Your Guide to Secondary Education in Leicestershire

 

You may have visited a number of schools and decided on one you think is best for your child. If you then wish to apply you will need to complete an application form. An easy way to apply is online: please see the website address at the bottom of the page. We always advise parents to include their catchment area school as one of their preferences.

Application for a place in a secondary school must be made to the LA where you live, e.g. if you live within Leicester City, you must complete their application form for secondary school places. This is the case even if you wish to apply for a school in Leicestershire.

If you are resident in Leicestershire you will need to complete the Leicestershire application form which will be sent out to Leicestershire parents with children already in Leicestershire schools during September. (Parents of children in private or independent schools, or whose children are not educated in a school, do not receive application forms automatically and will need to request these.) The form will invite you to express up to three preferences. This could include a request for a place in your catchment area school, any Leicestershire community school, any voluntary aided or foundation school or any school within another authority. This does not include private or independent schools. Even though all preferences are treated equally, we always aim to meet your highest preference, and therefore request that preferences are made in rank order.

Information about admissions policies for Aided and Foundation Schools is available direct from the school and is also contained later in this booklet.

For September 2010 entry to a secondary or junior school, parents need to apply by 31 October 2009. Please note that if a date is a non-working day, then the next working day applies).

All applications received on time are informed of an offer of one school place which will be sent out to you on the national offer day of 1st March. We will aim to offer you your highest ranked school in order of priority. The LA will also work in co-ordination with other admission authorities where you may have applied for a school place, e.g. Voluntary Aided Schools and schools within other local authorities. If we cannot agree to any of your preferences, you will be informed of schools that still have spaces and invite you to apply for one or more of them.

 

Late requests will only be considered in exceptional circumstances and will be dealt with as follows:

If your application is received after 31st October and is late for a reason beyond your control and you can provide documentary evidence for the reason for lateness, the application will then be considered with all others received on time.

Any other applications will be considered to be late and will not be dealt with until after places have been allocated to those who met the closing date.

These will be dealt with as and when they arrive. Places will only be offered where spare places exist.

For changes of school at other times, an application form is available on request from Allocations Section, County Hall, Tel: 0116 305 6684. It is also possible to apply for a school place via our website. The online form is available at www.leics.gov.uk/admissions For mid-term requests for voluntary aided schools, application must be made direct to the school and not to your home authority.

 

It is important that parents are aware that all LAs will be required to co-ordinate all ‘mid-term’ applications from September 2010.

This means all mid-year applications must be to the LA that you live in using their common admission form. Your LA will then act as your agent and try to secure the school place that you are seeking, even if it is in another LA or to a school who are their own admitting authority.

Leicestershire County Council will be seeking to consult on how they expect to be operating their scheme during the autumn 2009 and determining a policy by January 2010 for implementation in September 2010.

Priority Criteria for Autumn 2010 admissions onwards (for community and voluntary controlled schools) If there are too many requests, priority will be given to children in the appropriate age-range, whose parents applied on time, in the following order:

Please note that late applications receive the lowest priority.

 

You can get advice from the Allocations Section, County Hall, Tel: 0116 305 6684. If you wish you can arrange to visit County Hall to meet a member of staff from the Allocations Section. Please telephone in advance to arrange such a meeting.

 

There is a limit to the number of pupils a school can take and still provide an effective education. The LA has a duty to make sure no school is over-full. Wherever possible parents’ wishes will be met. If your request is not agreed, you have the right to appeal against the decision to an independent appeals panel.

 

From September 2009 the LA will maintain an oversubscription waiting list for one term only for the following year groups.

You do not have to apply to go on the OSL if you have applied as part of a normal transfer round before the start of the Autumn Term. However, if the application is received after the start of the Autumn Term you must then apply to go on to the OSL.

To be eligible to apply to go on to the OSL you must have been refused a school place. Application to the OSL can be made by telephone or by completing an OSL form (available from the Allocations Section (see page 16 for contact details).

Once an OSL request is received it will be ranked in accordance to our eight priority criteria (see page 13) and placed on the OSL for the requested school. If a place becomes available, it will be offered to the pupil who is at the top of the list.

Please note positions on the OSL may move up or down if, a new application received has higher priority than yours. Also children admitted following a direction of the Local Authority to admit or in accordance with the Fair Access Protocol will take precedence over children on the over subscription list. If you wish to know where your child is on the OSL please contact the Allocations Section.

If you decide to appeal for a Leicestershire community or voluntary controlled school, you will receive papers from the County Council and must return these by the closing date to the County Solicitor.

The County Solicitor will let you know when the appeal will be heard.

You may attend the appeal meeting yourself or with a friend if you wish. You may ask a representative to speak for you or you can send a written statement.

Your case will be considered by the Appeals Committee which is independent of the LA.

Please note that repeat appeals in the same academic year will not be allowed unless there has been a major change in your circumstances (i.e. a house move).

These are the telephone numbers for the local authorities close to Leicestershire:

The complete version of the Leicestershire admission policy is available on the website www.leics.gov.uk/admissions or from the Allocations Section (telephone number and address as above).

 

Choice Advisers are available to advise parents/carers of children/young people who are transferring to secondary school. The Choice Adviser Service specialises in giving impartial advice, support and information relating to children transferring to secondary/upper school.

For further information please contact: Choice Advice Service: 0116 275 2097 or email: parent-partnership-service@leics.gov.uk.

 

Leicestershire’s Family Information Service is a one-stop shop for you and your family. They provide information, advice and guidance for families with children up to their 20th birthday. They work in partnership with other services so you can find out different information all in one place.

Types of enquiries the service receives:

This service is free, impartial and confidential.

For further information please contact: The Family Information Service are 0116 305 6545 or email family@leics.gov.uk or visit www.leics.gov.uk/family.

 

The LA has put in place rigorous arrangements for identifying and maintaining contact with children missing, or at risk of going missing, from education.

The named individual responsible for receiving details of children found missing from education and for brokering support for them through the most appropriate agencies is:

JoAnne Rees
Deputy Service Manager
Access and Welfare Service
Room 144
County Hall, Glenfield
Leicester LE3 8RF

Tel: 0116 3058162

email: cme@leics.gov.uk or joanne.rees@leics.gov.uk

The process of tracking pupils without an educational placement is part of our collective responsibility and ongoing commitment to safeguarding the welfare of young people.

It is vital that anyone who becomes aware that a child is not, or does not appear to be in education, notifies the named person with the responsibility for pupils missing from education in Leicestershire.