Admission to Secondary/Middle Schools

For the answers to many frequenty asked questions please click on the link "FAQ" to the left hand side of this page.  If you cannot find the answer to your question, please contact us on 01785 278593.

Secondary School Offers 1 March 2010

Allocation of Places

To view the summary of how places have been allocated please view the document below:
  Summary of Admission September 2010 (57.2kb)

Acceptance Slip

Please ensure that you complete the acceptance slip for the school place you have been offered, this is available at www.staffordshire.gov.uk/education/admissions

Please note that if the school your child has been allocated is oversubscribed and has a waiting list of unsuccessful applicants, failure to submit an acceptance by the deadline may put your child's place at risk.

The offer of a place for your child is on the basis of information you have provided, including your home address.  If there has been any change in your circumstances, or will be before the place is taken up at the school, please let the School Admissions and Transport Service know immediately on the telephone number given above.

Where the Authority has reasonable grounds for believing that the home address given on the application form is not your child's only or main residence it reserves the right to carry out investigations which may include visits to the property between now and the start of the academic year.  The Authority reserves the right to withdraw any offer of a school place which has been obtained as a result of misleading or fraudulent information.

Have you been refused admission to your preferred school?

If it has not been possible to offer your child a place at a more preferred school this is because the school received more applications than places available. Your application will have been refused for one of the following two reasons:-

1)      All applications have been considered against the published admissions criteria and the available places have been offered to children with a higher priority under the admissions criteria than your child.

2)      Your application was received after the closing date and did not meet the requirements of the late applications policy and available places were allocated to those applicants who had applied on time.

For information on how places were allocated at secondary schools in Staffordshire please view the following document    Summary of Admission Secondary 2010 (57.2 kb)

For schools which have reached their Published Admissions Number it is felt that admitting further pupils would be prejudicial to the provision of efficient education of other pupils at the school (i.e. be detrimental to teaching and learning of other pupils) or would prejudice the efficient use of resources at the school.

Waiting Lists

Waiting lists will be maintained by the Authority for all oversubscribed Community and Voluntary Controlled Staffordshire schools and will be maintained until the end of the autumn term 2010.  If your child has not been offered a place at your most preferred school(s) then his/her name will automatically be included on their waiting list.  

Waiting lists are kept in accordance with the schools admissions criteria. Your child's position is not fixed and is subject to change during the life of the waiting list i.e. they can go down the list if late applicants with a higher priority under the admissions criteria apply.   

Some voluntary aided and foundation schools maintain their own waiting lists and you should contact the school direct if you wish your child's name to be included on their list. 

Waiting lists for schools in other Local Authorities may be maintained differently.  If your preferred school is in another Local Authority you are strongly advised to contact them direct to secure your place on their waiting list.

Right of Appeal

If it has not been possible to agree to a request for a place at a school which you listed as a higher preference you do have a right to appeal against the decision to an Independent Appeals Panel.  Further information is available at:  www.staffordshire.gov.uk/education/admissions/admissionappeals

For your appeal to be heard by the end of the Summer term you should complete and return your appeal form by 19 March 2010 at the latest.

To appeal for a school maintained by another Local Authority please contact the relevant Local Authority or school direct for details of their own independent appeal procedures which may include a different closing date.

For further information in relation to the school admissions process please refer to the Secondary Information for Parents 2010 booklet.  To see a copy of the booklet click the following link Information Booklet.

Home to School Transport

If the school you have been allocated is within Staffordshire and is your correct catchment area school, and the distance criteria is met, then your child will be entitled to free transport. 

The travel pass will be sent to your child's present school by the end of June 2010.  If you have any queries relating to your child's entitlement to transport to school, please view the information available at www.staffordshire.gov.uk/schooltransport  

If you don't meet the criteria mentioned above you could qualify under the income assessed criteria, brief details are contained in the Income Assessed Leaflet.

Making a Late Application for Secondary School

The closing date for receipt of applications was 30 October 2009. If you have missed the deadline please download an application form from the school admissions home page - see link to application forms.  An application should be completed and returned to the School Admissions and Transport Service as a matter of urgency.

If you do not reside within Staffordshire you must apply through your home Local Authority.  Our neighbouring local authorities.

Submission of Baptism Certificates. If the school for which you are applying requires a copy of your child's baptism certificate please scan and email to admissions@staffordshire.gov.uk or copy and post to the School Admissions and Transport Service, address details are given on left hand side of this page under contacts.

Coordinated Admissions Process. Please note that if you reside in Staffordshire, you must make your applications for all of your preferred Secondary schools through Staffordshire County Council. 

Whilst governing bodies of Voluntary Aided and Foundation schools are the admission authority for their school and apply their own admission criteria,  we do operate a co-ordinated admissions process with all schools within Staffordshire and also with our neighbouring local authorities. This coordination results in all parents receiving only one offer of a Secondary School on the national offer date of 1 March 2010.

To view the co-ordinated admission arrangements which will be used in the allocation of places to schools for the academic year 2010-2011 please select the following link Co-ordinated admission arrangements.

Please click on the following link for details of the admissions criteria used for allocating places at Community Controlled, Church of England Aided, Catholic Aided and Foundation schools within Staffordshire Admission Criteria. 

If you are interested in applying for a school place at one of our neighbouring local authority schools, you will need to contact the local authority in order to receive information about their admissions critieria neighbouring local authorities.

Published Admissions Number. Each school has a Published Admissions Number (PAN) which indicates the number of pupils that may be admitted to a school in each year group. This number may only be exceeded in exceptional circumstances. For details of each schools published admissions number please see Information Booklet. 

To contact the School Admissions and Transport Service for further information please e-mail
admissions@staffordshire.gov.uk

or telephone 01785 278593.

 

 

Last Modified: 01/03/2010 08:14:14
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