ADMISSIONS POLICY FOR OAKBANK SCHOOL

 

General principles:

  • Students will be admitted without reference to ability or aptitude.
  • The school aims to operate admission arrangements that are both fair and clear.
  • The Governors of Oakbank School, who are the school’s Admission Authority, will review admission arrangements annually before the start of the school year. They will consult with the local authority and other local Admission Authorities before making a final decision on any changes.
  • The number of places available in each year group will be determined by the school Governors. Changes to these admission numbers will only be made by Governors after discussion with the local authority and other local Admission Authorities, and will be publicised in advance of the admissions cycle to which the change would apply.
  • Oakbank’s Admission Policy operates in accord with the DCSF School Admission Code set up under Section 84 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 as amended by Section 38 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006.

Applications made as part of the normal admissions cycle:

  • If there are more applications than places available, places will be allocated in the following order of priority:
  • Students with statements of Special Educational Need that identify Oakbank as their named school.
  • ‘Looked after’ students in public care (but see paragraph 3.3 below).
  • Students living within the priority area agreed by the Governors of Oakbank School (see appendix A) and attending named feeder schools (Holycroft, Nessfield, Oakworth, Oldfield, Haworth, Lees, Oxenhope, Stanbury, Ingrow and Worth Valley).
  • Students living within Oakbank’s priority area but who do not attend one of the above named feeder schools.
  • Students who attend one of the above named feeder schools but who do not live within Oakbank’s priority area.
  • Students who live outside the priority area and who do not attend one of the above named feeder schools.

 

  • Each of these criteria will be applied in order, from (a) to (f), until the point is reached at which to accept all the students who met the criterion in question would result in over-subscription. Applications will not be considered on behalf of students who only meet the criteria below the criterion in question in the list in paragraph 2.1.
  • In determining which of the students who satisfy the criterion in question will be offered places, precedence will be given to students who have siblings already attending the school. To satisfy this criterion the sibling or siblings must be attending Oakbank at the time at which the application is made, and must be expected by the school to be still attending Oakbank at the time of the applicant’s admission. The sibling can be attending in any year, including post-16. By siblings we mean brothers and sisters with both or either parent in common, children fostered in the same family home and cousins and members of the extended family who are living at the time of application in the same family home and who can be shown to have been doing so consistently over an extended period of time. This condition only applies however, for siblings currently attending Oakbank; no precedence will be given to the siblings of former students.
  • If any further need to discriminate between students satisfying the criterion in question should arise, precedence will be given to students living nearer the school. Distance between home and school will be calculated by straight-line measurement. In the unlikely event of a close tie, the critical distance will be from the home in question to the main student entrance to the school building (currently the White Doors near Student Reception).
  • These criteria may be over-ridden and a place offered on the following exceptional grounds:
  • Where the parents’ preference is based on special medical reasons for admission which are deemed essential by an independent professional recommendation from the child’s paediatrician or medical consultant. The school will require written evidence of this recommendation, signed by the expert in question.
  • Where social reasons for admission exist which are deemed essential by an independent professional recommendation from the Director of Social Services, or the Director of the Probation Service, or the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service. The school will require written evidence of this recommendation, signed by the Director or an equivalent senior figure.
  • Where parents or carers are unsuccessful in applying for a place at Oakbank for their child, they will be informed in writing about the reasons, and about their right to appeal against the decision to an independent panel, and about the procedures for doing so.

Applications made outside of the normal admissions cycle:

  •   Applications made outside of the normal admissions cycle – for instance because a family has moved into the Oakbank Priority Area during the course of the year – will be accepted if places are available in the year group in question (see above), and will continue to be accepted in the order in which they are received until no more places are available. If a number of applications are received on the same day, and there are fewer available places than applications, the criteria described above will be applied.
  • If there are no available places and parents or carers are unsuccessful in their application, they will be informed in writing about the reason, and about their right to appeal against the school’s decision to an independent panel and about the procedures for doing so.
  • Applications made on behalf of students with statements of special educational need which name Oakbank as the appropriate school will be accepted even if there are no available places. Applications on behalf of looked-after children will also be accepted even if there are no available places, unless the Headteacher believes that their admission would seriously prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources in the school. Any dispute in this area between the school and the local authority can be referred to the Adjudicator, whose decision is binding (see paragraph 3.64 of the DCFS School Admission Code as amended by Section 38 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006).

 

Appendix A

 

The Oakbank Priority Area for admissions has been identified on a map, copies of which are held by the school and by the local authority. Copies can be obtained on application to the Headteacher’s Secretary.

Appendix B

 

As a general rule, the school will not give consideration to a student’s conduct in previous schools when applications are made. Where a student has already been permanently excluded from two or more schools and does not have a statement of special educational need and where the latest exclusion has taken place within the previous two years, the Headteacher may at her or his discretion refuse to admit the student in question to Oakbank.