Transferring to middle, secondary and high school in September 2012.
All parents and carers will be notified of the school we have offered your child on 1 March 2012. It is important that you let us know if you want to accept the school place you are offered.
Please also let us know if you do not require the place so we can offer it to another child. You should reply by 15 March 2012 to accept the place offered.
What can I do if my child is not offered a place at my preferred school?
Are any places allocated after the initial round of offers?
Can the offer of a place be withdrawn?
If you are not offered your first preference, we will offer you a place at another school. If possible, this will be your second, third or fourth preference or will be the nearest school with a place available. You can:
You should accept the place offered even if it is not at the school you wanted and you want to lodge an appeal. If you do not respond within a reasonable time period we may assume the offer is no longer required and reallocate the place.
Yes. Some parents offered places decide they no longer wish their child to attend the particular school. Waiting lists for all schools will be set up the week following the letters being sent to parents. The waiting lists are ranked according to the admission rules.
We will maintain the waiting lists for schools that use the Local Authority admission policy until the end of the autumn term 2012. Your child will be automatically placed on the waiting list for any school that is ranked higher on your application than the one they have been offered. You may also request that your child is placed on a waiting list for a school that was not an original preference. (Please contact us for a form if you wish to do this.)
We will use the oversubscription criteria to decide where your child is on the waiting list for a particular school. As places become available, the child highest on the waiting list will be offered the place. This is not dependent on submitting an appeal. Waiting lists will change as late applications are received and merged into the list. Your child can go up or down the list. Late applicants will be slotted into the list according to where they meet the oversubscription criteria.
Faith schools maintain their own waiting lists and they are ranked in accordance with the school’s admissions policy.
We reserve the right to withdraw an offer of a place in certain circumstances. You should be aware that by submitting your application you are stating that the information is true and accurate.
Examples of when a place could be withdrawn include:
If an offer is withdrawn as a result of misleading information, your application will be reprocessed. You have a right of appeal if a place is refused.
If you are not offered a place for your child at the school you wanted, then you have the right to appeal against the decision to an Independent Appeal Panel. If you want to appeal for more than one school you will need to appeal separately for each one.
We will be able to advise you about waiting lists and the appeals process. You will not be able to appeal unless you have applied to and been formally refused admission at a school.
Appeals forms should be returned by 30 March 2012 to enable these to be held in the first round of appeals starting in May 2012.
If you are considering submitting an appeal, speak first to the School Choice Adviser who can explain the process to you. The School Choice Adviser can be contacted through the Families Information Service.