Here is a full PDF version of the Halley House School Admissions Policy 24-25
PAN and Oversubscription Criteria
The published admission number is 30 places into Reception. The school admits up to this number each year to the Reception year and, when full the school will have 210 pupils on roll.
This Admissions Policy has been approved by the Bellevue Place Education Trust (BPET) Board, as the admissions authority for the school.
In accordance with the law, children with an Education Health and Care Plan (ECHP) will be admitted to the school where the Local Authority has specifically named Halley House School as
the most appropriate placement. Where there are fewer applicants than places available all applicants will be admitted. In the event of there being greater demand than there are place available to the school and after the admission of children with an Education Health and Care Plan that names the school, places will be offered using the following oversubscription criteria in keeping with the School Admissions Code 2021:
1 Children in care i.e. children in the care of the Local Authority as defined in the Children Act 1989. This category includes ‘looked after children’ and children who have previously been looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements or special guardianship order, including those children who appear (to the admission authority) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.
2 A child subject to a Child Protection Plan for whom Halley House School is their nearest school.
3 Children with a sibling at the school at the time of admission.
4 Children of staff at the school.
5 Proximity to the school. This will be measured in a straight line from the address point of the pupil’s home to the main entrance point of the school site as determined by the London Borough of Hackney’s Geographical Information System.
Notes
- A child looked after is a child in the care of a local authority or provided with accommodation by that authority in accordance with Section 22 of the Children Act 1989. An adopted child is defined by section 46 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 or section 12 of the Adoption Act 1976. A child arrangement orders is defined by section 14 of the Children and Families Act 2014. A special guardianship order is defined by section 14A of the Children Act 1989.
- Priority to children of staff will be given in either or both of the following circumstances:
- Where the member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission is made; and/or
- The member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.
- Proximity of the child’s home to the school, with those living nearer being accorded the higher priority, will also serve to differentiate between pupils in criteria 2-5 if there are more applicants than available places under each criterion. Proximity to the school will be measured in a straight-line measurement. Applicants will be prioritised by distance (starting with the nearest). For the purpose of calculating distances, the home address is identified by using the property geographical references as determined by the borough Council in which the child lives to the main entrance of the school in Arcola Street. In blocks of flats, where applicants have identical distance measurements, priority amongst them will be determined at random.
- Sibling is defined in these arrangements as; a brother or sister, a half brother or sister, an adopted brother or sister, a step-brother or sister or the child of the parents’ partner where the child for whom the school place is sought is permanently living in the same family unit and at the same address as that sibling or a foster child permanently living in the same family unit whose place has been arranged by the social service department of the Local Authority. Children residing in the same household as part of an extended family, such as cousins, will not be treated as siblings. Proof of the sibling relationship will be required.
- For families living on boats, distance will be measured from the authorised mooring point. If the family is itinerant, the nearest mooring point will be used on the closing date for the receipt of applications.
- Where parental responsibilities are equally shared, the home or residential address will be considered to be with the parent/carer with whom the child spends the majority of time and nights Monday to Friday. This will normally be expected to be with the parent/carer that receives the Child Benefit. This address must be used for all preferences.
- In cases of multiple births where there is only one place available, and the next child on the list is a twin, triplet, or other example of multiple birth, we would admit both twins (and all the children in the case of other multiple births) even if this meant exceeding the agreed admission number of 30 for reception 2022/23 or the number of places in other year groups.
Tie Breaker
In the event that two or more children live at the same distance from the school, the tie breaker will be random allocation in line with Hackney Education's admission arrangements, where every preference is assigned an individual random number (between 1 and 1 million) as the application is processed and the applicant with the lowest random number is given priority.
Method of Applications for Reception.
The school will be participating in coordinated admission arrangements administered by the London Borough of Hackney. Parents/carers must apply on Common Application Form of the local authority where they live. This can be completed online via https://education.hackney.gov.uk/section/admissions-and-transfers or on a paper form available from their local council’s School Admissions Team. The closing date for reception class applications will be 15th January 2024. Notification letters will be sent out on 16th April 2024 by the London Borough of Hackney. Applications received after the set closing date will be accepted, but will not normally be considered for a place at the school until after the initial offer date.
Date of Admission/Deferred Entry.
Children will normally be admitted to the reception year in the September following their fourth birthday. In line with the Admissions Code, parents can defer their child’s entry to the reception year until later in the school year, where they have been offered a place at a school to start before they are of compulsory school age. Where entry is deferred, the school will hold the place for that child and not offer it to another child. However, entry cannot be deferred beyond the beginning of the term after the child’s fifth birthday, nor beyond the beginning of the final term of the Reception Year. A child may attend school part-time until he/she reaches compulsory school age. Parents should inform the school if they wish to exercise this option.
Admission of children outside their normal age group.
Children will normally be admitted to the reception year in the September following their fourth birthday and the vast majority of pupils are educated within their normal chronological age group. Any request for admission outside of the child’s chronological year of entry will be considered in accordance with paragraphs 2.18-2.20 of the Schools Admissions Code 2021.
The school’s admission authority will consider requests on the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. This will include taking account of the parent’s views; information about the child’s academic, social and emotional development; where relevant, their medical history and the views of a medical professional; whether they have previously been educated out of their normal age group; and whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely. The Headteacher’s views will also be taken into account. Parents may, if they wish, provide supporting evidence from a professional (GP, Hospital consultant or social worker) to assist the admission authority in making its decision. If the request is approved, the application will then be considered in accordance with the school’s oversubscription criteria in the event of oversubscription.
Parents have a statutory right to appeal against the refusal of a place at the school but this right does not apply if they are offered a place at the school but it is not in their preferred age group.
Waiting List
Waiting lists will be maintained by the Hackney Council Local Authority if the school has more applicants than places available. Positions on waiting lists may go up or down due to pupil withdrawals or new or revised applications received. Therefore, waiting lists will be revised:
· Each time a child is added or removed
· When a child’s changed circumstances will affect their priority
· When parents respond to periodic requests to see if they wish to remain on the waiting list.
The waiting list will be removed at the end of every academic year, when a new list will be created, in accordance with the Local Authority process.
Children who are the subject of a direction by the Local Authority to admit or who are allocated to a school in accordance with a Fair Access Protocol will take precedence over those on a waiting list.
Parents will be able to apply online to Children’s Services to Hackney Education for each year if they wish to be placed on the waiting list for that year. It is the responsibility of parents to
ensure that the school admissions team is informed in writing if they want their child’s name to be removed from the waiting list or if their circumstances have changed from the original
application.
Waiting list information will be available in accordance with the published timeline. To understand more how the Borough of Hackney processes waiting lists, visit National offer
day – what happens next? | Hackney Education.
Appeals
Parents who are not offered a place for their child have the right to appeal to an independent appeal panel. Parents wishing to appeal should submit their claim online. The appeal claim should be submitted and reach the Clerk to the Appeal Panel, within 20 school days of the date of the letter confirming the decision not to offer a place. The school will publish an appeals timetable annually on its website showing the relevant deadlines. Read more on the Council’s website.
In-Year Admissions
For in-year admissions, parents/carers must apply to the school on the In-Year Common Application Form. Applications will be considered in accordance with above oversubscription criteria. In the event that it is not possible to offer a place, the child will be added to the waiting list and the appeals procedures described above will apply. See more information on how to apply for a in-year admission.