Admissions

a

“Looked After” children and those children who were previously “looked after” but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, a child arrangements order, residence or special guardianship order (In such circumstances a letter from the last Local Authority which the child was in the care of will be required).

Also “Internationally adopted previously looked after children (IAPLAC).   Children who appear to the admission authority of the school to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. The Admissions Authority will require evidence from the parent and advice can be requested from the Virtual School Head (VSH), if there is any doubt about the acceptability of evidence provided by the parent of an IAPLAC.

A looked after child 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 in accordance with Section 22 (1) of the Children Act 1989 at the time of making an application to the school. A child is regarded as having been in state care outside of England if they were in care of or were accommodated by the public authority, a religious organisation, or any provider of care whose sole or main purpose is to benefit society, Section 23ZZA (8) of the Children Act 1989, Section 4 of the Children and Social Work Act 2017.

Previously looked after children are children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order). This includes children who were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 and children who were adopted under section 46 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002. Child arrangements orders are defined in section 8 of the Children Act 1989, as amended by section 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.

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 (or special guardians).

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

b

Children who will have an older sibling attending the same school at the same time.

Sibling is defined in these arrangements as children who live as brother or sister in the same house, including natural brothers or sisters, adopted siblings, stepbrothers or sisters and foster brothers and sisters.

‘At the same time’ in this instance means that the older sibling must be attending at the time the younger child is to be admitted.

c

Children of staff (i.e. people employed on a permanent contract in any capacity) at the school:

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

‘children’ in this instance would also include children of a staff member’s partner if they live permanently with the staff member.

d

Children who live in the catchment area

The place of residence is determined to be the address of the parent or carer with whom the child spends the majority of time as a child of a family during term-time. If clarification is required regarding a particular catchment area, applicants should contact the Trust Admissions office for further details. If the child spends equal time with each parent/carer, the parents/carers must reach agreement as to which address will be classed as the child’s place of residence for the application form

Living in the catchment area does not guarantee a place at the catchment school.

e

Children who have a serious medical condition or exceptional social or domestic needs that make it essential they attend a particular school.

Supporting documentation from the Lead Professional must be supplied and must be submitted with the application. The following list are the areas considered exceptional social/domestic need:

1. Crown Servants
2. Children subject to Child Protection Plans
3. Parents suffering domestic violence (subject to documentary evidence by a lead professional)

Each case will be assessed on its individual merits by the Local Governing Body, who will make a recommendation to the Trust Admission Committee.

f

Children living nearest to the academy/school measured in a straight-line distance

The place of residence is determined to be the address of the parent or carer with whom the child spends the majority of time as a child of a family during term-time. If clarification is required regarding a particular catchment area, applicants should contact the Trust Admissions office for further details. If the child spends equal time with each parent/carer, the parents/carers must reach agreement as to which address will be classed as the child’s place of residence for the application form.

For children of UK service personnel (UK Armed Forces) and crown servants a unit postal address or quartering area address that has been formally declared by an official letter will be used as the home address prior to arrival into the UK.

Distance for Rutland County Council schools is measured using the Easting/Northing British co-ordinate system to pin point the point that the home property’s front entrance meets a public highway to the academy/school’s main designated front gate using electronic mapping software.

Random allocation will be used as a tie-break to decide who has highest priority for admission if the distance between two children’s homes and School is the same. In such cases lots will be drawn (supervised) by person

independent of the Rutland Learning Trust.