Last Updated: July 2021
1 This policy applies to those schools where the Local Authority (LA), City of York Council, is the admission authority – that is all community and voluntary controlled secondary schools within the City of York area. The LA is responsible for determining the school’s admission arrangements (including this policy) and deciding who can be allocated a place in accordance with it.
2 This policy applies only to applications within the secondary admissions round, that is when applying for a place in Year 7 as the normal year of entry to start secondary for the first time. It does not apply to ‘in-year’ applications for a place at a secondary school. In-year admission are those that are made either during the school year, or for admission into year groups other than the normal year of entry. More information on in-year admissions can be found in the https://www.york.gov.uk/downloads/file/9564/in_year_admissions_policy
3 The mechanisms and content of this policy may also be adopted by other admission authorities wishing to reflect the aims of this policy in their own admission arrangements. The LA will offer assistance where requested to other admission authorities with schools in the City of York LA area who wish to adopt similar arrangements for the benefit of residents of the LA area.
4 This policy complies with and operates within the City of York Coordinated Admissions Scheme for Secondary Schools in the City of York Local Authority area.
5 The LA policy for allocating secondary school places is designed to be as fair as possible while ensuring that resources are used sensibly. The LA works closely with the head teachers and governing bodies of all schools in school place planning and organisation regarding the numbers of places that can be allocated.
6 Under the secondary school admission arrangements the allocation of places is based on where the child/parent lives and the preferences of parent/carers.
7 Attendance at a particular primary or junior school does not give a child any priority for admission to a secondary school, even if both schools are community or voluntary controlled schools, located on the same premises, or run by or share the same leadership or resources.
8 Advice and information for parent/carers on school admissions, including key information that applies to all applications as well as some frequently asked questions are available in the Guide for Parents which is available at www.york.gov.uk/guideforparents or upon request from the School Admissions team. It is recommended that all applicants consider the information in the Guide for Parents before making an application.
9 The admission of children with an Education, Health and Care plan are covered by different admission regulations. Following negotiation, once a school has been named, a place will be allocated for these children before considering other applications.
1 Pupils will normally be admitted into the year group relevant to the pupil’s age.
2 If you would like to investigate accelerating your child’s entry, so they do not start in the year group relevant to the child’s age, but instead start at an earlier time, you should contact the LA at an early stage to discuss your intentions and what the best approach might be.
If you would like to accelerate your child’s entry, you should then put a formal request in writing, together with any supporting information, an
details of whether your child has previously been educated out of their chronological age group, by no later than 29 November 2022. The LA will then consider your request, if necessary in conjunction with other schools and professionals.
If the request is approved, wherever possible you should submit an application as part of the normal admissions round, for the year group it has been agreed is the most appropriate for the child. Parents/carers should make it clear in their application that an application out of the usual year group has been agreed. The application will then be considered in accordance with this admissions policy. The LA will not give the application lower priority on the basis that the child is being admitted out of their normal age group. If the request is rejected, you should apply in the usual way for your child to join their correct age group. Should parents/carers disagree with a decision to refuse their request, they should put their complaint in writing and follow the LA’s complaints policy.
3 Applications should be made by the closing date for applications which is 31 October 2022. Applications can be made online at http://www.york.gov.uk/schooladmissions It is expected that most applications will be made online, but where applicants cannot apply online, they may request support from the LA, schools, or a paper application form known as the ‘School admission application for Secondary School in September 2023’.
4 When making an application, parent/carers are advised to supply any additional information that may be required to the admission authority in writing, preferably by emailing mailto:education@york.gov.uk with the pupil’s details. For example, additional information will need to be provided when applying on the basis of being ‘previously looked after’ or having exceptional social or medical needs which relate to the preferred school. Further guidance on additional information can be found in the http://www.york.gov.uk/guideforparents
5 Any school’s resources, such as teachers and classrooms, have to be used carefully to ensure the best possible standards for education and a safe environment. If no limit were set on the number of pupils that can go to a school each year these standards could not be maintained. For this reason each school has a Published Admission Number – that is the number of places available that will be offered in the year of entry.
6 Applicants may be successful in obtaining a place at a school that does not serve the local ‘catchment’ area in which they live. If allocated a place at such a school, applicants will be responsible for travel arrangements and the costs of travel to and from school.
7 Applicants are advised to consider their ‘catchment’ school when making an application. If the place your child is allocated is at a school which you are not in the catchment area for, or if you move out of the catchment area you now reside in, then you may have less chance of being successful when applying for any younger siblings. Catchment areas are designated by the Local Authority and are made available to applicants in the Guide for Parents, online at www.york.gov.uk and upon request from the School Admissions team.
Some schools will be oversubscribed – that is where the number of applicants exceeds the Published Admission Number. Where this is the case, priority is given to certain categories of pupil. The oversubscription criteria set out below will be used to prioritise all applicants who have applied for a place at a school in these circumstances in the following priority order:
1 Pupils who are either currently or have previously been ‘looked after’. This applies to all children who are currently or have previously been, in the care of a local authority; all children who have been adopted from local authority care, subject to an adoption, residence or special guardianship order; and all children who appear to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of adoption, residence or special guardianship order;
It is the responsibility of parent/carers, or the pupil’s social worker to provide the information to the admission authority that this criterion applies.
2 Pupils who live within the catchment area normally served by the preferred school, with a sibling at the preferred school at the time of admission. Catchment areas are designated by the Local Authority and are made available to parent/carers in the Guide for Guide for Parents, online at www.york.gov.uk, and upon request from the School Admissions team. Siblings are defined as brothers or sisters living in the same house, as their primary place of residence (including half-, step-and foster-brothers or sisters);
The LA uses the address provided in the application, and using GIS software, determines which catchment area an address, and therefore a pupil, resides in. This address must be the address at which the pupil is ordinarily resident. Further detailed advice on addresses is contained within theGuide for Parents.
It is the responsibility of parent/carers to include with their application the name of any sibling(s) where this criterion applies for checking by the LA.
3 Pupils who live within the catchment area normally served by the preferred school. Catchment areas are designated by the Local Authority and are made available to parent/carers in theGuide for Guide for Parents, online at www.york.gov.uk, and upon request from the School Admissions team;
The LA uses the address provided in the application, and using GIS software, determines which catchment area an address, and therefore a pupil, resides in. This address must be the address at which the pupil is ordinarily resident. Further detailed advice on addresses is contained within the Guide for Parents.
4 Pupils considered by the admission authority to have exceptional social or medical needs which makes the preferred school the most suitable school for the pupil. The admission authority may consult with other medical or educational professionals for a further opinion as to whether the pupil should be allocated a place at the preferred school due to a particular medical condition or social need;
It is the responsibility of parent/carers to provide the additional information where they believe this criterion applies. To be given priority on this basis, the admission authority would have to be satisfied that the pupil’s needs were such that the preferred school would be the most suitable school for the pupil.
Admissions officers defer these considerations and decisions to a panel of children’s services officers, in areas such as safeguarding and education social care. This ‘Exceptional Social and Medical (ESM) Panel’ considers any documentation provided by parent/carers and assesses whether these needs are ‘exceptional’ in nature. Admissions officers have no decision-making role in this process and only identify those applications to be considered by the ESM Panel and request further information from parent/carers. Those applications with supporting information that the ESM Panel determines are ‘exceptional’ would have to be where only the preferred school could meet the pupil’s need.
5 Pupils with a sibling at the preferred school at the time of admission. Siblings are defined as brothers or sisters living in the same house, as their primary place of residence (including half-, step and foster-brothers or sisters);
It is the responsibility of parent/carers to include with their application the name of any sibling(s) where this criterion applies for checking by the LA.
6 Pupils who live closest to the preferred school using the nearest available safe walking route. Distances are measured by a GIS mapping system from the pupil’s home address to the closest entrance of the school.
Distances are measured using a system of walking routes rather than straight line distances to better reflect the length of the journey from home to school. Within a contiguous urban area these routes are those that are properly paved and lit alongside roads and other walkways and do not include the York outer ring road. Outside a contiguous urban area, for example for applications from outside the City of York area, these distances continue to be measured along the road network.
Where there are fewer places than pupils in an oversubscription priority as above, in order to decide to whom places will be allocated, the following tie-breakers will be applied:
· first, to the pupil(s) who also fulfil the next highest priority;
· second, to the pupil(s) living closest to the school as defined in priority 6;
· and third, if the measurement of the distance from home to school above does not distinguish between two or more applicants with equal priority, random allocation will be used as the final tie-breaker, and independently verified.
Where the application of the above would lead to a place being made available for a pupil of multiple birth, but not their sibling(s), we will work within the Admissions Code in order to make a place available for the sibling(s) wherever reasonably possible.
For example, for two pupils who are both resident in the catchment area without a sibling on roll at the time of admission and are thus assigned the same (third) priority, the place would first be allocated to the pupil who also fulfils the next highest priority, for example, an exceptional social or medical need (fourth priority) over a pupil who lives closer to the school (sixth priority).
1 Applicants refused a place at the school have a statutory right of appeal. If a preference for a place at the school is refused, the applicant will be informed of the reasons and of their right of appeal. This right does not apply if they are allocated a place but it is not in their preferred year group.
2 Appeals are heard by an independent appeals panel and their decisions are legally binding in line with the School Admission Appeals Code. We will publish our appeals timetable at www.york.gov.uk/schooladmissions by 28 February 2023. Applicants who wish to appeal should contact the School Admissions team to request the correct appeal form. Appeal forms should be returned within 20 school days of the date the place was refused.
3 Applicants will only be able to appeal once in any one school year unless, in exceptional circumstances, the admission authority has accepted a second application because of a significant and material change in the circumstances of the parent/carer, pupil or school.
Where an offer of a place has been made on the basis of fraudulent or intentionally misleading information, which has effectively denied a place to a pupil with a stronger claim, the offer of a place will be withdrawn.
1 Applications received after the closing date of 31 October 2022 may be treated as ‘late’ applications – that is processed after all ‘on-time’ applications.
2 Where possible, ‘late’ applications and changes of preference and/or circumstances will be treated as ‘on-time’ applications if:
a) this is accompanied by a satisfactory reason provided at the time of application; and
b) it can be accommodated within the timescales of the coordinated scheme and/or admission authority’s processes.
3 Late applications received after the offer day, but before the start of the school year will be processed using the same arrangements and criteria as ‘on-time’ applications, although the availability of places will depend on where places are still available as well as the preferences of applicants.
4 Late applications received after the first day of the school year will be considered as ‘in-year’ applications, and be subject to theCity of York. However, these preferences, if unsuccessful, will be held on a waiting list until the end of the first term in line with ‘on-time’ applications as set out in Section F of this policy.
1 If a school is oversubscribed, a waiting list will be held from when offers have been made until 31 December 2023. After 31 December 2023, if there is still a waiting list, an ‘in-year’ waiting list is then held until the end of that school year. Beyond the first school year, refused preferences do not ‘roll over’ into future school years. Should applicants wish to remain on a waiting list for a future school year, they should submit a new application by 5 July in the relevant year.
2 A pupil’s position on the list will be determined by the oversubscription criteria set out in Section B of this policy and will reflect their current circumstances where these circumstances have been provided to the admission authority. The list will also contain all other on-time and late preferences that have been refused or are requested. Should a place become available while the waiting list is in operation, a place will be made available to the applicant on the top of the waiting list on the day the place became available.
3 Applications may only be made once for each school year unless there has been a significant and material change in the circumstances of the parent/carer, pupil or school, which the admission authority agrees requires a new application.
4 Being on a waiting list does not affect a parent’s/carer’s right of appeal against an unsuccessful preference.
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by 12 September 2022 |
Opening date for applications. ‘School admission application for Secondary School in September 2023’ form made available and online applications start to be accepted at www.york.gov.uk/schooladmissions |
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September 2022 – |
Secondary school open evenings |
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31 October 2022 |
Closing date for ‘on-time’ applications (both online and by paper ‘School admission application for Secondary School in September 2023’ form) |
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from 01 November 2022 |
Applications received may be treated as ‘late’ |
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01 March 2023 or next working day |
National Offer Day |
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31 March 2023 |
Deadline for return of appeal papers for ‘on-time’ applicants |
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5 May 2023 - |
Admission appeals for ‘on-time’ applicants |
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September 2023 |
Start of the school year |
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31 December 2023 |
Waiting list for all community and voluntary controlled secondary schools closes |
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City of York Council School Admissions
West Offices,
Station Rise,
York YO1 6GA
01904 551554
Huntington School (Community, 11-18)
Joseph Rowntree School (Voluntary Controlled, 11-18)