ST BARTHOLOMEW’S SCHOOL
APPEAL AGAINST AN ADMISSION DECISION FOR YEAR 8 PLACE
APPEAL DATE : 7 February 2013 / APPEAL NO:NAME: A V / DOB:
ADDRESS:
CATCHMENT AREA SCHOOL:
ALLOCATED SCHOOL: / None
CURRENT SCHOOL: / n/a
A V, Year 8Position on waiting list: 3/3
Date Appeal Lodged:7 January 2013
Requested Date of Entry:February 2013
Year Group 8 as at September 2012Planned admission number:250
Planned number in each tutor group:25
Actual Number on Roll (Year 8):252
Number on Roll (Years 7-11):1248
Student Number on Roll to drop to 249 before a further student is offered a place.
The Allocation Process
The Governing Body meets parental wishes, so far as this is possible within the limit of the number of places available. The process adheres to our Admissions Policy and the Secondary Co-ordinated Admission Scheme stated within the West Berkshire Parents’ Guide for Admissions.
Parents are able to state up to three ranked school preferences and these are considered equally, using the over-subscription criteria with regards to each school. If it is possible to allocate a child more than one place, the highest ranked preference will be offered.
Details of our over-subscription criteria are as follows:
a)Looked After Children (in accordance with legal requirements).
b)Catchment Area Pupils: Children whose permanent home address is in the school’s designated catchmentarea (as shown in the Parents’ Guide to Admissions) which is co-terminous with those of the following partner primary schools:
- Enborne Primary School
- John Rankin County Junior School
- St Nicolas Church of England Junior School.
This is taken to be the address at the closing date for applications in the normal admissions round (31 October).
Where parental responsibilities are equally shared, the home address will normally 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 student’s Child Benefit Allowance.
It is the child’s normal permanent home address where he or she lives with his or her parents/carers that is used to decide in which school’s catchment area the child lives. Temporary addresses cannot be used to obtain school places, eg, temporary addresses whilst retaining a previous permanent home will not be accepted. If parents/carers plan to move, documentary evidence will be required, such as proof of exchange of contracts or a tenancy agreement to confirm residence at the time of admission. If such evidence is received by 1 January during a normal admissions round, the new address will be accepted for the forthcoming allocation. Confirmation received after 1 January will not be taken into account until immediately after allocation dates and waiting lists have been adjusted accordingly. At all other times changes of address will be considered immediately on receipt of evidence. Any child offered a school place based on fraudulent or intentionally misleading information concerning a catchment area permanent home address will have their place withdrawn and a new application will be required, by which time preferred schools may be full. This may also occur after the child has been admitted to a school.
Criteria c) – e) to apply to children whose permanent home address is not within the preferred school’s catchment area.
c)Siblings: Children who have sibling(s) (including step brothers/sisters and adopted or foster brothers/sisters) living in the same family unit already on roll at the school and, in relation to admission at the school’s first point of entry, will continue to attend the school during the following academic year.
d)Strong Social Grounds: Children who have strong social grounds for admission where this particular placement has been recommended by relevant professionals, such as a doctor or social worker. Written documentation should be submitted at the same time as the application and will be assessed by the Chair of the Teaching and Learning Committee.
e)All other applicants who do not fall into one of the above categories.
Children with Statements of Special Educational Needs naming the school will always be admitted at any time above any other child, including those on the waiting list. This is a legal requirement.
In Year Fair Access Protocol: In accordance with the West Berkshire In Year Fair Access Protocol, only as agreed by the West Berkshire Pupil Placement Panel following consultation with parents, all relevant professionals and schools concerned, hard to place children will be admitted above other children, including those on the waiting list (except Looked After Children and Children with Statements of Special Educational Needs naming the school).
Priority will be given within any of the above over-subscription criteria to the applicant whose permanent home address is nearest to the preferred school. Distances will be measured using the West Berkshire Geographical Information System, taking a straight line between the home address and the school; travelling distances will not be taken into account. All properties have a unique identification that locates the property. The measurement is calculated between the location points known as the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG). In cases where there are multiple births, if one child is admitted then all will be admitted. In cases where blocks of flats are concerned, priority will be given to the lowest flat number, eg, 1, 1a, 2, etc. In cases of two applicants living the same distance from school, both will be offered places.
Net Capacity
All schools have, by law, an Admission Number which is calculated on a formula taking account of teaching space in the school and the number of year groups being taught. This is the number of students that a school is required to admit for the year group normally admitted for the first time before the admission authority could argue prejudice to the provision of efficient education, or the efficient use of resources if more were offered places. The net capacity in the new school has been determined at 1710. The indicated admission number set for organisational reasons equates to year groups of 250 at KS3 and KS4 (1250 students) and an allowance for 460 students in KS5 year groups.
The governing body does not wish to exceed the admission number of 250 for the following reasons:
Quality provision
The school’s prospectus outlines: “Our governors’ policy is to seek to maintain class sizes that average 25 or fewer in Years 7-11 and to offer a wide range of appropriate courses”.
Many parents have elected to send their children to St Bart’s for precisely this reason. It would seem inappropriate that an Admission Appeal should challenge the policy and undermine the assurances given to parents.
The average class size of 25 means that a year group can be timetabled for lessons with a maximum group size of 28 (the maximum capacity in classrooms) for top sets; this affords the opportunity to have smaller sets for the less able. As a fully comprehensive school, it is essential that St Bartholomew’s retains the ability to have sets of an appropriate size to help meet students’ needs.
Our capacity to deliver the curriculum for design technology is limited by health and safety legislation and specialist rooming. Numbers in these groups are therefore limited to a maximum of 22. All design technology lessons involve the use of potentially hazardous equipment and we do not have the rooming capacity to add additional groups. At Key Stage 4, Design Technology is a core part of our curriculum for all students and we offer five different courses. These groups are regularly full to capacity and we have no flexibility to add more students for the reasons outlined above. Any additional students admitted into Year 10 after the option process has been completed in Year 9 would have limited choices for their KS4 options and could only be placed into groups where maximum class sizes had not been reached. This would be detrimental to the future progress of these students as well as damaging the prospects of our existing students if class sizes were increased for students requiring greater support.
Potential impact of oversubscription on other local schools
A fundamental principle of the new school build was that it would not be at the expense of the intake to other local schools. The standard admission number has not increased.
Health and Safety
The new school has been constructed with standard classrooms which reflect the Governors’ policy for average class sizes of 25; the net capacity of standard classrooms at St Bart’s is only 53 square metres.
The Area Guidelines for Secondary Schools (Building Bulletin 98) provides for standard sized general classrooms of between 56 and 63 square metres. However, according to West Berks Education Department, the standard design in any new build is 60 square metres.
At 53 square metres, the smaller size of classrooms at St Bartholomew’s means that health and safety would be compromised with the admittance of more students to a year group. It is essential that teachers and wheelchair users are able to move around the classrooms safely and that there is not overcrowding.
Allocation Details
As explained above, the distance (straight line) between home and school is calculated for all
applicants and the admissions oversubscription criteria is applied to each child so that they
can be ranked in order. When more applicants apply than there are places, the children
ranked with the school’s admission number are allocated a place and the remaining children
are placed on the waiting list in that order.
Oversubscription and distance details of the last child offered a school place (lowest ranked
within the school’s admission number) and the first child on the waiting list are as follows:
Applicant / Oversubscription Criteria Met / Distance from Home to SchoolLast to be offered Year 8 / e) / 1.717
First on Waiting List Year 8 / c) / 3.339
Waiting List
The current waiting list for applicants who require a school place, excluding student named
above, is as follows:
Oversubscription Criteria / Number on Waiting Lista)Looked After Children
b)Catchment Area Pupils
c)Siblings / 1
d)Strong Social Grounds
e)Other / 1
Key Stage 3: Current Provision for Years 8
Subject / Year 8English / 3
Maths / 4
Science / 3
History / 1.5
Geography / 1.5
Modern Foreign Languages / 3
Design Technology / 2
Art / 1
Music / 1
Drama/Dance / 1
Physical Education / 2
Religious Education / 1
ICT / 1
Personal Development Programme / 1
Total periods per week / 26
SEN Information
The SEN information for current Year 8 is as follows:
SEN Register as at (Date) – Year 8 / No of StudentsSchool Action / 18
School Action Plus / 4
Statemented / 1
Summary
To summarise, the school regrets that further places cannot be allocated for the year group concerned, as to do so would prejudice the provision of efficient education and use of resources.
C I S Haddrell
Headteacher