Applications for secondary schools will be processed according to the published co-ordinated scheme for 2021-2022. The scheme and the admissions arrangements will be published in the LA’s composite prospectus. This is entitled A Parent’s Guide to Secondary School Admissions in Bracknell Forest starting September 2021. This guide will be available from 12th September 2020.

OVERSUBSCRIPTION CRITIERIA

Within Bracknell Forest there are 3 community secondary schools and the local authority sets the admission criteria for these schools. The criteria for all of these schools can be found in the ‘Guide to Secondary Education within Bracknell Forest’, on the Bracknell Forest Council’s website or from the school.

In circumstances where more applications than places are received for Bracknell Forest community schools the following criteria will be used.

· Oversubscription criteria Bracknell Forest community schools:

Bracknell Forest is the admission authority for community schools and sets the oversubscription criteria.

The following criteria apply to these three Bracknell Forest community schools:

Easthampstead Park School

Garth Hill College

Sandhurst School

Children with an Education Health & Care Plan that names a specific school must, by law, be admitted to that school.

After this requirement has been satisfied the following rules will apply:

(A) Looked After Children[1] and all previously looked after children. Previously looked after children are children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted[2] (or became subject to a child arrangements order[3] or special guardianship order[4]) immediately following having been looked after. This also includes those children who appear to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted[5]

(B) Children who have either medical or social grounds for admission to a particular school. This evidence must set out the particular reason why the school in question is the only suitable school and the difficulties caused if the child had to attend another school. The LA’s decision in these matters is final.

1. Where a member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made and/or

2. the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is demonstrable skill shortage.

(D) Children who live in the designated area of the school and who have a sibling who will still be attending the school at the time of the child’s admission.

(E) Children who live in the designated area of the school.

(F) Children who do not live in the designated area of the school but who have a sibling at the school, and who will still be attending school at the time of the child’s admission.

(G) All other children.

Children must be living in the designated area at the closing date of 31 October 2020 to be considered under this criterion.

Sibling does not include those in the 6^th form of the school.

Tie Break

If there are still insufficient places and no distinction can be made between the applicants or if they do not fulfil any of the above criteria, a final decision will be made on the radial distance (straight line distance on a map) between the home and the school. Those living nearer to the school will be placed higher than those living further away. Radial distance will be based on the co-ordinates for the property and the school as defined in the Local Land and Property Gazetteer and based on the Ordnance Survey’s national system. For new build properties these co-ordinates may not yet be finalised by the Local Land and Property Gazetteer and therefore the co-ordinates available as of the closing date for applications will be used.

Distances are measured using direct distance calculations within a computer system. The measurement of each distance has been calculated using Pythagoras’ Theorem. The way in which this is done is to calculate the distance in metres between the Easting and Northing co-ordinates for each location. The measurement in metres is then multiplied by 0.000621318 to convert this measurement to miles. The same method of calculation is used for each direct distance measured.

If in the event that two or more children live at the same distance from school (for example for families living in flats) and there are fewer places available then random allocation will be used to decide which child will be allocated the remaining place(s). The process will be drawn and scrutinised by people who are independent of the Council. Random allocation will not be used for multiple birth siblings (twins, triplets etc) from the same family tied for the final place.

As soon as all applications have been received, including those submitted on line and from outside Bracknell Forest, the LA will consider all applications equally for its maintained schools and apply the admissions arrangements as published.

Where demand exists, schools admit up to their admission number and no places are reserved for pupils moving into their designated area.

GENERAL INFORMATION

· Protected Sibling Status

Parents of children attending a school that was their designated area school at the time of processing the application but where the designated area has changed will have a protection for any younger siblings. The younger sibling’s application will be processed as living in the designated area of the same school as the older sibling is attending even though the designated area has changed.

It is the parent’s responsibility to inform the School Admissions Team on their application that that they fulfil this criterion. This information will then be verified by the School Admissions Team. Parents must enclose a copy of their current council tax notice.

The child must still be living at the address within the original designated area from where the parents applied for the older sibling. If a child’s address has changed then this criterion will not be applied.

The older sibling must also still be attending the school where the protected sibling status is being requested.

Note that in all cases the normal admission process will be followed and there will be no guarantee of a place at the school.

· Social and Medical Grounds

If a child has a social and medical need that would cause significant physical and / or mental hardship, an applicant can indicate that they wish their application to be considered under social and medical grounds.

It is the applicants responsibility to obtain a Supplementary Social and Medical Information Form which must be completed and returned to the School Admissions Team along with supporting written evidence from a professional by the given closing date. For In-Year applications the evidence must be submitted at the time of application. The supporting evidence for social and medical grounds should be from the relevant registered professional(s) involved with the child. Examples include registered health professionals, such as Consultant, GP, Psychologist or Psychiatrist. All evidence must be on letter headed paper and reflect the child’s current situation.

This evidence must prove why the school in question is the only suitable school and why the child cannot attend another school. This evidence must be specific to the school in question.

It is the applicants responsibility to provide all evidence in support of their request and it is not possible for it to be considered under this criterion if no evidence is supplied.

All schools have the resources to work with special educational needs and common childhood complaints such as asthma.

Requests will be considered in accordance with the Equalities Act 2010.

The procedure

Applications on social and medical need will be considered firstly by the panel of officers.

They will consider information on the Social and Medical Supplementary Information Form and any evidence from the relevant professional(s). They will recommend whether a decision can be made to either:

Allow the application
To refuse the application –on the grounds that the circumstances of the case does not meet the social and medical criterion.
The recommendation will then be passed to the School Admissions Manager for a final decision

The decision on the application will be recorded and a letter will be sent to the applicant informing them of the outcome.

· Staff

Any applications under this criterion will be referred to the school for confirmation that the application meets the set criterion.

· Appeals

If parents have been refused a place at one or more of their preferences they will be informed of their right of appeal. All appeals for Bracknell Forest schools must be submitted by 30 March 2021. Admissions authorities will then endeavour to hear all appeals submitted by this date within 40 school days.

· Waiting lists

The LA will maintain waiting lists for all Bracknell Forest maintained schools. Applicants not offered a place at a higher preference school than that which has been offered will automatically be placed on a waiting list for a school that is within Bracknell. Parents should be aware that their child’s name can go up or down the waiting list according to the priority of new additions to the list, for example someone moving into the area is placed on the appropriate place on the waiting list. Waiting lists must be maintained in criteria order at all time. The LA will maintain the waiting lists for all Bracknell Forest maintained schools for the school year for which they have applied. At the end of the school year the waiting list will end and parents will need to reapply for a place for the following year. No reminders will be sent.

Admission of children outside their normal age group

Children are normally allocated to their chronological year group. Requests from parents for school places outside a normal age group will be considered carefully whether for gifted and talented pupils or for those who have experienced problems, e.g. having missed education due to ill health, etc.

Parents must submit their request alongside their In-year application and include all supporting documentation. Each case will be considered on its own merits and circumstances and in the pupil’s best interest.

· Parent

Parent is defined under S576 of the Education Act 1996 as:

all natural parents, whether they are married or not
any person who, although not a natural parent, has parental responsibility for a child or young person
any person who, although not a natural parent, has care of a child or young person (having care of a child or young person means that a person with whom the child lives and who looks after the child, irrespective of what their relationship is with the child, is considered to be a parent in education law).

· Sibling

Refers to a brother or sister, half brother or sister, adopted brother or sister, step brother or sister, or the child of the parent/carer’s partner where the child for whom the school place is sought is living in the same family unit at the same address as that sibling. This does not include those siblings in the school 6^th form.

· Designated areas/catchment areas

Maps showing the designated area of a school are available to view on the Bracknell Forest Council’s website, at the school in question, or at a council office on request.

Parents can also find their designated area school on the Bracknell Forest Council’s website via ‘findmynearest’ and entering their road name or postcode.

PUBLISHED ADMISSIONS NUMBERS (PAN) FOR COMMUNITY SECONDARY SCHOOLS

2021/2022

	2021/22 PAN
Easthampstead Park School	210
Garth Hill College	270
Sandhurst School	210

[1] A 'looked after child' is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority in England, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in England in the exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989) at the time of making an application to a school.

[2] This includes children who were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 (see section 12 adoption orders) and children who were adopted under the Adoption and Children’s Act 2002 (see section 46 adoption orders).

[3] Child arrangements orders are defined in s.8 of the Children Act 1989, as amended by s.12 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Child arrangements orders replace residence orders and any residence order in force prior to 22 April 2014 is deemed to be a child arrangements order.

[4] See Section 14A of the Children Act 1989 which defines a ‘special guardianship order’ as an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian (or special guardians).

[5] A child is regarded as having been in state care outside of England if they were in the care of or were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation, or any other provider of care whose sole or main purpose is to benefit society.