Admissions

St Barnabas welcomes applications for admission for all children of statutory school age, irrespective of gender or ethnic background.  The planned admissions number for September 2024 is 30.

The school seeks the support of parents in providing a productive and happy educational experience and all parents/carers are required to sign a home-school agreement in order to provide on-going support.

Entry to the Reception class is at the start of the autumn term (September).

Parents may make an application at any time but the Co-ordinated admission process takes place in January each year with parents/carers required to complete a Common Application Form (CAF) to be returned by a set date. Further information is detailed in the Kent Admissions Booklet, available to all families.

Parents will be notified before the date of entry that a place is available and will be asked to confirm that they intend to accept the placement. Children are invited to attend a programme of transition sessions in school prior to the start date; this will provide an opportunity for children and families to meet with staff and other pupils.

At the beginning of their first term, children attend for morning sessions as part of a staged programme of entry. Arrangements are discussed with families prior to the start of term.

New entrants complete full day sessions in accordance with Kent admission guidelines. St Barnabas’ School will admit 30 children in a full academic year. Where the number of applicants exceeds thirty, children will be admitted in accordance with the criteria listed below. All parents/carers have the right of appeal.

ADMISSIONS CRITERIA

Pupils are admitted to St Barnabas’ Church of England (VA) Primary School in accordance with the following criteria:

1. Children placed in Local Authority Care or previously in Local Authority Care - a child under the age of 18 years for whom the local authority provides accommodation by agreement with their parents/carers (Section 22 of the Children Act 1989) or who ceased to be so because they became subject to an adoption, residence or special guardianship order under Part IV of the Act, including those children who appear (to the admission authority) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted (Paragraph 1.7 of the 2021 School Admissions Code).

2. Children with at least 1 parent/guardian who is a practising member at St Barnabas’ Church, evidenced by attendance at religious services at least fortnightly  for a period of not less than 6 months preceding the application for a school place. Confirmation of having met this requirement must be provided by completion of a Supplementary Information Form (SIF) which is obtainable from the school office and must be returned to the school, duly signed, by the school application deadline.

3. Current Family Association. This means children who have siblings in the school at the time of admission. This applies where the family continue to live at the same address as when the sibling was admitted. It must be noted that if they move house before an application for a place for a younger sibling is made, the new property must be within 2 miles of the school, or nearer to the school than the previous property as defined by the distance measurement criterion, (within E. Permanent Residence and Tie Break), in order for this link to be maintained. In this context siblings are defined as children who permanently live as brother or sister in the same house, including natural brothers and sisters, adopted siblings, step brothers or sisters and foster brothers or sisters.

4.  Children who live within the parish boundary and the additional listed addresses - see Appendix 1 and Appendix 1a.

5. Any other children.

In the event of the criteria being oversubscribed, applications will be ranked in accordance with proximity of the child’s permanent residence to the school with the closest being given higher priority.  Nearness of children’s homes to school will be measured as described below.   In the event of any of the above criteria being oversubscribed, priority will be given based on distance as described above with those closest being given higher priority.  In the unlikely event that two or more children in all other ways have equal eligibility for the last available place at the school, the names will be issued a number and drawn randomly to decide which child should be given the place, (this process will be independently verified).

Nearness of children's homes to school - we use the distance between the child’s permanent home address (defined in KCC’s annual admissions prospectus) and the school, measured in a straight line using the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) address point. Distances are measured from a point defined as within the child’s home to a point defined as within the school as specified by NLPG. The same address point on the school site is used for everybody. When we apply the distance criterion for the school, these straight-line measurements are used to determine how close each applicant’s address is to the school. Where applications are made from properties or abodes that are not registered to the NLPG, including new build properties, KCC may be required to use planning sites or other relevant                   co-ordinates. In exceptional circumstances where alternative co-ordinates are not available, measurements will be determined by a Senior Admissions Officer and confirmed by Head of Service.

The same address point on the school site is used for everybody. When we apply the distance criterion for oversubscription, these straight-line measurements are used to determine how close each applicant’s address is to the school.’

A child’s home address is considered to be a residential property that is the child’s only or main residence (not an address at which the child may sometimes sleep or stay) and which is either owned by the child’s parent, parents or carers or leased or rented to them under a lease or written rental agreement. Where partners live apart but share responsibility for the child, and the child lives at two different addresses during the week, we will regard the home address as the one at which the child sleeps for the majority of weekdays. With regard to the measurement for flats, please refer to paragraph 2.37 of the School Admission Code.

 

What happens if the school is over-subscribed?

Applications are considered by a sub-committee of School Governors. Places will be allocated in line with the above order of priorities and in line with the LA co-ordinated scheme. Any parent/carer who is refused the offer of a school place has the right of appeal and should in the first instance write to the Chair of Governors requesting an independent appeal be heard.

CASUAL ADMISSIONS

Requests for places may be made at any time. Places will be granted to applicants provided that the admission of a child does not increase the number of children in that year group to a number over and above the standard number.

The exceptions to this are:

1. In Year Fair Access protocol

2. When the child has been permanently excluded from two or more schools

3. When the child is deemed to have challenging behaviour and in the Head teacher’s judgement, the provision of efficient education would be prejudiced by admitting the child, in accordance with Chapter 3 of the School Admissions Code. In such cases a meeting of the Admissions Committee will determine whether a child is offered a place. When a place is not offered, parents will be informed of their right of appeal to an independent panel.

Policy review date: Governing Body Admissions Panel

APPEALS 

If your child is due to start primary, infant or junior school in 2023 you can appeal between 16 April and 14 May 2023 to guarantee that your appeal will be heard by 16 July 2023. For applications made in the normal admissions round, appeals must be heard within 40 school days of the deadline for lodging appeals. For late applications, appeals should be head within 40 school days from the deadline for lodging appeals where possible, or within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged.