Primary community and voluntary controlled schools admission policy September 2027

1. All applications must be made in accordance with the Buckinghamshire coordinated admissions scheme (the scheme).

2. All governing bodies are required by section 324 of the Education Act 1996 to admit to the school a child with an Education, Health and Care Plan that names the school. These children will therefore be admitted prior to applying the oversubscription criteria.

3. Once a child is allocated a reception place under the scheme the school will offer a full-time place in September 2027.

4. Deferred/Part time Entry: Parents can choose whether to defer this offer or to accept the offer on a part time basis as they wish. This deferment /part time attendance period can be up to the point at which the child is legally required to start school (i.e. the start of the term after the child’s fifth birthday) and cannot be beyond the end of the normal academic year of entry for the child (i.e. the latest any child could start is during the summer term of reception/foundation 2) otherwise they must re-apply for admission to Year 1 or have formally obtained agreement to delay their child’s admission for one year. Parents of children younger than five have the right to defer entry until no later than the term after the child’s fifth birthday if deferring within the same academic year. If a place is taken up part-time, then parents cannot take the remainder of the 30 hours that are unused at another provider.

5. Staggered intake into reception: The increased uptake of nursery provision means most children will have been in a setting for at least 15 hours per week for a year prior to starting school and many will have been in a nursery full time. Some schools offer a staggered start to school with children gradually increasing their hours or starting over a period of a couple of weeks and they may continue to offer this. However, each parent has a right to a full-time place at the start of the autumn term following their child’s 4th birthday. Parents may therefore choose to either access their child’s full-time place from the start of the term or to take part in a staggered intake.

6. Delayed Entry for Summer Born Children: This is appropriate for children born between 1 April and 31 August. Delayed entry to school is where a parent applies to hold back their child from joining the correct year group for their age so that they start school a year later than they are due to, into the Reception class. Parents considering delayed entry are still advised to apply for a school place for the September following the child’s 4th birthday. This can then be withdrawn or declined if it is agreed that the child should be held back a year. Information about this process is on the council’s website, and parents seeking a delayed entry for their child should contact the Admissions Team in the first instance who will advise about the process. Each application will be reviewed, and you will receive confirmation of our agreement and the schools that it relates to (Agreement is for VC and Community Schools and by request of the admission authority may also be accepted by VA, Foundation and academy schools). Once the decision is made to admit a child out of year group their admission will be managed in the same way as any other child in the intake with no reference being made to the child’s age.

7. If there are more applications received than the places available at a school, then the places will be allocated within the scheme in accordance with the published oversubscription criteria for the school.

8. Details of the dates for timely applications and how late applications are handled are given in the scheme.

9. Where a child is admitted to a school’s Foundation 1, (nursery or pre-school provision) there can be no guarantee of a place in the main school as the coordinated admissions scheme is used to decide who should be admitted to the main school.

Once children with an EHCP naming the school are admitted then the following oversubscription criteria are used:

1. Looked after children and children who were previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to adoption, a child arrangements order, or special guardianship order (See Note 1).
2. Children who have exceptional medical or social needs, which can only be met at that school, supported by written evidence from an appropriate professional person. (See Note 2)
3. Children of staff where either:
   1. 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
   2. The member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage. (See Note 3)
4. Children attending a primary school linked to the school named in the list of ‘linked primary’ schools at the time allocations are made. (See Note 4)
5. Children living within the catchment area of the school. (See Note 5)
6. Siblings of children who are attending the school or a ‘linked primary’ school in Year R to Year 5 at the time allocations are made, and are expected to be on the school roll or linked school roll at the time of the proposed admission, or who have already been offered a place to start in the current academic year at the school or a ‘linked primary school’. (See Note 6)
7. Once the above criteria have been applied then any further places will be offered in distance order; using the distance between the family's Normal Home Address (See Notes 8 and 9) and the school's nearest open entrance gate offering the closest first. We use a straight-line distance. (See Note 10)

Tie break

Where a school can take some, but not all, of the children who qualify under one of these criteria, we will give priority to children by taking account of the next rule (or rules) in the numbered list to decide who has priority for places.

If it still not possible to decide between two applicants who are equidistant then an independently scrutinised random allocation will be made to allocate the final place. An explanation of the method of making random allocations is on the council website at: Random Allocation Procedure https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools-index/school-admissions/school-admissions-guides-policies-and-statistics/school-admissions-policies/random-allocation-procedure/ (See also Note 11 below regarding twins and multiple births)

Where a school can take some, but not all, of the children who qualify under one of these criteria, we will give priority to children by taking account of the next rule (or rules) in the numbered list to decide who has priority for places.

If it still not possible to decide between two applicants who are equidistant then an independently scrutinised random allocation will be made to allocate the final place. An explanation of the method of making random allocations is on the council website at: Random Allocation Procedure https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools-index/school-admissions/school-admissions-guides-policies-and-statistics/school-admissions-policies/random-allocation-procedure/ (See also Note 11 below regarding twins and multiple births)

Once children with an EHCP naming the school are admitted then the following oversubscription criteria are used:

1. Looked after children and children who were previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to adoption, a child arrangements order, or special guardianship order (See Note 1).
2. Children who have exceptional medical or social needs, which can only be met at that school, supported by written evidence from an appropriate professional person. (See Note 2)
3. Children of staff where either:
   1. 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
   2. The member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage. (See Note 3)
4. Children attending a primary school linked to the school named in the list of ‘linked primary’ schools at the time allocations are made. (See Note 4)
5. Children living within the catchment area of the school. (See Note 5)
6. Siblings of children who are in Year R to Year 6 at the time of admission to the school. (See Note 7)
7. Once the above criteria have been applied then any further places will be offered in distance order; using the distance between the family's Normal Home Address (See Notes 8 and 9) and the school's nearest open entrance gate offering the closest first. We use a straight-line distance. (See Note 10

Tie break

Where a school can take some, but not all, of the children who qualify under one of these criteria, we will give priority to children by taking account of the next rule (or rules) in the numbered list to decide who has priority for places.
If it still not possible to decide between two applicants who are equidistant then an independently scrutinised random allocation will be made to allocate the final place. An explanation of the method of making random allocations is on the council website at: Random Allocation Procedure https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools-index/school-admissions/school-admissions-guides-policies-and-statistics/school-admissions-policies/random-allocation-procedure/ (See also Note 11 below regarding twins and multiple births)

For admissions purposes a 'looked after child' is a child who 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 (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989).

A ‘previously looked after child’ is a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order including those who appear to Buckinghamshire Council to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.

This criterion includes children who were previously looked after and immediately after being looked after became the subject of an adoption, child arrangement order or special guardianship order as follows:

• A child arrangements order is an order setting the arrangements to be made as to the person with whom the child is to live under the Children and Families Act 2014
• A special guardianship order is an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child's special guardian (or special guardians) under Section 14A of the Children Act 1989

A panel comprising education professionals will consider the applications under this rule on receipt of written information from the parent indicating their reasons for the child attending a particular school. When making an application parents should send evidence from an independent professional person (this might be a doctor, health visitor, or Education Welfare Officer, for example) who knows about the child and supports the application to the school. It must clearly show why this is the only school that can meet your child’s needs and what difficulties there would be if your child went to a different school.

The panel will consider which children can be considered under this rule prior to each admission round.

‘School staff’ includes

‘Demonstrable skill shortage’ is a post which the school has had difficulty in filling. An example might be where the school has taken part in a recruitment drive to fill the post either across the country or worldwide and/or where the post was not filled at the first attempt.

Linked primary schools where the receiver school is a voluntary controlled or community school.

There may be additional links where a foundation school, voluntary-aided school or academy also retain or adopt a feeder school rule.

The primary school catchments can be viewed via the School Directory

For 2027 entry all are unchanged.

A sibling is a brother or sister. For admission purposes we mean one of two or more individuals who have one or more parent in common, or any other child (including an adopted or fostered child) who lives at the same address and for whom the parent also has parental responsibility or, (in the case of a fostered child) delegated authority.

We will only consider a pupil in a primary school as a ‘sibling’ if he or she is attending, in the specified year groups, the school or a linked primary school at the time the allocations are made or, for in-year admissions the time of admission) or has been formally offered a place at the school in the operation of the Coordinated Primary Admissions Scheme. In all cases they are expected to still be at the school at the time of proposed admission.

This is as defined in law (the Education Act 1996) as either:

• Any person who has parental responsibility (defined in Children Act 1989) for the child or young person; or
• Any person who has care of the child or young person.

This is the child’s home address. This must be where the parent or legal carer of the child and the child live together unless it is proved that the child is resident elsewhere with someone who has legal care and control of the child. The address should be a residential property which can be permanently occupied 52 weeks of the year without any restrictions on occupation and not subjected to any planning or contractual restrictions on the duration of occupancy and is your child’s only or main residence that is owned, leased or rented by the child’s parent(s) or person with legal care and control of the child.

If the residence is not split equally between the Parent(s)/Carer(s), then the relevant address used will be the address at which we are satisfied that the child spends the majority of the school week (Sunday night to Thursday night inclusive).

Where there is an equal split or there is any doubt about residence, we will make a judgment about which address to use for the purposes of allocation. In making this judgment we will take into account the following:

• any legal documentation confirming residence
• the pattern of the residence
• the period of time over which the current arrangement has been in place
• confirmation from the previous school of the contact details and home address provided to them by the parents
• which parent is in receipt of child benefit
• where the child is registered with their GP
• any other evidence the parents may supply to verify the position.

The straight-line distance definition: is 'the distance from the address point of the pupil’s normal home address, as set out by Ordnance Survey, to the nearest open school gate available for pupils to use'.

As part of the computer system we use for school admissions there is a program that measures the ‘straight-line’ distance from the nearest open school gates to the child’s normal home address.

The point we measure to at the child’s normal address is determined by the Ordnance Survey ADDRESS-BASE which is an Ordnance Survey data product that provides a National Grid coordinate and a unique reference for each postal address in Great Britain that is on the Royal Mail’s Post Office Address File (PAF®).

The PAF contains postal address data and includes premises such as buildings or permanent mobile and park homes, plus other features such as temporary buildings and houseboats.

Where Service families or families of other Crown Servants, who often move within the UK and from abroad are posted to the area, school places can be allocated in advance of the family move if an official government letter declaring a relocation date and an intended address is provided. A unit postal address or quartering area address will be sufficient if there is not a confirmed new home address. Where Service families are returning to live in a property they already own, evidence of ownership will be needed.

This evidence should be provided by 30 January (Secondary allocation) 13 February (Primary allocation) to be included in the first allocation round.

Prior to compulsory education, every child is entitled to receive 15 hours funded education known as the Universal Funded Entitlement from the start of the term following his or her third birthday. This can be accessed in a private nursery, independent school, childminder preschool or maintain schools setting of parent’s choice. Depending on a family's circumstances some children are eligible to receive 15 hours funded education from the start of the term following the child's second birthday. For 3 and 4 year olds (not in a reception class) an additional 15 hours known as the extended funded entitlement making a total of 30 hours may be available for eligible working families at participating schools contact the school to clarify if they are offering the Extended Funded Entitlement you can also access the government website Childcare Choices for more explanation and to explore eligibility to funding.

There are two types of maintained early years provision in Buckinghamshire schools at present. These are:

• Nursery schools
• Nursery classes/ Early Years provision (delivered by the governing body) in schools (sometimes called foundation 1)

All children will be offered a school place in a reception class from the September following their 4th birthday. This offer is a full time offer, it can be accepted on a full or part time basis, or admission can be deferred within that academic year. If a place is accepted on a part-time basis then any unused hours cannot be accessed with another provider.

There is no automatic admission into the main school from nursery classes or early years provision and this is stated in the letter offering a place in the nursery. Nursery classes may accommodate 2, 3 and/or 4-year-old children. Nursery age children do not count as part of the roll for the school and children will not be guaranteed a place in the main school through attendance at the nursery. They must apply for a school place in accordance with the coordinated scheme and places are then allocated in line with the admissions rules for the school.

Parents can register their child in advance of admission by contacting the school direct. Admission age varies with schools, individual schools will publish their arrangements and the age range of children they accept; this includes their arrangements for children accessing all early years funding entitlements as well as the Extended 3 and 4-year-old Funded Entitlement (i.e. 30 hours) where available

Parents must apply for places in the main school under the co-ordinated arrangements. Therefore, until the allocation is public (after 16 April 2021) parents could not be assured of a continuing place at the school.

Once parents are offered a place under the co-ordinated scheme, they have the right to defer entry for their child. This deferment can be up to the point at which the child is legally required to start school (i.e. the start of the term after the child’s fifth birthday) and cannot be beyond the end of the normal academic year of entry for the child (i.e. the latest any child could start is during the summer term of reception/foundation 2) otherwise they must re-apply for admission to year 1 or (for summer born children only) seek an agreement to offset their child back a year.

Where schools admit at a point before September of reception year the children will be admitted to a nursery class. The Local Authority has delegated admission arrangements to the governing bodies of those schools that have a nursery admission. Governing Bodies have the delegated responsibility for explaining how nursery admissions work in their school and ensuring these are published on their website

Within any nursery class a certain number of places may be allocated to children of a particular age (e.g. 2-year-olds). The school will explain this on their website.

At any point during the year if the number of applications exceeds the number of places then once children who already hold an Education, Health and Care Plan have been allocated places the remaining places will be allocated in the following order:

1. Looked after children and previously looked after children (See Note 1).
2. Children who have exceptional medical or social needs, which can only be met at that school, supported by written evidence from an appropriate professional person. (See Note 2)
3. Children of staff where either:
   1. 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
   2. The member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage (see Note 3)
4. Children living within the catchment area of the school (see note 4)
5. Siblings of children who are attending the school at the time allocations are made or attend a linked primary school at the time allocations are made (see note 5)
6. Children who qualify for Early Years Pupil Premium
7. Once the above rules have been applied then any further places will be offered in distance order; using the distance between the child’s Normal Home Address and the school's nearest open entrance gate offering the closest first. We use a straight-line distance.

The straight-line distance definition: is 'the distance from the address point of the pupil’s house, as set out by Ordnance Survey, to the nearest school gate available for pupils to use'.

1. Where one place remains and the next two applicants are equal distance from the school in all cases, including flats and apartments, where addresses are equidistant a random allocation will made.

The terms used in these rules are as defined in the primary rules above. The catchment area used is also as defined in the primary rules.

There are 2 schools - Bowerdean (who also operate Mapledean Nursery) and Henry Allen. They take children from the age of 2 for 15 or 30 hours, the additional 15 hours for 3- and 4-year-olds may be agreed for eligible families (contact the nursery school for more information).

Once children who already hold an Education, Health and Care Plan have been allocated places the remaining places will be allocated in the following order:

1. Looked after children and previously looked after children (see note 1)
2. Children who have exceptional medical or social needs, which can only be met at that nursery school, supported by written evidence from an appropriate professional person. (See Note 2)
3. Children of staff where either:
   1. 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
   2. The member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage (see Note 3)
4. Siblings who will still be in the nursery at the point of entry (see note 4)
5. Children living within two miles of the school according to the distance between the family's normal home address and the school's nearest entrance gate.
6. Children who qualify for Early Years Pupil Premium (see Note 5)
7. Any remaining places will be allocated firstly to multiple births and then on the basis of the child’s date of birth, youngest first. If there is only one place left, and there is more than one child with the same birthday, the place will be allocated to the child living nearest to the school according to the straight-line distance between the child’s normal home address and the school's nearest entrance gate.

Notes 1, 3 and 4 are as defined in the primary school oversubscription criteria

The governing body of the school/nursery school will consider the applications under this rule on receipt of information from the parent to indicate strong reasons for the child attending a particular nursery/school. When making an application parents should send evidence from an independent professional person (this might be a doctor or health visitor) who knows about the child and supports the application to the school. They must also provide evidence that they are entitled to receive Early Years Pupil Premium or Disability Living Allowance. It must clearly show why the school is the most suitable and any difficulties if alternate schools were offered.

https://services.buckscc.gov.uk/school-admissions

A sibling is a brother or sister. For admission purposes we mean one of two or more individuals who have one or more parent in common, or any other child (including an adopted or fostered child) who lives at the same address and for whom the parent also has parental responsibility or, (in the case of a fostered child) delegated authority.

3- and 4-year-olds in state-funded early education will attract Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) funding in line with the Early years pupil premium: guide for local authorities - GOV.UK if they meet at least 1 of the following criteria:

• their family gets 1 of the following:
  • Income Support
  • income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
  • income-related Employment and Support Allowance
  • support under part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
  • the guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
  • if the parent or carer’s annual net income is less than £7,400 not including any benefits
• If the child was formerly looked after by a local authority in England or Wales through adoption, a special guardianship order or a child arrangements order, they are also eligible.

It is the responsibility of the governing body of the school/nursery school to establish a child’s eligibility to EYPP.

Primary Admission Numbers (PAN) 2027 for Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools