hints and tips Applying for a secondary school place for entry in September 2019 If your child was born between 1st September 2007 and 31st August 2008, you will need to apply for a secondary school place by 31st October 2018. APPLY ONLINE FOR YOUR CHILD’S SECONDARY SCHOOL PLACE westminster.gov.uk/admissions THE PAN-LONDON ADMISSIONS SITE OPENS ON 1ST SEPTEMBER 2018 Westminster City Council westminster.gov.uk THE BENEFITS OF APPLYING ONLINE • It is quick and easy to do. • During the evening of Friday 1st March 2019 you will be sent an • You can apply online, 24 hours a email informing you that your day, seven days a week, up until outcome is available. the closing date: Wednesday 31st October 2018. • Once you have received this email, you can log onto the • You can log back in to change or Pan-London eAdmissions website, delete preferences up until 11.59pm eadmissions.org.uk and accept or on the closing date. decline your offer. • You can register your mobile phone If you would prefer to complete a number to receive reminder alerts. paper application form, please contact • You will automatically receive a the Admissions Team (contact details confirmation email once you on the back page). submit your application with an application reference number. • You are able to attach additional documents. WHERE TO OBTAIN THE INFORMATION YOU NEED Each September all local authorities Where possible, parents/carers are provide information for parents that encouraged to access information sets out the admissions process and online. You can also obtain more procedures. This leaflet has been detailed information from each of produced to provide you with the secondary schools by either some basic hints and tips on the attending open days/evenings, or application process and as a first visiting their websites. point of reference to obtain more All the contacts you will need can be detailed information. found in the local authority brochure Westminster’s brochure will be where the schools are located. available online from the beginning of September at westminster.gov. uk/admissions The brochure explains the application process in detail and sets out the applying for a secondary school place for entry in September 2019 a secondary school place for applying for admission criteria for each school in Westminster. Hints and tips: 2 RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH If you have not already done so, • Checking if the school requires you must research the schools that additional forms to be completed. you are interested in applying to. This would normally apply to church schools. You can do this by: • Speak to your child’s primary school. • Reading the admission criteria to find They will have knowledge of where out if your child is likely to be offered pupils have applied in previous a place, and look at how places were years and the schools that are offered in the previous year. normally offered. • Attending open days / evenings held • Contacting the Admissions Team at the schools. The dates and times for advice if you are unclear on are included in this leaflet. how the system works. You will find • Checking if the school you want contact details on the inside cover to apply to requires your child to of this leaflet. take a test. FAMILIARISE YOURSELF WITH THE ADMISSION CRITERIA FOR SCHOOLS When you begin researching schools, • Distance from home to school is you will need to read the admission often used as a tie-breaker, but criteria for the school(s) you want to there are schools that use random apply to. The admission criteria is allocation (lottery). often very different for each school • Some schools have a priority area so you must read the criteria carefully and/or feeder primary schools. in order to assess the likelihood of your child being offered a place. These are some factors that you need to be aware of when deciding which To give you some examples of what schools to apply for. to check for: In all cases, if a school receives more • Church schools will give priority to applications than places available, the applicants that can demonstrate school’s admission criteria must be practice of the respective faith if applied. There is no guarantee that they receive more applications than your child will be offered a place at places available. your preferred school, even if it is the • There are schools that will require closest school to where you live. your child to sit a fair banding test. applying for a secondary school place for entry in September 2019 a secondary school place for applying for • Not all schools give priority to siblings so you will need to check this first. Hints and tips: 3 YOU CAN APPLY FOR UP TO SIX SCHOOLS Please remember that you can apply You should also consider other for up to six schools. Even after you schools where you know you will have have researched the schools and you a good chance of gaining a place. have decided where to apply, unless Adding further schools to your list you are 100 per cent sure that your will not affect your chances of being child will be offered a place (for offered a place at your preferred example there will be a brother or school. Schools are not informed of sister on roll and the school lists this as other preferences you have made or a priority in the criteria), you should the order in which you place them. not assume that your child will be offered a place. TAKE SPECIAL CARE HOW YOU ORDER YOUR PREFERENCES The school preferences you make are one offer of a school is returned to us, treated equally. This means that no you will be offered the school that is matter where you place a school listed the highest. in your list of preferences, it will be For example if preference 2, 3 and 4 treated in the same way as all other are returned as ‘Offer’, only preference applicants who also chose that 2 will be offered. Preference 3 and 4 school – regardless of where they offers will be withdrawn and put back have placed the school in their list. in the coordinated system for other It is important that you list schools in applicants. Your child’s name will be the order of your preference. The placed on a waiting list for Preference 1 reason for this is because if more than as this school could not make an offer. DO I NEED TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION? There are some schools, usually The online system will alert you church schools, which require when you enter a preference for you to complete a Supplementary any school that requires additional Information Form (SIF). The SIFs for forms to be completed. Westminster schools are available You must return the SIF and any other from the individual schools and on documents to the school, but be sure the Westminster City Council website. that you also name the school in your applying for a secondary school place for entry in September 2019 a secondary school place for applying for The secondary schools Admissions list of preferences. Brochure lists which schools require a SIF and / or any other documents. Hints and tips: 4 YOU MUST SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION ON TIME You must submit your application of those which were submitted on by 31st October 2018. If you submit time. This will greatly affect your your application form after this chances of being offered the school date without a valid reason, your you want. application will be considered after all WILL I DEFINITELY BE OFFERED ONE OF MY PREFERENCES? You might not be offered one of As the majority of schools in the City your preferences, but to increase your of Westminster, and neighbouring chances of being offered one of your boroughs will be full, any application preferred schools, you must research you submit at a later stage may mean the admission criteria for the schools you will not qualify for a place but will you are interested in. be added to a waiting list. You should put at least one school For further advice you can speak to in your list where you are reasonably the Admissions Team or the school certain your child meets the criteria. who will be able to offer you As examples, this could be if there is a guidance on the likelihood of your sibling already at the school and this is child being offered a place based on a high priority indicated in the school’s the information you provide. It is not criteria. Also, if your nearest school possible to give any guarantee of the offers the majority of its places based outcome of your application. on distance, then you are encouraged to add to your list of preferences. WHAT HAPPENS TO THE SCHOOL PREFERENCES THAT I HAVE NOT BEEN OFFERED? Any preferences lower than the You also have the right of appeal to offered school will be withdrawn an Independent Appeal Panel against as these schools would have been the decision not to offer your child a placed back into the coordinated place at your preferred school(s). system and offered to other applicants. You will automatically be placed on the waiting list for schools that were applying for a secondary school place for entry in September 2019 a secondary school place for applying for not able to offer your child a place. Hints and tips: 5 WESTMINSTER SECONDARY SCHOOL OPEN DAYS AND TEST DATES THE GREY COAT HOSPITAL KING SOLOMON ACADEMY gch.org.uk kingsolomonacademy.org 020 7969 1998 020 7563 6900 To visit the school, parents must book King Solomon Academy is an an appointment via the website.