Admissions

Carleton Rode & Forncett St Peter Church of England VA Primary Federation is made up of two church of England Voluntary Aided Primary Schools. This means, in practice, we admit children aged between 4 and 11 years of any religious denomination who live within our catchment areas and others from outside the area who wish to attend either school.

Children are admitted into the Reception year, if numbers allow, in the September before their 5th birthday on a full-time basis if the Executive Head Teacher considers the child is mature enough to deal with a full day in the classroom. Alternatively, parents/carers may be offered a gradual or delayed entry with children starting half days and progressing finally to full time at an appropriate stage or for the term after their 5th birthday.

We offer parents/carers the right to defer their child’s first admission to Reception until later in the school year if that is their wish. The place will be held for that child until they start at the school. However, a parent/carer will only be able to defer until the beginning of the term after the child’s fifth birthday.

In the second half of the summer term several afternoon sessions of our Earlybirds or Tiger Cubs group is arranged. Earlybirds (Forncett) and Tiger Cubs (Carleton Rode) are children who are due to start school in September. The children are welcomed into class with the current Year R, 1 and 2 at Carleton Rode and Year R and 1 at Forncett St Peter.

In the event of admissions being oversubscribed priority will be given to:

1. Children with a Statement of Educational Needs which names Carleton Rode or Forncett St Peter School in the Statement

2. All relevant looked after children – means a child who is looked after by a local authority in accordance with section 22 of the Children Act 1989(a) at the time an application for admission to a school is made, and who the local authority has confirmed will still be looked after at the time when he/she is admitted to the school.

3. Families within our catchment areas. Home address is considered to be the address that the child lives at for the majority of the week, including weekends. Details of each school’s catchment area can be obtained from the school office or from Norfolk County Council.

4. Siblings of children already on the school roll at the time of their admission. A sibling is defined as a child that lives at the same address and shares at least one common parent/carer or children in foster-care within that family unit.

5. Those specifically seeking a Church school using the following criteria:

a) Those children of regular worshipping members of the Church of England

b) Those children of regular worshipping members of a non-Anglican Christian Church

c) Those children whose parents/carers, if not worshipping members of a Christian Church, nevertheless wish their child to attend a Church of England Voluntary Aided School because of its specifically religious emphasis.

Those applying under these criteria should forward a supporting letter to the school.

6. Families living closest to the school on the day of the closing date for receipt of parental preferences. Distance is measured by ‘as the crow flies’ distance on the Ordnance Survey map.

Note: in the event of oversubscription within one of the above criteria, proximity, as defined above, shall be used as the determining factor.

In line with present County Policy, when parents/carers register their under-fives it is on the understanding that no firm offer of a place is made until expected numbers for the appropriate year are known.

For information the L.E.A.’s first admissions timetable is:

● September – release of letters and information to parents/carers inviting preference of school. (Any parent/carer seeking to apply direct to a V.A. school is provided with a common application form inviting three preferences which must then be forwarded to the L.E.A.)

● January – Closing date for receipt of parental/carer preferences.

● April – Offers made to parents/carers by L.E.A.

● June – Appeal hearings commence.

The Governing Board does not allow colour, race, gender, disability or social back-ground to affect its admissions policy.

We follow Norfolk County Councils admissions procedures which can be found at …

https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/education-and-learning/schools/school-admissions

For in-year admissions – children requiring a place other than at the normal points of transition – information is available on the Norfolk County Council website. See the link below.

https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/education-and-learning/schools/school-admissions/moving-schools