Admission Information 2023-2024

CALVERLEY CHURCH OF ENGLAND VOLUNTARY AIDED PRIMARY SCHOOL

Calverley
Leeds
LS28 5NF

0113 257 5127

ADMISSIONS POLICY 2023- 2024

The Governing Body of Calverley Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School is the Admissions Authority for the school, not the Local Authority in Leeds.

School Vision and Ethos 

Following the teachings of Jesus, we challenge and support all members of our community to love one-another, make the most of their God-given gifts and care for everyone in friendship. Allowing all to flourish; enabling heart, mind and spirit to soar. “I can do all this through Christ who gives me strength.” 

Love, Learn, Care.

(Philippians 4:13)

We welcome equally, applications from parents of the Christian faith, of other faiths and of no faith. We ask all parents applying for a place here to respect our distinctive Christian ethos and its importance to the school community.

The planned admissions number (PAN) for admission to the reception class in the school year commencing September 2023 will be a maximum of 60. By law, no infant class may normally contain more than thirty children. The Governing Body will not place any restrictions on admissions to Reception Class unless the number of children for whom admission is sought exceeds the number of places available. 

Making an application

Applications for children starting school in the Reception Class must be completed on the standard Local Authority application form - Common Preference Form (CPF). The CPF is available from online via the Local Authority’s website.  A Supplementary Information Form (SIF) which asks about Church attendance is available from the school. If you want your application to be considered under over subscription criterion 5 and 6 and the SIF is not received Governors can only rank applications against the information provided on the CPF.

The CPF and SIF are used to determine priority for admissions for the school where there are more applications than places available. The CPF should be completed online at the Local Authority and the SIF should be returned to the school by 15 January 2023.

It is a parental responsibility to ensure that all relevant forms are completed online and returned by the above date.

Late Applications

Late Applications of either the CPF or the SIF received after the closing date of 15 January 2023 will not be dealt with until after all on time applications have been dealt with.

Applications made after midnight on that date will be considered after all on-time applications have been fully processed unless exceptional circumstances merit consideration alongside on-time applications.

Deferred Entry to Primary Schools

Children are admitted to the Reception Class at the beginning of the school year (i.e. September) of the year in which their fifth birthday falls.    

Parents may defer their child’s entry or take up the place on a part time basis if they wish until they reach statutory school age.  Children do not have to be in full-time education until the start of the term following their fifth birthday (statutory school age).

Requests for a child to start their schooling on a part-time basis or to defer the start until they reach compulsory school-age should be addressed to the Head Teacher.

Deferment for summer born children (admission out of chronological age)

Parents of children born between 1 April 2019 and 31 August 2019 who wish to defer entry into reception until September 2024 should still apply in the normal admission round for 2023, and indicate this on their preference form. Applicants should also complete the application form attached to this document as Appendix 2 and attach any available evidence of the need for deferment from any associated professionals. The form should be returned to the school by January 15^th 2023.

The application will be considered by the Governing Body and headteachers where their individual case will be considered. This will ensure the opportunity to reflect on the long-term impact of that decision, and balance this against the child’s current needs.

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS

In line with the requirements of Section 324 of the Education Act 1996 or the Children's and Families Act 2014, school will admit children with EHCP (Education and Health Care Plan), or statements of special educational needs in which Calverley Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School is named on the statement. This is not part of the oversubscription criteria.

Fraudulent applications

Where the Admissions Authority has made an offer of a place at a school based on fraudulent or intentionally misleading information, which has effectively denied a place to a child with a higher right of admission, the admissions authority will withdraw the offer of a place. If the Admissions Authority withdraws an offer of a place, you will be offered an alternative school place by the Local Authority and notified of your right to appeal to an independent appeal panel. The details of which are provided below under the Appeals section.

Fraudulent or intentionally misleading information includes, but is not limited to, a false home address, including cases where parents take out a short term let or buy a property solely to use its address on the application form without any intention of taking up permanent residence there. In fairness to all parents, all allegations of fraudulent practice brought to the Governing Board’s attention will be investigated.

Waiting lists

Where an application has been unsuccessful parents/guardians may request that the child’s name is added to the waiting list. The waiting list will be maintained until the end of the last school day of the school year for which application was made.

Any places that become available will be allocated according to the published oversubscription criteria of the admission arrangements with no account being taken of the length of time on the waiting list.

In accordance with the School Admissions Code as soon as school places become vacant the Governing Board must fill the vacancies from any waiting list, even if this is before admission appeals have been heard. Placing a child’s name on a waiting list does not affect a parent’s/guardian’s right of appeal against an unsuccessful application.

It should be noted that children, who are subject of direction by a Local Authority to admit or who are allocated in accordance with an In-Year Fair Access Protocol (The School Admission Code), must take precedence over those on a waiting list.

School will write to you if a place becomes available for your child and you will be asked to confirm if you wish to accept the place.

Appeals

Where the Governors are unable to offer a place because the school is oversubscribed, parents have the right to appeal to an independent admission appeal panel, set up under the School Standards and Framework Act, 1998, as amended by the Education Act, 2002. Parents, who intend to make an appeal against the Governing Body’s decision to refuse admission, must submit a written notice of appeal within twenty days of receiving the refusal letter or email to the School who will provide details of and forward the appeal to the relevant appeals authority.

Email address is: [email protected]

Calverley Church of England VA Primary School

Town Gate, Calverley, LS28 5NF

You will then be contacted by Clerk to the Independent Appeal Panel who will give you further information about how to make an appeal.  Parents/Carers will be given 10 school days notice of their appeal hearing date. 

Decison letters will be sent, wherever possible, within 5 school days of the hearing taking place.

Admissions outside the normal admissions round (In-year applications)

In year applications are coordinated on our behalf through the local authority which operates an in-year coordinated admissions scheme. Applications and details of this are available online through the local authority website here: https://www.leeds.gov.uk/schools-and-education/school-admissions/moving-schools.

In addition, if the application is made for criteria 5 or 6, a Supplementary Information Form (SIF) should also be completed and this form should be returned directly to the School.

Parents will be notified of the outcome of their application, in writing, within 10 to 15 school days. If it is not possible to offer a place the parents will be informed of the reason and have the right to appeal to an independent admission appeal panel, the details of which are contained in Section 9 - the Appeals Section.

 

Where a place can be offered transfer can only be made at the beginning of a new school term, when a child already has a place in another Leeds school. If a place can be offered and the child has made a significant move from another area and is out of education, a place will be offered as soon as possible.

Admission procedures

The Local Authority operates a coordinated admissions scheme and administers a system of equal preferences under which all applications are considered equally and the Governing Board allocates the available places in accordance with its published admissions arrangements. In the event that there are more applications than places available, the Governing Board will allocate places using the oversubscription criteria (below), which are listed in strict order of priority. The Local Authority will inform parents of the offer of a place on behalf of the governors on the national offer date.

The Oversubscription Criteria:

1. Looked after children (a child who is looked after by the local authority in accordance with Section 22 of the Children Act 1989) special guardianship order. This also includes children who were looked after but ceased to be so because they were adopted or became subject of a child arrangement or residence/child arrangement order or a special guardianship order.
2. Children who appear to the Admissions authority to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted or became subject of a child arrangement or residence/child arrangement order or a special guardianship order. (See note 4)
3. Children who will have a sibling on the roll of the school at the proposed date of    admission. (See note 5)
4. Children who reside within the 2014 parish boundary of St Wilfrid’s Church, Calverley.  A map of the parish boundary is attached to the policy as Appendix 1 (See note 1 and 3)
5. Children who regularly attend worship at St Wilfrid’s Church, Calverley or Calverley Methodist Church. (See note 6) 
6. Children who regularly attend a church that is a member of Churches Together in England or Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.   (See note 6)
7. Any other children

Tie breaker 1

If there are more applications in a particular criterion than the number of places available, the remaining places will be offered to the children whose permanent address is nearest to school.  The distance measurement will be made using the Local Authority’s electronic mapping service.

Tie breaker 2

In the unlikely event there are insufficient places for two (or more) pupils living in the same building (e.g. flats) or otherwise equidistant from the school, then any final place will be allocated by the drawing of lots.

NOTES

1     Map

A map showing the Parish Boundary of St Wilfrid’s Church Calverley as at 7th November 2014, which is the boundary for the catchment area is attached to this policy as Appendix 1 and also available from the school.

2    Parents

 ‘Parents’ include all those people who have a parental responsibility for a child as set out in the Children Act 1989. Where responsibility for a child is ‘shared’, the person receiving Child Benefit is regarded as being the parent responsible for completing application forms, and whose address will be used for admissions purposes.

3   Home Address and Residing in

Documentary evidence of residence will be asked for at the time of the child’s admission to the school. The Education Authority and the Admissions Authority will withdraw places offered based on an address which is later found to be fraudulent.

The address must be where the child lives permanently. If the residency is split between two parents the address must be where the child lives for the majority of the time. If the residency is split equally between two parents they can nominate the address they wish to use for the allocation of a school place.

Families who are due to move house should inform the Local Authority and provide evidence of the following a) a solicitor’s letter confirming that exchange of contracts has taken place on the purchase of a property; or b) a copy of the current Rental Agreement, signed by both the tenants and the landlords, showing the address of the property; or c) in the case of Serving H.M. Forces personnel, an official letter confirming their date of posting from the MOD, FCO or GCHQ.

4   A child is regarded as having been in state care in a place outside of England if they were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation or any other provider of care whose sole purpose is to benefit society.

5   The term ‘sibling’ is defined as:

• a full or half-brother or sister

• a stepbrother or sister

• an adoptive brother or sister

• the children of parents living together in the same family household.

Stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother and half-sister are defined as children who belong to only one parent living in the same family household. The governing body will, admit twins, triplets or children from other multiple births where at least one of those children is allocated a place at the school.

6    Regular Attendance at Christian Worship

This is defined as the attendance of the child at worship* at St Wilfrid’s Church Calverley, Calverley Methodist Church or another Christian Church which is part of either Churches Together in England, or Churches together in Britain and Ireland at least twice per month on average for the 12 months prior to the closing date of the application.

*Attendance at worship includes any Sunday and midweek church service and/or church crèche/Sunday School groups that include Christian teaching and worship, but NOT Messy Church.

Attendance must be physical and does not include any on-line services.

In the event that during the period specified for attendance at worship the church has been closed for public worship and has not provided alternative premises for that worship, the requirements of these [admissions] arrangements in relation to attendance will only apply to the period when the church or alternative premises have been available for public worship.

If a disability or other ‘special needs’ circumstance prevents regular attendance at a specific place of worship but the person concerned is recognised by the church leaders as a ‘regular worshipper’ then this can be taken into consideration in your declaration and the verification of your “regular worship at a Christian Church”.

A ‘Supplementary Information Form’ (SIF) to provide confirmation of attendance at Christian worship is available from the school and attached to this policy. The form should be signed by the Vicar/Minister of one of the Churches above and returned to the school. During a vacancy, the form should be signed by a Churchwarden or Senior Steward.

It is the parent’s responsibility to ensure that the SIF is completed and returned to the school by the closing date for School Applications which is 15 January 2023.

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Request to start school out of chronological

year group Application form

To be completed by parents/carers requesting their child starts school in the Reception class, a full year after their chronological age peers.

Note: If you wish your child to attend school part-time until they reach compulsory school age or start school later in the academic year, you should discuss your request with the school. You do not need to complete this form.  

CHILD DETAILS Full Name:   ____________________________________________________ Date of Birth:  ________________________ Gender:   Male/Female Address:  ______________________________________________________                 ______________________________________________________ Postcode:  _____________ Telephone number: _______________________ FAMILY/CARER DETAILS Parents/Carer’s Names:  ___________________________________________ Address (if different from above):  ___________________________________ ______________________________________________________________  Email:_________________________________________________________

Please describe why you feel a deferment out of chronological year group would support the needs of your child:

Please attach any supporting evidence from relevant professionals e.g. an early years professional, health care professional, educational psychologist or educational professional that you wish the Admissions Committee to consider.

Outline the additional evidence provided by the relevant professional/s to support the application:

Privacy Notice (How we use pupil information)

Changes to Data Protection Legislation

New data protection legislation came into force on 25 May 2018 and replaced the UK Data Protection Act 1998. The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and UK Data Protection Act 2018 provides a modernised, accountability-based compliance framework for data protection in Europe.  It is intended to strengthen privacy rights in relation to personal information.

The new accountability principle in Article 5(2) of the GDPR requires data controllers to demonstrate that they comply with the good practice principles set out in the Regulation, and states explicitly that this is their responsibility. The school is the data controller of the personal information you provide to us.

This Notice sets out most of your rights under the new laws.

Further information about the new law can be found on the Information Commissioners website: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-reform/overview-of-the-gdpr/

The categories of pupil information that we collect, hold and share include:

• Personal information (such as name, unique pupil number and address)
• Parental/carer contact information (name, telephone number, home address and email address)
• Characteristics (such as ethnicity, language, nationality, country of birth and free school meal eligibility)
• Attendance information (such as sessions attended, number of absences and absence reasons)
• Assessment information
• Relevant medical information
• Special Educational Needs information
• Exclusions / behavioural information

Why we collect and use this information

We use the pupil data:

• To support pupil learning
• To keep children safe
• To monitor and report on pupil progress
• To provide appropriate pastoral care
• To assess the quality of our services
• To comply with the law regarding data sharing
• To assist with our administration and communication systems – for example, text messaging and cashless services in school.

The lawful basis on which we use this information

We collect and use pupil information in accordance with the lawful basis for collecting and using pupil information specified in the GDPR (Articles 6 and 8).

• Processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation – an example is Education Act 1996 census – this information can be found in the census guide documents on the following website https://www.gov.uk/education/data-collection-and-censuses-for-schools
• Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller
• Explicit consent of the data subject

Collecting pupil information

Whilst the majority of pupil information you provide to us is mandatory, some of it is provided to us on a voluntary basis. In order to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation, we will inform you whether you are required to provide certain pupil information to us or if you have a choice in this.  For safeguarding purposes, we will need to collect contact information from parents and have a legitimate interest to share this information, on occasion, with all parties who have designated parental responsibility to verify its accuracy.

Storing pupil data

We hold pupil data in line with the Information Records Management Society Toolkit for Schools  (see www.IRMS.org.uk / toolkit for schools)

Who we share pupil information with

We routinely share pupil information with:

• Schools or colleges that pupils attend after leaving us at age 16
• Our local authority
• The Department for Education (DfE)
• The Health Service
• Educational support system providers such as CPOMs, assessment tracking etc.

Why we share pupil information

We do not share information about our pupils with anyone without consent unless the law and our policies allow us to do so.

We share pupils’ data with the Department for Education (DfE) on a statutory basis. This data sharing underpins school funding and educational attainment policy and monitoring.

We are required to share information about our pupils with our local authority (LA) and the Department for Education (DfE) under section 3 of The Education (Information about Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013.

Data collection requirements:

To find out more about the data collection requirements placed on us by the Department for Education (for example; via the school census) go to:

https://www.gov.uk/education/data-collection-and-censuses-for-schools.

The National Pupil Database (NPD)

The NPD is owned and managed by the Department for Education and contains information about pupils in schools in England. It provides invaluable evidence on educational performance to inform independent research, as well as studies commissioned by the Department. It is held in electronic format for statistical purposes. This information is securely collected from a range of sources including schools, local authorities and awarding bodies.

We are required by law, to provide information about our pupils to the DfE as part of statutory data collections such as the school census and early years’ census. Some of this information is then stored in the NPD. The law that allows this is the Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013.

To find out more about the NPD, go to https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-pupil-database-user-guide-and-supporting-information.

The department may share information about our pupils from the NPD with third parties who promote the education or well-being of children in England by:

• Conducting research or analysis
• Producing statistics
• Providing information, advice or guidance

The Department has robust processes in place to ensure the confidentiality of our data is maintained and there are stringent controls in place regarding access and use of the data. Decisions on whether DfE releases data to third parties are subject to a strict approval process and based on a detailed assessment of:

• Who is requesting the data
• The purpose for which it is required
• The level and sensitivity of data requested: and
• The arrangements in place to store and handle the data

To be granted access to pupil information, organisations must comply with strict terms and conditions covering the confidentiality and handling of the data, security arrangements and retention and use of the data.

For more information about the department’s data sharing process, please visit:

https://www.gov.uk/data-protection-how-we-collect-and-share-research-data

For information about which organisations the department has provided pupil information, (and for which project), please visit the following website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-pupil-database-requests-received

To contact DfE: https://www.gov.uk/contact-dfe

Requesting access to your personal data

Under data protection legislation, parents and pupils have the right to request access to information about them that we hold. To make a request for your personal information, or be given access to your child’s educational record, contact the Headteacher / Data Protection Officer.

You also have the right to:

• Object to processing of personal data that is likely to cause, or is causing, damage or distress
• Prevent processing for the purpose of direct marketing
• Object to decisions being taken by automated means
• In certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed; and
• Claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the Data Protection regulations

If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, we request that you raise your concern with us in the first instance. Alternatively, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/

Contact

If you would like to discuss anything in this privacy notice, please contact:

Richard Lewis-Ogden – Data Protection Officer  

Email: [email protected]