Admissions
- Admissions Authority
The Admissions Authority for Greatstone Primary School and Nursery is the Governing Board. Responsibility for decisions on Admissions is delegated to the Personnel Committee. Three members of the Personnel Committee who are not members of staff will form an Admissions Committee.
Admissions Policy – Nursery
The purpose of Greatstone School Nursery Admissions Policy is to ensure that the facility is accessible to children and families from all sections of the local community. Greatstone School Nursery is a 52-place nursery. In the event that the nursery is over- subscribed the following criteria will be applied in priority order as follows:
- 3-year old children.
- Current family association – where a brother or sister is already on roll at Greatstone Primary School and the family continues to live at the same address as when the sibling was admitted or has moved to a property within two miles.
- Health reasons – the evidence for this must be strong and the Governors will require written evidence from a qualified person. Parental health is not a criterion.
- Nearness of a child’s home and ease of access to school as measured by a straight line from home to school.
Birth certificates must be shown prior to admission
On admission we will:
- Provide parents and carers with information: Regular newsletter and dates for their diary etc.
- Inform parents and carers where our Policies and Procedures are displayed and we advise all to refer to these documents regularly, as these are updated throughout the year.
- Ensure parents and carers are aware of the Equal Opportunities Policy in place
Consult with families about the opening times/session availability, to avoid excluding anyone. - Ensure that only persons named on the child’s registration document by parent/carer will be allowed to collect them, unless prior consent has been given.
Published Admissions Number
The Published Admissions Number for the school (i.e. the maximum number of children admitted in any year group) is 52. The Governors of Greatstone Primary School have restricted the size of any Key Stage 1 class to 30 and in Key Stage 2 class to 33.
Greatstone Primary School is an inclusive school, therefore any child with a disability or special educational needs will not be discriminated against when applying for a place at our school. Where special arrangements are required, these will be discussed prior to your child starting school when you meet with the school Inclusion Manager (SENCO). Parents of a child with a disability and/or special educational needs are advised to contact the SENCO as soon as the school placement is confirmed by the Local Authority. Oversubscription criteria are set out below – if you have any further questions about the arrangements and how these are applied, please don’t hesitate to contact the school or Kent County Council Admissions department.
It is the policy of Greatstone Primary School to admit pupils at the beginning of the Autumn Term for all children who will attain the age of five during the following academic year. Pupils will be admitted without regard to ability or aptitude. Where an offer has been made, the school will provide for the admission of all children in the September following their fourth birthday.
If siblings from multiple births (twins, triplets, etc.) apply for a school and the school would reach its Published Admission Number (PAN) after admitting one or more, but before admitting all of those siblings, the LA will offer a place to each of the siblings, even if doing so takes the school above its PAN. If the admissions are to Year R, and so result in a breach of infant class size legislation, the additional pupil(s) will be treated as “excepted” for the time they are in an infant class or until the numbers fall back to the current infant class size limit, as defined in the School Admissions Code. Waiting list will be held for at least the first term of the academic year in oversubscription criteria order.
Requests for admission outside of the normal age group should be made to the Headteacher as early as possible in the admissions round associated with that child’s date of birth. This will allow the admissions authority sufficient time to make a decision before the closing date. Parents are not expected to provide evidence to support their request to defer their application, however where provided it must be specific to the child in question. This might include medical or Educational Psychologist reports. There is no legal requirement for this medical or educational evidence to be secured from an appropriate professional, however, failure to provide this may impede a school’s ability to agree to deferral.
Parents are required to complete an application for the normal point of entry at the same time, in case their request is declined. This application can be cancelled if the school agrees to accept a deferred application for entry into Year R the following year. Deferred applications must be made via paper RCAF to the LA, with written confirmation from each named school attached. Deferred applications will be processed in the same way as all applications for the cohort in the following admissions round, and offers will be made in accordance with each school’s oversubscription criteria. Further advice is available at
https://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/schools/school-places/primary-school-places
Oversubscription
Before the application of oversubscription criteria, children with either a Statement of Special Educational Need or an Education Health and Care Plan that names the School will be admitted. As a result of this, the published admissions number will be reduced accordingly.
In the event of over-subscription the Governors will allocate places to children according to the following criteria in priority order:
- Children in Local Authority Care and children who were previously looked after in Local Authority Care. 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 Internationally adopted previously looked after children. 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 (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989)
- Children who appear to the School’s Admissions Authority to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. A child is regarded as having been in state care in a place outside of England if the were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation or any other provider of care whose sole purpose is to benefit society. (See Supplementary Information Form)
- Current family association – where a brother or sister is already on roll at Greatstone Primary School and the family continues to live at the same address as when the sibling was admitted or has moved to a property within two miles.
- Health reasons – the evidence for this must be strong and the Governors will require written evidence from a qualified person. 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. Priority will be given to those children whose mental and physical impairment means they have a demonstrable and significant need to attend a particular school. Equally, this priority will apply to children whose parents’/guardians’ physical or mental health or social needs means that they have a demonstrable and significant need to attend a particular school. Such claims will need to be supported by written evidence from a suitably qualified medical or other practitioner who can demonstrate a special connection between these needs and the particular school.
- Nearness of a child’s home address and ease of access to school as measured by a straight line from home to school. A child’s home address is considered to be a residential property that is the child’s only or main residence and not an address at which the child might sometimes stay or sleep due to the parents’ own or special domestic arrangements. This address must be the child’s home address on the day the application form is completed and which is either: Owned by the child’s parent, parents or guardian, OR
Leased to or rented by the child’s parent, parents or guardian under a lease or written rental agreement.
If parents/guardians are living separately but share responsibility for the child, and the child lives at two different addresses during the week, the School will regard the home address as the one at which the child sleeps for the majority of weekdays.
In the event of an exact match between two applicants where only one place is available, the matter will be referred to the Governing Body’s Admissions Committee for consideration. In such an unlikely event, the names will be issued a number and drawn randomly to decide which child should be given the place.”
Parents/Guardians will be informed, in writing, of the outcome of their application, for new entrant places, by the last day of March in the academic year preceding the child starting school.
After a place has been offered, the School reserves the right to withdraw the place in the following circumstances:
When a parent has failed to respond to an offer within a reasonable time; When a parent has failed to notify the School of important changes to the application information;
The School offered the place on the basis of a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application from a parent.
Parents/Guardians who apply for places other than at reception age will be offered a place if one is available in the appropriate year group. If a place is not available in the appropriate year group, then the application will be placed on a Waiting List and places offered as and if they become available in accordance with the criteria set out above. The Waiting List will be re-ranked in line with the oversubscription criteria each time a new child is added to it.
Appeals
Any parent whose child has been refused admission has the right to appeal against the decision.
The appellant will contact the Chair of Governors in writing, within 20 days of notification of an unsuccessful application
The Chair of Governors will convene an Independent Appeals Panel to hear the appeal. All members of the Panel must be independent of the School. The appellant will be given 10 school days notice of the hearing
The Admissions Authority (the Governing Body) must supply a Presenting Officer
The Presenting Officer will put the case in support of the decision to refuse a place
The appellant will make representations to the panel in support of their appeal
The Panel will consider the appeal and make a decision. This decision is binding on the parties concerned and will be communicated to all parties in writing within 5 school days of the hearing.
Click here to view our Admissions Policy.
To view the Greatstone Primary School Admissions Arrangement Consultation for Admission Year 25-26 please click here