Admissions

The choice of school for your child is an important decision. At Ryelands Primary and Nursery School would encourage you to visit the school during the working day so that you can view the school in action and talk to staff to help you to make a judgement about whether it is an appropriate school for your child.  Our open day for 2023 admissions is Wednesday 19th October 2022, however the Headteacher also welcomes visitors at other times. Parents of children with special needs or disabilities are encouraged to discuss with us how we can best meet their child`s needs. Visiting the school`s website and Facebook page can provide an insight into life at the school.

Pupils Moving To Ryelands from Another School

The Area North Access Team will admit pupils moving into the area into Ryelands Primary if there is room available in the particular year group. They will also place pupils moving from other local schools, an application form has to be completed in both cases. Please contact the Access Team for advice (01524 581148). In the event of a year group being full, the Local Education Authority will offer a place at the next nearest school with space available. Parents, however, do have the right of appeal if they are not offered a place at their preferred school. The local authority has the right to place pupils who meet Fair Access Protocol criteria into a school.

The published admission number for our school is 60 per year group.

Admissions Policy

Early Years Foundation Stage/ Reception

We have one entry per year in September.

If a child’s 5th birthday falls between 1st September of the current year and the 31st August of the next year they will be admitted in the September of the current year.

Parents/Carers will be asked to express a preference for a primary school in consultation with the published Admissions documents produced by the Local Authority. If a school is oversubscribed, the following criteria will be applied in priority order:

a) Children with older brothers and/or sisters who will still be attending the school when the younger child starts (*)

b) Children for whom the County Council accepts there are exceptionally strong medical, social or welfare reasons for admission, which are directly relevant to the school concerned (#)

c) The remaining places will be allocated according to the distance between the child’s home and the school of the parents’/carers’ preference and between home and the nearest alternative school with a place.

Priority is given to those children living closer to the preferred school than to the nearest alternative school.

∗ Brothers and sisters include stepchildren, half-brothers and sisters and foster children who are living with the same family at the same address.

# This category may include certain children with a Statement of Special Educational Need. The category will also include children in Public Care who are in public care at the time when preferences are expressed and are expected to be still in public care when admitted to the school.

Notes:
If category (a) and/or (b) above is oversubscribed, category (c) will be used as a tie-breaker.

Children will not normally start at a new school other than at the beginning of a term, unless they have moved into the area, or there are exceptional circumstances.

Admission Arrangements 22 / 23

DETERMINED ADMISSIONS POLICY FOR COMMUNITY AND VOLUNTARY CONTROLLED PRIMARY SCHOOLS – 2021 / 2022

The determined policy for admission to community and voluntary controlled primary schools for 2022 / 2023 is listed below:-

An admission number will be published showing the maximum number of pupils that the school will admit in the Autumn Term 2023. Parents will be asked to express preferences for three primary schools. Parents are given the opportunity to express three preferences for a primary school. Published criteria are used to decide which children should be offered the available places. In primary schools an equal preference scheme has been introduced to comply with the Schools Admission Code, whereby three parental preferences are given equal status to the preference and will be considered equally against the admissions criteria. If a school is oversubscribed, the following criteria will be applied in priority order:

Primary Schools

When a school is oversubscribed on parental preferences, then the following priorities apply in order:

1. Looked after children and those who have been previously looked after, (see note xi below), then

2. Children for whom the Local Authority accepts that there are exceptional medical social or welfare reasons which are directly relevant to the school concerned (see note (i) below, then

3. Children with older brothers and sisters attending the school when the younger child will start, (see note (iii) below), then

4. Remaining places are allocated according to where a child lives. Those living nearest to the preferred school by a straight line (radial) measure will have priority, (see note (v) below.

Notes

The medical, social and welfare criterion will consider issues relevant to the child and/or the family. This category may include children without a statement who have special needs.
As required by law, all children with a Statement of Special Educational Needs/EHC naming a school will be admitted before the application of the over-subscription criteria. Children who have a statement for special needs have their applications considered separately. – 14 – Determined C&VC admission arrangements 2021 / 22 (App D)

Brothers and sisters includes step children, half brothers and sisters, fostered and adopted children living with the same family at the same address (consideration may be given to applying this criterion to full brothers and sisters who reside at different addresses).

The distance criterion which will be used as the tie breaker if there is oversubscription within any of the admission criteria is a straight line (radial) measure. If the Local Authority is unable to distinguish between applicants using the published criteria (e.g. twins or same block of flats) places will be offered via a random draw. The distance measure is a straight line (radial) measure centre of building to centre of building.
A child’s permanent address is the one where he/she normally lives and sleeps and goes to school from. Proof of residence may be requested at any time throughout the admissions process, (including after a child has accessed a school place).

The Local Authority will keep waiting lists for all Lancashire primary schools until 31 August 2022. These are kept in priority order using the school’s published admission criteria. From 1 September 2022 for one school term only waiting lists will be retained by individual admission authorities (the Local authority for community and voluntary controlled schools and individual voluntary aided and trust schools will each retain their own list).

Children will not normally be able to start school other than at the beginning of the term unless they have moved into the area or there are exceptional circumstances.

Applications for school places which are received late will not necessarily be dealt with at the same time as those received by the set deadline. The reasons for a late application may be requested and where these are not exceptional the relevant admission criteria will be initially applied to all others received on time. The late application will be dealt with after this process.

Application forms received after the published closing date, will only be considered at that time if the following conditions apply:

(a) If the number of preferences received for the school is below the published admission number or:

(b) There are extenuating circumstances justifying a late application.

These may include:

(a) Parents moving into the County after the closing date; – 15 – Determined C&VC admission arrangements 2022 / 22 (App D)

(b) parent/carer illness which required hospitalisation for the major part of the period between the publication of the composite prospectus and the closing date for applications.

(ix) Where a child lives with one parent for part of the week and another for the rest of the week only one address will be accepted for a school admission application. This will normally be the one where the child wakes up for the majority of school days (Monday to Friday).

(x) The highest priority must be given to looked after children and children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a residence order or special guardianship order). Further references to previously looked after children in the Code means children who were adopted (or subject to residence orders or special guardianship orders) immediately following having been looked after. This includes children who are legally adopted from over seas. Relevant, legal documents must be provided to evidence the adoption.

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