ADMISSIONS POLICY

Approved Admissions Number

The Governing Body have determined the number of pupils in any relevant age group is 90.

Pupils will be admitted without reference to ability or aptitude at the beginning of the academic year in which they are five years old.

The intended number for admission into the Reception year group each September is 90.

Where applications exceed the number of places available, the following criteria will be adhered to:

(i)Looked after children (in public care)

(ii)Children with siblings already at the school or still at WalmleyJuniorSchool

(iii)Proximity of the child’s home to the school measured by straight line distance (proof of address must be provided).

Co-ordinated Primary Admission Scheme

The 1998 School Standards and Framework Act, as amended by the Education Act 2002, has introduced new statutory requirements for every Local Education Authority (LEA) to draw up a scheme for co-ordinating admission arrangements for all maintained schools within its area. The purpose of co-ordinated admission schemes is to establish mechanisms for ensuring, so far as reasonably practicable, that every parent of a child living in the LEA area who has applied for a school place in the normal admission round receives an offer of one, and only one, school place.

The main features of this process for this year are as follows:

  • Booklets and preference forms are being sent direct to parents using the Birmingham Health Authority database.
  • Parents are required to use the single Birmingham LEA preference form and return this to Admissions and Appeals by 14th January 2014. Proof of address is required to be enclosed with the preference form.
  • Parents can express up to three preferences and must rank them in order of preference.
  • Lists of Looked After Children will be verified by LACES at the LEA
  • Children with special educational needs will be considered by SENAS in appropriate consultation with parents and governing bodies.
  • Admissions and Appeals will allocate the highest preferred school for which the child meets the admission criteria.
  • Pupils who have not been allocated one of their parents’ three preferences will be allocated a place at their closest community or voluntary controlled school with a vacancy.
  • Allocation reports (for information only) will be sent to all primary schools on 16thApril 2014. Allocation letters will not be sent out by individual schools.
  • Letters allocating places will be sent out by the LEA on 16th April 2014.
  • Parents will be required to inform the school whether or not they accept the offer by 2nd May 2014.
  • Immediately following the allocation of places waiting lists will be administered by each admission authority according to their own admission criteria.

Open Days

We aim to provide prospective parents with an opportunity to gather as much information as possible about the school before applying for a place. In order to do this, we hold open sessions during the Autumn Term. The dates will be advertised in the local press. The open sessions give parents an opportunity to look around the school, talk to the Headteacher and other staff about the approaches to learning, standards of achievements and to ask questions about all aspects of the school.

Induction Sessions

All children who have been given a place at the school are invited to induction sessions with their parents in September. An Induction Sessions is also held for parents only in June. Administration staff and parents complete all remaining registration tasks during this session. Parents are given information about the general routines of the school and the process of admittance of the children in the Autumn Term. They also receive a copy of the school prospectus and an information pack.

The children spend their induction session in the reception classrooms, generally with their designated teacher and T.A. During this time, they will have the opportunity to join in a variety of activities.