Secondary school catchment when oversubscribed

Hi,

Can anyone offer any advice please?

we are in process of moving to Crosspool.

my son has missed out on preferred school as house move not complete yet so been given another school local to us currently.

Question is if move is completed say in Nov/Dec or even early next year, would i be in my rights to ask for a transfer to preferred school?

And if the school is oversubscribed already, any likelihood of getting a space?

Or will I have to wait until year 8 or is that not guaranteed either?

Can't be the only one to have faced this so any experiences appreciated.

Many thanks

Contact the school directly as any information is very likely to have changed recently.

All schools have their own admissions policy for pupils arriving in their catchment after the primary transfer process dates. They are dealt with as individual cases. Until you provide evidence that you/legal guardian live within the catchment the school is not required to even put your child on any form of waiting list, however individual circumstances can be explained at a personal interview.

Because oversubscribed schools receive so many 'speculative' requests, be prepared to be refused at first but work with the school to establish a positive relationship so that when your circumstances change the transition is as quick and smooth as possible.

Contact the school directly as any information is very likely to have changed recently.

All schools have their own admissions policy for pupils arriving in their catchment after the primary transfer process dates. They are dealt with as individual cases. Until you provide evidence that you/legal guardian live within the catchment the school is not required to even put your child on any form of waiting list, however individual circumstances can be explained at a personal interview.

Because oversubscribed schools receive so many 'speculative' requests, be prepared to be refused at first but work with the school to establish a positive relationship so that when your circumstances change the transition is as quick and smooth as possible.[/QUOte]

 

The information given above is not correct.

Even though a lot of schools have become academies most still delegate their admissions procedure and process to the local authority for admission to Year 7. I recommend you speak to the school and also look at SCC website where you will find all the relevant admissions information. If you have not been allocated a place at your preferred school, you are entitled to appeal the decision and your appeal will be heard by an independent panel of 3 people (the LA is required by law to appoint and service independent admissions appeal panels). The decision at secondary level is based on a consideration of prejudice ie whether the greater prejudice is to the school if it has to take pupils over its Published Admission Number OR if the prejudice to the child is greater should it not get a place at the school.

You do not have to be resident in a school’s catchment area to apply for a place or to be put on the waiting list.

Actually:

"The Academy..." (Tapton*) "...is the “Admission Authority” and is responsible for setting and applying its own admission arrangements. The admission arrangements that are set out below are those determined by Tapton School Academy Trust for admission to Tapton School. Tapton School Academy Trust is fully supportive of the wider admission arrangements operated by Sheffield Local Authority and these arrangements continue the operation of a defined catchment area and feeder primary schools that have been operated historically for admission to the school."

I have assumed that the child was not living in the catchment in the autumn of 2017 when primary transfer application was made and therefore would have been Priority 6. As it is very oversubscribed, appeals would obviously favour Priority 1-5. The appeals procedure for this year will have ended before the child moves into the catchment.Tapton admissions policy March 2018 for 2018/9 admission and so may not be exactly like this year.

But:

In this case the OP has a special case, in that the child will be living in the catchment during Y7 and can apply directly to the school with a Priority 3 at the highest level (which means a very good chance of admission) at any time during Y7.

Contacting and remaining in contact with the school should be the priority.

An appeal with hard evidence of moving at a certain date might be successful and therefore worth trying, but a heavily subscribed school will have other legal and higher priorities cases.

*I have assumed Tapton but Notre Dame and KES(Mercia) are very close by and will have similar, but different admissions procedures.

I stick by what I said in my previous post.

Whilst Tapton School is its own Admission Authority and sets its own admission policy and arrangements, in common with most (if not all) of the secondary schools in Sheffield, it participates in the local authority's Co-ordinated Admissions Scheme for Year 7 admissions. Thereby the Admissions Department of Sheffield City Council receives and processes all applications from across the city for admission to Year 7 in participating schools.

Applicants who are not successful in obtaining a place at their preferred school will be placed on a waiting list, if they wish, irrespective of whether or not they live in the school’s catchment area. Any places which become available are allocated in line with the over-subscription criteria.

“The appeals procedure for this year will have ended before the child moves into the catchment” - Appeal hearings are held throughout the school year and appeals can be made at any time. I believe that unsuccessful applicants are allowed one appeal per preferred school each school year.

As I said in my previous post, there is lots of information on Sheffield City Council website and the Admissions Department are always happy to advise.

The contact details for SCC Admissions Department are:

mailto: ed-admissions@sheffield.gov.uk

Phone: 0114 273 5766