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Your Guide to Secondary Education in Leicestershire

Section 3: Applying for a Secondary school

You may have visited a number of schools and decided on one you think is best for your son/daughter. If you wish to make a request for any school 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 Children and Young People’s Service 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. All preferences are treated equally, e.g. you will not have a better chance of gaining a place at a school because you put it as your first preference.

If you fail to name your catchment area school as one of your preferences, then a place may not be available there if your other requests cannot be agreed.

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

For Autumn Term transfers to secondary schools, parents need to apply in the previous year. These are the main dates (please note that if a date is a non-working day, then the next working day applies):

Closing date for return of application forms to Leicestershire County Council: 20 October
Parents notified of offers ( ie national offer day, the date of posting): 1 March

You must return the Leicestershire application form to Allocations Section by the closing date of 20th October for admission to any secondary school in the following September.

An offer of a place will be sent out to you on the national offer day of 1st March. You will receive an offer of one place only. This will be the school highest up your order of priority where there are places available. Leicestershire Children and Young People’s Service will work in co-ordination with other admission authorities where you may have applied for a place, e.g. Voluntary Aided Schools and schools within other local authorities, to finalise which place will be offered. If we cannot agree to any of your preferences, you will be informed which schools still have spaces and invited to apply for one or more of them.

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

Received after 20th October deadline but before 1st March

When Leicestershire Children and Young People’s Service considers that they are received late for a good reason, e.g. when a single parent has been ill for some time, or a family has moved into the area since the 20th October, or a family are returning from abroad, these will be considered along with the applications received before the deadline, providing documentary evidence of the reason for lateness is also received.

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 deadline.

Received after 1st March

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

Applying for a place at other times

For changes of school at other times, the 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.

Priority Criteria for Autumn 2009 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:-

1)	Pupils who are in public care.
2)	Pupils who live in the catchment area. (See note (ii) below.)
3)	Pupils who will have an older brother or sister attending the same school at the same time. [For 11-18 schools this priority is limited to brothers and sisters in the same ageband, either 11-14 (years 7-9) or 14-19 (Years 10 and upwards).] (See notes (iii) and (iv) below.)
4)	Pupils who have a serious medical condition or exceptional social or domestic needs. (Professional documentation confirming the situation must be submitted with the application.) (See note (v) below.)
5)	Pupils who will have attended a feeder school for at least two years before the time of transfer. (See note (vi) below.)
6)	Pupils transferring to secondary schools who will have an older brother or sister attending either the linked upper school or the same 11-18 school at the same time. (See notes (iii) and (iv) below.)
7)	Pupils requesting a CE controlled school on bona fide denominational grounds. (This criterion is only used if the school wishes it.) (See note (vii) below.)
8)	Pupils who live nearest to the school. (See note (viii) below.)

Notes:

i.	Combinations of the above criteria are used where appropriate, in priority order.
ii.	The child’s place of residence is taken to be the parental home.
iii.	The term “brother or sister” includes half brother or sister or legally adopted child being regarded as the brother or sister.
iv.	Regarding brothers or sisters who will be of sixth form age, these are counted as brother/sister connections for criteria 3 or 6 above.
v.	If criterion 4 is used, the following are examples of the sort of cases the LEA might regard as exceptional:- A child whose parent’s occupation has an enforcement role which may bring the parent into conflict with parents of children attending the allocated school and therefore needs to attend the alternative school. A child whose parent has recently died or is suffering from a serious illness. A child who has suffered severe bullying which is recognised by the present or most recent school as an ongoing problem and which is having a significant effect on the child’s health. A child for whom transfer to the catchment area school would involve attending a different school until he/she is the right age for transfer. (This is dependent on the child having attended the present school for at least a year.) A child who has been abused and placed on the child protection register and who needs to attend an alternative school to avoid the abuser. A child with a serious medical condition which would make the preferred school particularly suitable. (Asthma and eczema do not come into this category.) A child who is considered ‘’hard to place’’ and whose circumstances have been considered under the local In-Year Fair Access Protocol.

This list is not exclusive, and each case will be considered on its individual merits.

vi.	For criterion 5 above, the child must have been enrolled at the feeder school on or before the start date of the Autumn Term two years before transfer.
vii.	For criterion 7 above, a Minister’s letter is required to support the parent’s application. There is no free transport entitlement.
viii.	For criterion 8 above, measurement of distance is direct line from the home to the school, using a computerised mapping system.

Please note that late applications receive the lowest priority.

Changes of address: if you are offered a catchment area place and you move address before your child takes up the place, then the local authority will withdraw the offer, and offer a place at the new catchment area school if this is in Leicestershire.

Some points to consider

Ask whether the Local Authority has had to refuse any parents requests in the past for the school you are interested in. It may help you to know whether you might have a problem getting a place for your child.
Consider how your son/daughter will get to school. Find out from the Allocations Section whether you may have to pay for transport.
Visit schools when the pupils are there if you can, and read the school brochures/prospectuses.
Take into account your son/daughter’s wishes.
Do not rely purely on someone else’s opinion or experience.
Be aware that a place in a primary school does not guarantee a place in its linked secondary school and that a place in a high school does not guarantee a place in its linked upper school.

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.

What if your request is turned down?

There is a limit to the number of pupils a school can take and still provide an effective education. The Local Authority 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.

The appeals procedure

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 Children and Young People’s Service.

Please note that repeat appeals in the same academic year will not be allowed unless there has been a change in your circumstances.

If you live in Leicestershire to apply for a Secondary school place either within or outside the county you should contact:

The Allocations Section
Children and Young People’s Service
Leicestershire County Council
County Hall, Glenfield
Leicester LE3 8RF
Tel: 0116 305 6684

If you live outside Leicestershire, to apply for a school place in a Leicestershire school you should contact your home authority.

Here are the telephone numbers for the Local Authorities close to Leicestershire:

Coventry City:	024 7683 1511	Nottingham:	0115 915 5555
Derby City:	01332 716854	Nottinghamshire:	0115 982 3823
Derbyshire:	01629 580000	Rutland:	01572 722577
Leicester City:	0116 252 7807	Staffordshire:	01785 278653
Lincolnshire:	01522 552222	Warwickshire:	01926 410410
Northamptonshire:	01604 236236

The complete version of the Leicestershire admission policy is available from the Allocations Section. (Telephone number and address as above).

Choice Advisers

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 parents/ carers impartial advice, support and information relating to children transferring to secondary/upper school.

A choice adviser will be able to:

Explain the admissions process
assist with the completion of the application form
provide information on what individual schools in Leicestershire can offer
support families in getting the most out of school visits

For further information please contact:

Choice Advisers
Bungalow 1
Blaby Stokes Primary
Queens Road
Blaby
Leics
LE8 4EG

Tel: 0116 2752097

Children Missing Education

The Children and Young People’s Service 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
jrees@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.

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