Admissions Policy
Each year the Governing Body of Christ Church Streatham CE Primary School offer reception class places to 30 children. Children are normally admitted to school in September of each year.
Supplementary Information Forms (SIF)
Parents/carers who wish to apply for a place based on church attendance must also complete the school’s Supplementary Information Form and return this to Christ Church School by Lambeth’s deadline for admission. Failure to return the supplementary admission form will mean that the school cannot consider the application under the church criteria, in this case the application will be considered under the next most appropriate criteria based on the information on the CAF.
The Governors will consider late applications in accordance with the procedure in the local authority’s co-ordinated scheme. This is explained in the LA admission brochure and on line at www.lambeth.gov.uk/eadmissions.
Parents applying for a place at Christ Church School do so knowing that it has a distinctive Christian ethos which is at the heart of the school and provides an inclusive, caring and supportive environment where children learn and flourish in a setting shaped by Christian values. The governors welcome applications from all members of the community and ask all parents to respect the Christian ethos of the school and its importance to the community. Therefore the governors hope that all pupils will take part in the Christian worship of the school and will attend Religious Education lessons.
Educational Health and Care (EHC) Plan
Parents/carers of pupils who have Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan are required to apply for school places separately through the local authority from whom advice is available. The governors will admit all those pupils whose EHC Plan names Christ Church Streatham CE Primary School. If a child with a EHC Plan, is placed in the school by the local authority before the normal admission round, the number of places available to other applicants will be reduced.
The school governors have agreed with the LA that 30 pupils will be admitted to the reception class.
Criteria
If there are more than 30 applicants, places will be allocated according in the following order of priority:
- Looked after children or previously looked after children
A ‘looked after child’ or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order including those who appear to the admission authority to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. A looked after child is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions. An adoption order is an order under the Adoption Act 1976 and children who were adopted under the Adoption and Children Act 2002. A ‘child arrangements order’ is an order settling the arrangements to be made as to the person with whom the child is to live under Section 8 of the Children Act 1989 as amended by Section 14 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Section 14A of the Children Act 1989 defines a ‘special guardianship order’ as an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian(s). For Looked After Children (LAC) or Previously Looked After Children (PLAC) a letter from your child’s social worker, or a copy of court papers must be submitted with the CAF by the deadline for the correct school’s admissions criterion to be given.
- Children whose parent/carer is a regular and faithful worshipper at Christ Church Streatham.
- Children whose parent/carer is a regular and faithful worshipper at other qualifying Christian churches located within one-mile radius of the school
- Children with an exceptional and specific medical or social need for a place at Christ Church School. This must be supported by written evidence, e.g. from a doctor, social worker, or educational psychologist, which sets out the reasons why this school is the most suitable school and the difficulties that would be caused if the child had to attend another school.
- Children of permanent staff at this school who have been employed at the school for two or more years at the time the application is made, and/or a member of staff who has been recruited to fill a post for which there was a demonstrable skills shortage (a maximum of 2 per admissions year).
- The presence of a brother or sister already on the school roll and who would still be on the roll at the date the child would be admitted. (Brothers and sisters include step siblings, half sibling, adopted and foster siblings providing they are living at the same address).
- Remaining places will be offered according to the proximity of the home of the applicant (see notes - distance) to the school (priority will be given to those who live nearest to the school).
Where it is not possible to admit all applicants who fall within a particular priority category a decision will be made between them by applying subsequent priorities.
If applicants live equidistant from the school the Governing Body will draw lots to decide between applicants.
Regular and Faithful Worshipper
This is defined as a person attending worship at least once a month for at least a year prior to application. In exceptional cases, a parent/carer for whom unavoidable circumstances have consistently prevented them from attending worship such that they have been unable to qualify for the faith-based oversubscription criteria, may be considered to be a faithful and regular worshipper; the relevant Minister will determine whether or not there were unavoidable circumstances.
Qualifying Churches
Qualifying Churches are those that are members of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and the Evangelical Alliance.
Distance
The Local Authority’s admissions’ department will use a computerized mapping system to calculate distances of home from the school as the crow flies. This home to school distance measurement will be undertaken using a point from the child’s home address as identified by the software (which uses the Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG)) to a central point in the school’s grounds as profiled in the software).
The home address is the address where the child resides. Where a child spends time with both parents/carers in separate homes and both have parental responsibility, the school will need to establish where the majority of school nights (Sunday to Thursday) are spent and treat that as the home address.
Appeals
Parents of children who do not gain admission have the right to appeal against the decision to an Independent Appeals Panel. Appeals must be lodged within 20 school days of notification of a refusal. Appeal forms are obtainable from the school. Completed forms should be returned to the Clerk to the Admissions Panel, at Christ Church Streatham CE Primary School by May. The appeal decision will be final and binding.
Waiting List
Unsuccessful applications will be kept on our waiting list until 31st December of each year (which will be re-ranked in accordance with the oversubscription criteria each time a new child is added to the waiting list).
Delayed entry
Christ Church School admits children to the Reception class in the September of the school year in which a child attains the age of 5 years. (The school year runs from 1 September to the 31st August.) All parents/carers are entitled to a full-time place for their child in the Reception class from September and are strongly advised to accept this arrangement, but may delay entry until the beginning of the term after their child is five years old (i.e.), when the child reaches compulsory school age) or until the beginning of the summer term whichever is earlier. In exceptional circumstances, and in agreement with the school, children may attend part-time until their child reaches compulsory school age. Parents/carers who have been offered a place at the School and wish to delay for their child and/or attend part-time must put this in writing to the headteacher at the earliest opportunity and before the start of the autumn term. Decisions will be made by the Admissions Committee.
Children are educated in school with others of their age group. However, in exceptional circumstances parents/carers may choose to seek places outside of their child’s chronological year group eg. where a child would start reception at compulsory school age, rather than year 1 with their chronological peers.. Decisions will be made on the basis of the circumstances of each case and will be made by the Admissions Committee. Parents/carers must state clearly why they feel admission to a different year group is in the child's best interest and may provide recent professional evidence to support this. If delayed entry is agreed the application will be withdrawn and the parent/carer will need to apply again the following year. This does not guarantee a place for the child at Christ Church Streatham, just that the application will be considered in the new cohort.
Further details of how to make such a request are available from the school.
In-year applicants
As a Church of England Primary School which is part of the Southwark Diocesan Board of Education Multi-Agency Trust (SDBEMAT), in year applications are made through the school anad not Lambeth Admissions. Therefore, applications for in-years places should be made directly to the school. The school’s application forms are available from the school office or website. Decisions will be made using the criteria listed in our admission policy. Outcomes of the application will be given to parents and carers directly by the school.
If there are no spaces or an application was unsuccessful, applications will be kept on our waiting list for a term (which will be re-ranked in accordance with the oversubscription criteria each time a new child is added to the waiting list). Parents of children who do not gain admission have the right to appeal against the decision to an Independent Appeals Panel. Appeals must be lodged within 20 school days of notification of a refusal. Appeal forms are obtainable from the school. Completed forms should be returned to the Clerk to the Admissions Panel, at Christ Church Streatham CE Primary School. The appeal decision will be final and binding.