Infant admissions policy – community schools 2021-22

This policy will apply to all admissions for the academic year 2021/22 including in-year applications. For details of Published Admission Numbers (PAN’s) for each school please refer to the list of community infant schools at the end of this page.

If the school is oversubscribed, applications will be considered first according to the priorities in the order set out below:

1. Children who are looked after by a local authority (i.e. in their care or provided with accommodation by the authority for a continuous period of more than 24 hours). Children who were previously looked after but immediately following being looked after became subject to an adoption order, residence (now a child arrangement order) or special guardianship order. Please see Additional Information.

2. Children or families who have a significant medical, physical, psychological or social need. Evidence must be attached with the application form. Applications under this criterion must be supported by written evidence from an appropriate professional involved stating clearly why the preferred school is the most appropriate for the child and reasons why other schools in the city are inappropriate. Please see Additional Information.

3. Children living within the school’s designated catchment area. (If the school cannot admit all applications from the catchment area, applicants will be ranked within this category in accordance with priorities in 4. below.)

4. Children living outside the school’s catchment area in the following priority order:

i. children who have a brother or sister (living within the same household) at the school or an adjacent junior school who will be still attending the school the following academic year;

Note – this category includes step-brothers/step-sisters, adoptive brothers/sisters living within the same household or children whose parents are married or cohabiting and live together within the same household.

ii children eligible for service premium
Note – service premium is paid to eligible children of armed services personnel under S14 of the Education Act 2002.

iii) children of staff employed at the school (or school on an adjacent site)

a) where the member of staff has been employed at the school for 2 or more years at the time at which the application is made, and or
b) the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a skill shortage

iv) children who live closest to the school, based on the shortest distance from home to school, measured on a straight line ‘as the crow flies’. (This distance will be used where necessary to prioritise applications).
Should there be two or more identical distances requiring prioritisation, this will be done by casting lots. Please see Additional Information.
Note: should the school be oversubscribed from within any of the criteria above, then any additional criteria will be used to prioritise applications within these categories.

Where the LA is unable to meet a parental preference in relation to a catchment school, the LA will have to allocate a place at a lower preference school or even allocate the next nearest school with places available. Parents may prefer to then try and get a place for another sibling at the same school. In such instances, this school could then be treated as the catchment school for subsequent sibling applications.

Parents would have to notify the LA on application that they consider this exception applies. If the application was for the actual catchment school this criterion would still be applied. This would be applicable to Portsmouth schools who have catchment criterion as part of their admissions policy.

The Admissions code states “all children whose Education Health and Care (EHC) plan names the school must be admitted”.

These children will have priority for admission over and above all other admission applications and will be included in the admissions allocation process

Looked after children

These are defined as children who are looked after by a local authority, i.e. in their care or provided with accommodation by the authority for a continuous period of more than 24 hours.

Children who were previously looked after *, but ceased to be so because they were adopted or subject to a residence or special guardianship order. A copy of the relevant court order will be required.

* A child is considered as ‘Looked After’ as defined in section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989. A child is considered ‘Adopted’ as defined in section 46 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002. Residence order- as defined in section 8 of the Children Act 1989. Since 2014 replaced by Child Arrangement Order. Special guardianship order – as defined in section 14a of the Children Act 1989.

Medical, physical, psychological or social need

If a child or a family member has a significant medical, physical, psychological or social need that you would like taken into account when places are allocated, applicants should tick the relevant box on the application form and submit supporting evidence to support their request. The evidence must be in writing from a doctor or other appropriate professional involved with the child/family member’s health, wellbeing or specific family circumstances .In all cases evidence must show why it is appropriate that the child attends the preferred school and why other schools in the city are inappropriate.

Catchment Areas

A catchment area is a geographical area defined by the council. The idea of having a catchment area is to give some priority for the admission of children living in the local area of the school. Please note – living in the catchment area does not guarantee a place at the school. The catchment area determined by the home address (the child’s permanent residence). Further details of the individual school’s catchment area will be provided on the council’s website or by contacting the Admissions Team.

Sibling link

A sibling link is defined as a child’s brother or sister (living in the same household) already on roll and attending the school you have applied to or at an adjacent infant/junior school and who will still be attending the school the following academic year. This category includes step- brothers/step-sisters; adoptive and foster brothers/sisters living in the same household or children whose parents are married or cohabiting and live together within the same household. This does not include siblings who live in a different household. Twins, triplets and other children of multiple births will be admitted above the admission limit of a school if the limit has been reached by admitting one of the multiple birth children. A sibling link at the school does not guarantee admission to the school. Feeder Junior School

Every infant school has a linked feeder junior school some of which are on adjacent sites to infant schools. Please see list below.

Children eligible for service premium

Service premium is paid to eligible children of armed services personnel under S14 of the Education Act 2002. The service premium is designed to support children with parents serving in the regular British armed forces. Pupils attract the premium if they meet the following criteria:

• One of their parents is serving in the regular armed forces.
• One of their parents served in the regular armed forces in the last 3 years.
• One of their parents died while serving in the armed forces and the pupil is in receipt of a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) and the War Pensions Scheme (WPS).

Children of Staff employed at the school

a) where the member of staff has been employed at the school for 2 or more years at the time at which the application is made, and or
b) the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a skill shortage.

Distance measurement

Where it is necessary to prioritise applications the criterion will be prioritised based on the shortest distance from the child’s home to school, measured in a straight line ‘as the crow flies’. Distances will be measured using the council’s Geographical Information System (GIS) department. The Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) unique property reference co-ordinates will be used to represent the school, whilst home co-ordinates will be primarily derived from the LLPG, with Ordnance Survey’s ADDRESS-POINT® product used as support. Only distances measured by GIS will be taken into account for the purposes of the distance criterion. Should there be two or more identical distances, the prioritisation will be done by casting lots. The Admissions Team will arrange for this to be carried out by the LA’s Democratic Services who are independent of the school and the admissions process.

Fair Access Protocol

The Local Authority operates a Fair Access Protocol which prioritises admissions certain categories of secondary school age children. This protocol relates to admission applications during the year but does not apply to children applying in the normal admissions round. The protocol takes priority above the school’s admission policy for those on a waiting list and the LA may require the school to admit above their published admission number.

Appeals

If a parent is unsuccessful with any of their preferences they will have the right of appeal to an independent appeal panel and will be provided with the relevant documentation and advice by the LA’s Admissions Service.

Waiting lists

All parents who have been refused a place at the school will have the option to remain on the waiting list – via a tick box on the allocation response form online or on a paper reply slip. Children will be held on the waiting list by order of the criteria in the admissions policy. No account can be taken of the length of time a pupil is on the list. A pupil’s position can change on the list as new join or other applicants come off the waiting list. Children will remain on a waiting list only until the end of the academic year August 2022, if parents/carers want their children to be on the waiting list for the following academic year, they must reapply.

All other maintained infant schools are academies. For details of policies and PAN please visit the school website.

Court Lane Junior (Academy)

Court Lane Infant* (Academy)

Craneswater Junior

Southsea Infant

Cumberland Infant

Bramble Infant

Fernhurst Junior

Devonshire Infant *

Bramble Infant

Langstone Junior (Academy)

Langstone Infant* (Academy)

Lyndhurst Junior (Academy)

College Park Infant* (Academy)

Meon Junior (Academy)

Meon Infant* (Academy)

Moorings Way (Academy)

Penhale Infant (Academy)

Newbridge Junior (Academy)

Manor Infant

Penhale Infant (Academy)

Moorings Way Infant (Academy)

Meon Infant (Academy)

Northern Parade Junior (Academy)

Northern Parade Infant* (Academy)

Solent Junior (Academy)

Solent Infant* (Academy)

Stamshaw Junior (Academy)

Stamshaw Infant

Wimborne Junior

Wimborne Infant *

Cumberland Infant

*Indicates infant/junior schools considered as adjacentsites (relevant to sibling link criterion). E.g. Devonshire Infant
and Fernhurst Junior are on adjacent sites.