ALL SAINTS CATHOLIC SCHOOL ADMISSION POLICY FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2020/21

All Saints Catholic School was founded by the Catholic Church to provide education for children of Catholic families. Whenever there are more applications than places available, priority will always be given to Catholic children in accordance with the oversubscription criteria listed below. The school is conducted by its governing body as part of the Catholic Church in accordance with its trust deed and instrument of government and seeks at all times to be a witness to Our Lord Jesus Christ.

As a Catholic school, we aim to provide a Catholic education for all our pupils. At a Catholic school, Catholic doctrine and practice permeate every aspect of the school’s activity. It is essential that the Catholic character of the school’s education be fully supported by all families in the school. We therefore hope that all parents will give their full, unreserved and positive support for the aims and ethos of the school. This does not affect the right of an applicant who is not Catholic to apply for and be admitted to a place at the school in accordance with the admission arrangements.

The governing body is the admissions authority and has responsibility for admissions to this school. The local authority undertakes the co-ordination of admission arrangements during the normal admission round. The governing body has set its admission number at 240 pupils to year 7 in the school year which begins in September 2021.

Pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan or a Statement of Special Educational Needs (see note 1)

The admission of pupils with a statement of Special Educational Needs or an Education, Health and Care Plan is dealt with by a completely separate procedure. Children with a Statement of Special Educational Needs or Education, Health and Care Plan that names the school must be admitted. Where this takes place before the allocation of places under these arrangements this will reduce the number of places available to other children.

Oversubscription Criteria for pupils in Year7 to Year 11

At any time where there are more applications for places than the number of places available, places will be offered according to the following order of priority:

1. Catholic looked after and previously looked after children. (see notes 2&3)

2. Catholic children with a Certificate of Catholic Practice (see notes 3&4)

3. Other Catholic children (see notes 3)

4. Other looked after and previously looked after children. (see note 2)

5. Children of staff of All Saints Catholic School who are employed at the school at the time of a child’s enrolment

6. Any other children.

Within each of the categories listed above, the following provision will be applied.

The attendance of a brother or sister at the school in Years 7-11 at the time of enrolment will increase the priority of an application within each category so that the application will be placed at the top of the category relevant to the application (see note 5).

Tie Break

Priority will be given to children living closest to the school determined by the shortest distance. Distances are calculated on the basis of a straight-line measurement. All distances are measured by the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham School Admissions Team using Map info’s geographical information system, from the centre of the child’s home to the school’s main gate. Some addresses have different entry points and so we will use the co-ordinates provided from Local Land and Property Gazetteer. If you live outside the area, we will use the same system to work out distances. In the event of distances being the same for two or more children where this would determine the last place to be allocated, random allocation will be carried out and supervised by a person independent of the school. All the names will be entered into a hat and the required number of names will be drawn out.

Application Procedures and Timetable

To apply for a place at this school in the normal admission round, you must complete a Common Application Form available from the local authority in which you live. You are also requested to complete the cover note attached to this policy if you wish to apply under oversubscription criteria 1 to 3 or 6. The cover note should be returned to The Admissions Officer, All Saints Catholic School, Terling Road, Dagenham RM8 1JT by 31st October 2020.

You will be advised of the outcome of your application on 1st March or the next working day, by the local authority on our behalf. If you are unsuccessful (unless your child gained a place at a school you ranked higher) you will be informed of the reasons, related to the oversubscription criteria listed above, and you have the right of appeal to an independent appeal panel.

If you do not provide the information required in the cover note and return it by the closing date, together with all supporting documentation, your child will not be placed in criteria 1 to 3 or 6, and this is likely to affect your child’s chance of being offered a place.

All applications which are submitted on time will be considered at the same time and after the closing date for admissions which is 31st October 2020.

Late Applications

Late applications will be administered in accordance with your home Local Authority Secondary Co-ordinated Admissions Scheme. You are encouraged to ensure that your application is received on time.

Interest List

In addition to their right of appeal, unsuccessful children will automatically be placed on an interest list. This interest list will be maintained in order of the oversubscription criteria set out above and not in the order in which applications are received or added to the list. Interest lists for admission will operate throughout the school year. The interest list will be held open until [insert date being the last day of the summer term

Inclusion in the school’s interest list does not mean that a place will eventually become available.

In-year admissions

Our school admits 240 pupils into each year groups, Year 7 to Year 11.

When a parent or carer applies for a school place or requests to transfer to our schools for their child outside of normal admissions round, these applications are considered as ‘In-Year’ applications. Full details of this process are published in LBBD’s In-year admission booklet ‘Finding a school place – Issue 7’ which is available on the school’s and the council’s website.

Barking and Dagenham council co-ordinates admissions for in-year places to schools within their area. In the interest of safeguarding children, we participate in LBBD’s co-ordinated admissions scheme. By law, children aged between five and 16 must receive an education.  This means that your child must continue to go to their current school while we and the School Admissions Team deal with your request for a school place.

All schools located in Barking and Dagenham take part in a co-ordinated admissions scheme. This means that you must list our school on the LBBD In-year common application form (ICAF), ranking it in the order you prefer. Parents may list up to three preferences and the LBBD School Admissions Team will offer your child one school place and, where possible, this will be the highest-ranked school on your list.

What you need to do

1. In-year common application form (ICAF) – You must fill in your application through the council’s online in-year hub. See admission e-booklet ‘Finding a school place’ for more information about other ways to apply.

2. Cover note – You should fill in and return one cover note for each child. Send your cover note to the relevant schools together with the original documents listed below.

3. Baptism documents – If you want your child to be recognised as a Catholic or as being baptised you should send us a photocopy of your child’s baptism certificate (or certificate of reception into the Catholic Church).

4. Certificate of catholic practice (CCP) form – If you want to be considered as a practising Catholic you must meet with your parish priest for him to confirm to request a CCP which you must then send to us, with the extra documents they have asked for. If your priest is not local and is unfamiliar with these requirements, please ask him to contact our admissions officer.

5. Proof of address and identity documents – We will need to see the originals of these documents (listed in the e-booklet named above) and we will also need you to bring photocopies of these documents with you for us to keep at your child’s induction meeting.

Fair Access Protocol

The school is committed to taking its fair share of children who are vulnerable and/or hard to place, as set out in locally agreed protocols. Accordingly, outside the normal admission round the governing body is empowered to give absolute priority to a child where admission is requested under any locally agreed protocol. The governing body has this power even where admitting the child would mean exceeding the published admission number.

How to apply for a 6th form place

As all children now have to remain in school, education or training until their 18th birthday, all our year 11 pupils have the option to stay in education until the end of year 13. However we also offer 6th form places to external candidates.

The governing body reserves the right to withdraw the offer of a place or, where a child is already attending the school the place itself, where it is satisfied that the offer or place was obtained by deception.