To apply for a school place for your child, you need to follow the procedures set out below:

 

For all year group applications including reception – you must apply for your child’s school place via the Essex County Council’s web page: www.essex.gov.uk/admissions.

 

Once your application has been processed, you will receive a letter from Essex County Council informing you if a place is available or not (this can take up to 3 weeks). If a place is not available, you will be added to our waiting list.

 

There is no guarantee of a place for children living in the priority admission area. In the event of oversubscription, places will be allocated using the following criteria in the order given:

 

1. Looked After Children (as defined below)

2. Children with a sibling attending the school

3. Children living in the priority admission area

4. Remaining applications

 

In the event of oversubscription within any of the above criteria, priority will be determined by straight line distance from home to school, those living closest being given the highest priority.

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Criteria Explained

 

Looked After Children

A ‘Looked After Child’ or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, residence or special guardianship order will be given first priority in oversubscription criteria ahead of other applicants in accordance with the School Admission Code 2014. 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 (as defined in Section 22 (1) of the Children Act 1989).

 

Children with a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an Education, Health and Care Plan

All children with a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) that name the school on the statement/plan, are required to be admitted to the school regardless of their place in the priority order.

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Age of Admission

The school’s policy is that children born on and between 1st September and 31st August would normally commence primary school in reception in the academic year that they turn 5. 

 

As required by law, Grange Primary School provides for the full time admission of all children offered a place in the reception year group from the September following their fourth birthday. Therefore, if a parent wants a full time place for their child from September (at the school in which a place has been offered) then they are entitled to that full time place.

 

Parents can request that the date their child is admitted to the school is deferred until later in the school year or until the child reaches compulsory school age within the school year. The law does not require a child to start school until the start of the term following their fifth birthday. Compulsory school age is reached at that point.

 

Where entry is deferred, the school will hold the place for that child and will not offer it to another child. The parent would not, however, be able to defer entry beyond the beginning of the term after the child’s fifth birthday, nor beyond the academic year for which the original application was accepted. Parents can also request that their child attends part-time until the child reaches compulsory school age. Any parent interested in taking up a part-time place initially should contact the school for further details as to what this would entail.

 

Where the parent of a ‘summer born child’ (11th April – 31st August) wishes their child to start school in the autumn term following their fifth birthday, they will need to apply for a place at the correct time for the normal admission round for the following academic year. Supporting evidence from relevant professionals working with the child and family stating why the child must be placed outside their normal age appropriate cohort must be submitted. The admissions authority will decide whether the application for a Reception place will be accepted or whether it will be treated as an application for a Year 1 place, the child’s normal age appropriate cohort. If the application for a reception place is not accepted this does not constitute a refusal of the place and there is no right to an independent statutory appeal.

 

Applying for a school place

The application process is in accordance with the co-ordinated scheme for primary admissions and involved completion of the Common Application Form – either online of by paper. Offers of places will be sent from Essex County Council during April of the year your child is due to start. 

 

Closing date for applications

The closing date for application will be during January of the year your child is due to start. 

 

Home Address

Applications will normally be processed on the basis of the home address for the child at the time of application and determination, unless where there is a new home address, proof of an exchange of contracts or a copy of a tenancy agreement can be provided. The home address is considered to be the address at which the child resides on a permanent basis or is ‘ordinarily resident’. This is generally the address of the parent. The child must be living with the parent or carer 24 hours per day, for the majority of the school week. Arrangements where parents can leave and collect children from a relative or carer on a daily basis will be regarded as childcare arrangements, and the child will not be deemed to be ‘ordinarily resident’ with that person. In all cases we expect that the adult with whom the child is ‘ordinarily resident’, receives the child benefit for the child.

 

Address Checking

The school will ask applicants to provide proof of their home address. This may include a copy of the following:

 

• UK driving licence

• Council tax notification

• Two utility bills dated within the last 6 months (gas, electricity, water or landline phone)

 

The school reserves the right to take additional checking measures including further documentation and in some cases unannounced home visits.

 

If a school place is secured through false information regarding a home address, the school will withdraw the place offered.

 

Siblings

For applications made in the normal admission round, or mid-year, a relevant sibling is a child who has a brother, sister, adopted brother or sister, or stepbrother or stepsister living in the same family unit in the same family home and address, who attends the school with an expectation that the sibling will be attending at the time of admission. Children residing in the same household as part of an extended family, such as cousins, will not be treated as siblings.

 

Mid-year application

Where applications are made mid-year the school's admissions criteria apply. Please see here for information about mid-year applications within Essex County Council schools.