Admission Arrangements for 2021/22 Academic Year
St Margaret’s Church of England Junior School
A founder member of Medway Anglican Schools Trust (the admissions authority)
Admissions Policy
Admission Arrangements for the 2020/2021 Academic Year:
Applications should be made using the Medway Coordinated scheme, which has a Fair Access Protocol and operates an Equal Preference approach.
Please complete the JCAF (junior common application form) application form which can be found online at www.medway.gov.uk
In addition applicants should complete the supplementary information form (SIF) which can be obtained from the school office or from the medway.gov.uk website and return this to the school. Completion of the SIF does not constitute an application and applicants MUST complete the JCAF form as part of the Medway co-ordinated admissions scheme in accordance with the Medway guidance.
Admissions Policy
It is the policy of the Medway Anglican Schools Trust to admit children without regard to ability or aptitude. Applications for admission of children with disabilities will be considered on the same basis as all other applications, subject to the Local Authority’s provision of a more appropriate placement.
Children enter year 3 at the start of the term after their seventh birthday. St Margaret’s CE Junior School will admit children into its Year 3 class. The children due to be admitted during the academic year 2020-2021 are those born between 1 September 2012 and 31 August 2013.
We will not exceed the planned admission number for the school which is 90.
Oversubscription Criteria:
Before the application of oversubscription criteria, children with a statement of special educational need or Education, Health and Care Plan which names the school will be admitted. As a result of this, the published admissions number will be reduced accordingly. A Statement of Special Educational Need is a statement made by the local authority under Section 324 of the Education Act 1996 specifying the special educational provision required for that child. An Education, Health and Care plan is a plan made by the local authority under Section 37 of the Children and Families Act 2014 specifying the special education provision required for that child.
If there are more applications to St Margaret’s CE Junior School than there are places the following oversubscription criteria will be applied by the governors.
1.Looked after children Children in Local Authority Care or Previously in Local Authority Care (as defined by the Medway coordinated admission scheme)
- a child under the age of 18 years for whom the local authority provides accommodation by agreement with their parents/carers (Section 22 of the Children Act 1989) or who is the subject of a care order under Part IV of the Act. This applies equally to children who immediately after being looked after by the local authority became subject to an adoption, residence or special guardianship order. (As defined by Section 46 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 or Section 8 or 14A of the Children Act 1989).
2.Pairing - Children attending in Year 2 of our paired infant school [St Margaret’s Infant School] at the time of the application. The school will give multiple birth applications a higher priority for place than other applications in the event of the school being oversubscribed.
3.Sibling - (a brother or sister attending St Margaret’s C of E Junior School at the time of the application and who will still be attending in September 2020). Sibling means children who have a brother, sister or step or half siblings including fostered and adopted siblings living at the same home address attending St Margaret’s CE Junior School at the time of admission. The School reserves the right to ask for proof of relationship. Extended family, for example cousins, living in the same house do not qualify as siblings. Please note that if the older sibling is in Year 6 at the time of application, the link cannot be considered, as they will not be in the school when the younger child would start in September
4. Children of teaching staff – the member of teaching staff has been
employed at the school for two or more years at the time the application is
made. Or the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.
5. Denominational preference When a parent/carer applies for a place at St Margaret’s CE Junior School on the grounds of denomination, such application must be supported by evidence that either the child or at least one parent/carer is a regular worshipper (the level of attendance should be at least once a month) at a church affiliated to, or represented at “Churches Together in England” or the “Evangelical Alliance” and has been for at least 12 months prior to the application being made. – A supplementary information form is also needed which must be completed and returned to St Margaret’s CE Junior School by the closing date for applications.
Medical, health and special access reasons – Medical, health and special access reasons will be applied in accordance with the school’s legal obligations, in particular those under the Equality Act 2010, as follows: For children whose mental or physical impairment means that they have a demonstrable and significant need to attend a particular school, or For children whose parent/carers mental or physical impairment means that they have a demonstrable and significant need for their child to attend a particular school. Such claims must be clearly identified on the application and need to be supported by written evidence from a suitably qualified medical or other practitioner who can demonstrate a specific connection between the needs of the child or parent/carer and the particular school. All evidence must be sent to the Student Service Team at Medway by the closing date for applications.
Nearness of children’s home We use the distance between the child's permanent home address and the school, measured by the shortest route to school from the child's home address using roads and paths that are known to the graphical information software (GIS) utilised by the Local Authority. Distances are measured from a point defined as within the child’s home to a point defined as within the school as specified by Ordnance Survey. The same address point on the school site is used for everybody. The school uses the measurements provided by the Local Authority (LA) and further information on how distances are calculated is available in the Admissions Booklet provided by the LA. In the case of distances from flats, the school will use the process defined below in 'Tiebreaker'
Tiebreaker –
In the unlikely event that two or more children in all other ways have equal eligibility for the last available place at the school, the names will be issued a number and drawn randomly to decide which child should be given the place.
Once all places have been allocated a waiting list will be maintained, ranking children in order of oversubscription criteria, not date of application. If a place(s) become(s) available they will be offered to the highest ranked child(ren) on the list.
Appeals
Parents/carers have the right to appeal if a place is not offered to their child. Appeals will be handled in line with the School Admissions Appeals Code and the MAST Board’s policy on admission appeals.
The Trust will appoint an Appeals Panel Clerk who will convene an Appeals Panel. The Clerk and the Panel will be trained in admissions law.
Admissions out of Normal Admissions Rounds
The process will follow LA guidelines that aim to make an out of normal admission round placement within 10 school days.
Parents can apply for an out of normal admission round admission at any time during the school year.
If no places are available at the time of application, a waiting list will be maintained. Names are kept in priority order according to the oversubscription criteria and not according to how long a child’s name has been on the list.
Any place that becomes available will be offered to the child at the top of the list.
All vacancies will be allocated as they arise.
Policy Implementation Date: October 2018
Policy Review Date: October 2019
