Admissions

Admissions Over subscription Criteria for 2021

When the school is oversubscribed, after the admission of pupils with an Education, Health & Care plan or statement of special educational needs naming the school, priority for admission will be given to those children who meet the criteria set out below, in priority order:

1. Looked after children and children who were previously looked after but ceased to be so by reason of adoption; residence order (now known as Child Arrangements Order); Child Arrangements Order or Special Guardianship Order
*
2. Children eligible for the pupil premium. Children given priority under this criterion fall into the following category:
3. Children currently registered as eligible for free school meals and children who have been registered as eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six year. Parents who are applying and wish their applications to be considered under this criterion must complete a Supplementary Information Form.
4. Children with siblings who are already on roll in the School and will still be on the roll when the child is admitted**
5. Children of school staff where:
   1. The member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made; or
   2. The member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is demonstrable skill shortage
6. Children living in the catchment area
7. Children living out of catchment area

In cases of equal merit in each set of criteria, priority will be given to the children living nearest the school as measured by a straight line***
Applications for places will be via the Cambridgeshire County Council website. Notes

* A looked after child is a child who is: (a) in the care of the local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in Section 22 (1) of the Children Act 1989).

** Siblings are defined as being: Children, usually brothers or sisters, aged between 4 and 16, who live together in the same family unit.

*** Distance within Cambridgeshire is calculated by measuring a straight line from the reference point of the home, as determined by the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) or OS Address Base Premium T after October 2014, to the reference point of the school which is Easting 543095 & Northing 259629. For families who live outside of Cambridgeshire, straight line distances are determined using a combination of local maps and on-line resources. Distances for transport purposes are measured by the shortest available route. In the event of: (a) two or more children living at the same address point (e.g. children resident in a block of flats) or (b) two addresses measuring the same distance from the school, the ultimate tiebreaker will be random selection, witnessed by the Council officer, independent of the Admissions Team.

Late Applications

All applications received by the local authority after the deadline will be considered to be late applications. Late applications will be considered after those received on time. If, following consideration of all applicants the school is oversubscribed, parents may request that their child is placed on the school’s waiting list.

Requesting deferred entry

Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group, for example, if the child is gifted and talented or has experienced problems such as ill health. In addition, the parents of a summer born child may choose not to send that child to school until the September following their fifth birthday and may request that they are admitted out of their normal age group – to reception rather than year 1.

If parents wish to make an application for deferred entry or admission into a year group that is not their chronological normal year of entry, they should do so in writing to the Executive Headteacher with any additional documents from other professionals included. The Executive Headteacher will consider all applications and determine the outcome. He may request further information to add clarity to the application and will inform parents within 15 working days.

Please email enquiries@universityprimaryschool.org.uk should you wish to make an application.

Waiting Lists

The Admissions Team at Cambridgeshire County Council will operate a waiting list for each year group. If in any year the school receives more applications for places than there are places available, a waiting list will operate until the end of the academic year. This will be maintained by the Admission Team and it will be open to any parent to ask for his or her child’s name to be placed on the waiting list, following an unsuccessful application.

Children’s positions on the waiting list will be determined solely in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. Where places become vacant they will be allocated to children on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria.

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