ISLE OF WIGHT COUNCIL

 

Scheme for co-ordinated admissions to high schools –

School Year 2005/06 (Admissions in September 2005)

 

Introduction

 

The main purpose of this co-ordinated scheme is to ensure that every child living on the Isle of Wight receives an offer of a high school place at the conclusion of the normal admissions round for pupils transferring from middle to high school in September 2005 (i.e. by 1 March 2005). 

 

There are five high schools on the Isle of Wight:

 

·        Carisbrooke High School (Newport)

·        Cowes High School

·        Medina High School (Newport)

·        Ryde High School

·        Sandown High School

 

All the above are community schools for which the Isle of Wight Council (the LEA) is the admissions authority.  There are no other maintained secondary schools on the Island, the nearest being across the Solent in Portsmouth and Southampton.  There is little or no cross-border traffic in school admissions terms between the Island and the mainland.

 

The purpose of this scheme is to set out a process and time scale resulting in the offer of a single school place.  This should represent the highest preference listed by the parent / carer that it is possible to meet following the application of the LEA’s admissions policy and, if necessary, oversubscription criteria.  Where it is not possible to allocate a place at any of the parents' preferred schools one will be offered at the nearest school to their home address where a place is available.  Parents can still seek an alternative place elsewhere if they are unhappy with the offer.  They can also appeal against the decision to refuse their child a place at their preferred school and / or ask for their child's name to be put on a waiting list.

 

Process and time scale

 

1.                  School admissions application packs containing the composite prospectus published by the Isle of Wight Council will be distributed to parents via pupils' current primary schools, at the beginning of October 2004.  The LEA will have identified those pupils due to transfer to Year 9 in September in Isle of Wight middle schools (the transfer cohort) from its computer records. Information concerning the admissions process will also be made available to Education Welfare Officers and relevant staff of the Social Services & Housing Directorate.

 

2.                  Parents / carers will be invited to list up to three preferences for a school place in priority order.  These may be at any of the five high schools on the Island.  Parents resident on the Isle of Wight must use the LEA’s own school admissions preference form to indicate their preferred schools.  No other form will be valid, in accordance with the requirements of the Education Act 2002.  Parents should list the schools in order of priority (e.g. first, second and third).  This is vital for the consideration of applications.  Parents must ensure that completed application forms are received by the School Admissions Office, County Hall, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 1UD by 5 pm on 30 November 2004.

 

3.         No later than 16 December 2004

 

v     The LEA will make an indicative allocation of places to all first preferences at community and controlled schools on the Island which are not oversubscribed.  The published oversubscription criteria will be applied to those schools with more applicants than places.  Where pupils have a Statement of Special Educational Needs and must be offered a place as first priority this will be indicated.  (NB Statemented pupils must be given priority for the school of their parents’ preference in accordance with the SEN and Admissions Code of Practice).

 

4.         No later than 15 January 2004

 

v     The Council will decide upon its first preference allocations to community and controlled schools.

 

5.         Between 30 January 2005 and 13 February 2005

 

v     Final lists of school allocations will be prepared.

v     Letters to parents / carers will be prepared

v     Consideration will be given to late applications received before the allocation date.

 

6.         1 March 2005

 

Letters will be posted to parents / carers via first class post.  The LEA letter to parents will contain the following information:

 

v     The school where a place has been allocated.

v     If they have not been allocated the school of their preference, the reason why.

v     If they have been refused a place at their first preferred school (or second or third preference if appropriate), advice concerning their right of appeal to an independent panel.

v     How places at the preferred school were allocated.

 

Appendix A – Changes of address and late applications

 

New arrivals to the Island

 

Parents / carers moving to the Isle of Wight who are making an application on the basis of their new address must provide evidence of a tenancy agreement of six months or more, an exchange of contracts if they are purchasing a property or a letter from a Housing Association confirming the address where they will be resident.  The tenancy agreement, exchange of contracts or a letter from a Housing Association must have been received by the closing date of 30 November 2004.

 

Late applications received before the allocation date.

 

(a)                Forms received after the closing date will not be considered by the LEA until after those received by 30 November 2004.

(b)               Any preference forms received for children in public care will be included in the main admission round as valid first preferences at any time up to the allocation date on 13 February 2005.  Where an application is received after that date, the LEA will, if attendance at the particular school is seen as a necessity, seek to offer a place there.  If this is not possible because it is already oversubscribed , the LEA will discuss the matter with the Directorate’s officer responsible for the Looked-after children.

(c)                Applications received after the closing date but before the allocation date on 13 February will be sent a letter allocating a school place on 1 March 2005.  Applications received after the allocation date will be sent an allocation letter as soon as possible after 1 March.

(d)               Parents / carers living on the Isle of Wight who change their preference as a result of a change of address, and who return the new form by the closing date will have that change considered in the main round of allocations.  They will have until16 December to provide evidence of the address change.  Those preference forms received after the closing date will be considered as late applications.

 

Applications received after the allocation date and ‘in year’ admissions

 

(a)        Where a preference form is received after the allocation date, from a parent / carer living on the Isle of Wight, they must use an Isle of Wight LEA preference form.  If the preference(s) is for a community or controlled school, the LEA will allocate a place as long as the school remains under subscribed.  If the school is fully subscribed, a place will be allocated at the nearest school to the home address that has a vacancy.  The LEA will seek to make a decision as soon as possible after receiving the form. 

(b)        All applications received after the beginning of the autumn term 2005 will be regarded as outside the co-ordinated scheme.  Nonetheless, the LEA will act as the point of contact for all preferences for parents / carers living on the Island.  The LEA preference form should be used in all cases.  The same arrangements will apply to applications for admission to middle schools for year groups other than the normal intake group in Year 9, i.e. years 10and 11.

 

Waiting Lists

 

            The Isle of Wight LEA will operate waiting lists for oversubscribed community and controlled schools.  The waiting list ranking will be based on the LEA over- subscription criteria.  Rankings within each priority will be determined by distance from home to the relevant school as measured in a straight line.  Places will be offered to children from the waiting list as soon as a place becomes available at an over subscribed school.  It is for parents to ask for their child to be placed on a waiting list using the form provided by the LEA.  The waiting list will operate until the child gains a place or until the parents wish his / her name to be removed.

 

Admission Appeals

 

(a)        Parents / carers wishing to appeal against the LEA’s decision not to offer a place at a preferred school should do so by 16 March 2005. 

(b)        The LEA will not arrange an appeal for a school that was not included on the original preference form.  It will only arrange an appeal for a school which was listed as a preference, as it will not have given a decision to the parent / carer for schools not included on the form.  If a parent / carer wishes to receive a decision for a school not included in their original preference(s), and thus acquire a right of appeal, they must complete a further preference form.

(c)        Parents / carers will receive fourteen days notice of the date of the appeal hearing and will receive copies of any documentation relating to the appeal seven days in advance of the hearing.

(d)        Whilst the Isle of Wight Council will make every effort to hear appeals within six weeks of the allocation letter being sent out, as suggested in the Code of Practice, it cannot guarantee this time scale.  The volume of appeals to be heard and the availability of the appeal panel members, who are volunteers, will have a direct affect on the timing of the appeal hearings.

(e)        Appeals for late applications and school transfers outside the normal admission round will be arranged as soon as is possible after the decision to refuse a preference has been conveyed to the student and the parent / carer.

 

ADMISSIONS TO YEAR 12 AT HIGH SCHOOL (THE SIXTH FORM)

 

Application for admission to Year 12 at high school (the first year of the VI Form) should be made direct to the schools concerned, not the LEA.  Each high school publishes a prospectus for its VI Form panel.  Parents have a right of appeal to an independent appeals panel should their child be refused a place there.