Hutchison Memorial CE (A) First

Admission arrangements 2024/2025, 2025/2026 & 2026/2027

Admission Limits

Hutchinson Memorial School’s published admission number (PAN) is 15.

To comply with class size legislation there will be a maximum of 30 children in KS1 Classes.

Catchment Area: The catchment area of the school is the Ecclesiastical Parish of Checkley.

Admissions Criteria

If the number of applications for admission to the school exceeds the Published Admission Number (PAN), the following order of priority is used to allocate the available places. In accordance with legislation, children who have a statutory statement of special educational need, or Education, Health and Care Plan that names the school must be admitted. This will reduce the number of places available to other application Paragraph 1.6 of the code

1. Looked After Children (LAC), Previously Looked After Children (PLAC) and including Internationally Adopted Previously Looked After Children (IAPLAC)
    
2. Children who satisfy both of the following tests: 
   
   Test 1: the child is distinguished from the great majority of other applicants either on their own individual medical grounds or by other exceptional circumstances.
   
   Medical grounds must be supported by a medical report (obtained by the applicant and provided at the point of application). This report must clearly justify, for health reasons only, why it is better for the child’s health to attend the Hutchinson Memorial CE First School rather than any other school.
   
   Exceptional circumstances must relate to the choice of school and the individual child, i.e. the circumstances of the child, not the specific economic or social circumstances of the parent/carer, and be supported by a professional report (obtained by the applicant and provided at the point of application), e.g. social worker, justifying why it is better for the child to attend the Hutchinson Memorial CE First School rather than any other school.
   
   And
   
   Test 2: the child would suffer hardship if they were unable to attend the Hutchinson Memorial CE First School.
   
   Hardship means severe suffering of any kind, not merely difficulty or inconvenience, which is likely to be experienced as a result of the child attending a different school. Applicants must provide detailed information about both the type and severity of any likely hardship at the time of application. 
    
3. Children who have an elder brother or sister in attendance at the school and who will still be attending the school at the time of the proposed admission date. (For admission purposes, a brother or sister is a child who lives at the same address and either: have one or both natural parents in common; are related by a parent’s marriage; are adopted or fostered by a common parent or are unrelated children who live at the same address, whose parents live as partners.)
    
4. Children living within the defined catchment area.
    
5. Parents or guardians active in member ship * of another Christian Trinitarian Church (A letter from the clergy may be requested).
    
6. Other children arranged in order of priority according to how near their home addresses are to the main gate of the school setting, determined by a straight-line measurement as calculated using the Local Authority’s Geographical Information System.

Where it is not possible to accommodate all children applying for places within a particular category then the Academy will allocate the available places in accordance with the remaining criteria. If for instance, all the catchment area or cluster area children cannot be accommodated at a school, children who are resident within the catchment or cluster area will be arranged in order of priority according to the remaining criteria.

(*Active membership means at least participation in all major Christian Festivals and regular attendance at church services - regular attendance at church be defined as at least once per month over the previous 12 months.)

Admission of Reception Age Children

All pupils are admitted at the beginning of the school year following their fourth birthday.

Admissions Procedure

In response to a request for a place for a child at Hutchinson Memorial School, Parents will be sent the following: -

1. Information containing the admission criteria and an application form to be returned to the school or directly to the LA.
2. Early in the Summer term a letter will be sent by the LA offering a place at the school, or stating that no place is available.

Immediate admissions

When a pupil moves into the catchment area and is transferring from another school, it may be necessary to effect immediate admission.  In this event, authority to admit is delegated to the Headteacher, providing a place is available. More information is available on the admissions application forms page.

Admissions

The headteacher is delegated to admit pupils following the agreed criteria for admissions at the start of the Nursery and Reception year.

Appeals

Any Parent has a right to appeal against the decision not to admit. Appeals should be made in writing to the Chair of Governors and should state the child’s name, date of birth and home address, together with the grounds on which the appeal is made. The Governors will refer all appeals to the independent appeals panel. The Appeals Committee will consist of three members appointed by the governors. The decision of the appeals panel is final and binding on all parties.

Deferred Entry to Reception Class

Parents may request that their child be admitted to Reception Class on a part-time basis, or that their child be admitted to school later in the same academic year until the child reaches compulsory school age (i.e. beginning of the term after the child’s fifth birthday). The effect is that the place will be held for the child in Reception and is not available to be offered to any other child within the same academic year in which it has been offered.

Before deciding whether to defer their child’s entry to school, parents should visit the school to clarify how we cater for the youngest children in Reception and how the needs of these children are met as they move up through the school.

Admission outside the Normal Age Group

Parents may seek to apply for their child’s admission to school outside their normal age group, for example if the child is exceptionally gifted and talented or has experienced problems such as ill health. In addition, the parents of summer born children may choose not to send their child to school until the September following their fifth birthday and may request that they are admitted outside their normal age group to Reception rather than Year 1.

These parents will need to make an application alongside children applying at the normal age which should explain why it is in the child’s best interest to be admitted outside their normal age which may include information such as professional evidence as to why this is the case and why an exception should be made in the case of the child. A decision as to whether this is an appropriate course of action will be made by the Governing Body who will take into account the circumstances of the case and views of the headteacher. Parents do not have the right to insist that their child is admitted to a particular year group.