Secondary School Admissions 2025Information for parents / carers

Published September 2024 An accessible document from southtyneside.gov.uk

Jarrow School Admission Criteria 2025 to 2026

Introduction

Decisions concerning the admissions of pupils to Jarrow School and the attendant administrative procedures are the responsibility of the Governing Body.

Where the governors receive more applications than places available, the following admissions criteria are used to decide on admissions to the school.

In accordance with the Education Act (1996), children with an Education Health and Care Plan are required to be admitted to the mainstream school or Post 11 Autistic Centre named in the Plan. Thereafter, the following oversubscription criteria will apply.

Oversubscription Criteria

  1. 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. See note 1 below for further information.
  2. Children who appear to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. See note 2 below for further information.
  3. Concurrent sibling link (an older brother or sister attending the school at the same time and residing at the same address to include adoptive siblings, half siblings, step siblings and long-term fostered children).
  4. Shortest distance measured as a straight line from the Ordnance Survey coordinates for the parental home residence (including flats) to the school main entrance using South Tyneside Council’s Geographic Information System (GIS), with those living closer to the school receiving higher priority.

The above distance measurement will also be used as a ‘tiebreaker’ within each criterion, if necessary.

Where two or more applicants meet the same admission criteria and the measured distance between home and school is the same to three decimal places, the tie break will be random allocation and will be drawing lots to determine the rank order for each child. In order to ensure fairness the School Admissions Team will administer the random allocation system overseen by an independent adjudicator in accordance with the random allocation procedure.

Closing date

In determining admissions, priority will be given to those applications where the parental application is received by the published deadline date of 4.30pm on Thursday 31 October 2024.

Late Applications

If you return your application after the closing date your application will be classed as late unless exceptional circumstances exist. The governors will consider your reasons and if they are exceptional consider your application along with those received on time. Examples of what may be considered as exceptional circumstances are a family who have just moved into the area (proof of ownership or tenancy agreement will be required). If your reasons are not exceptional then your application will not be processed until after 3 March 2025. You should be aware that this will reduce your chance at gaining a place at Jarrow School.

Offer Date

On 3 March 2025 you will be notified by the Local Authority as to whether or not your child has been offered a place at the school.

Parental Home Address

When considering your application the governors will use the parental home residence of the Parent / Carer who receives the child benefit for the child / children.

Your home address is an important factor as school places are allocated on the basis of the home address of each child. This must be the child’s permanent home address, where he/she lives with a person of parental responsibility as the main carer (as defined by the Children Act 1989). If the address on your application form is not your child’s normal address, you must provide a Residence Order, issued by a court, if you wish that address to be considered. The governors reserve the right to request independent confirmation of the child’s place of residence, as felt appropriate.

Equal Preference System

The governors operate an equal preference system for processing applications. This means that all first, second and third preference applications are considered equally against the admission criteria.

Waiting list

If you have been refused a place at Jarrow School you will have the opportunity to place your child’s name on a waiting list. Children are placed on the waiting list according to the oversubscription criteria regardless of when their application was received and within each criterion their place is ordered by shortest distance to the school measured as a straight line from the centre of the parent’s home address (including flats) to the main school entrance of the school.

If pupil numbers fall below the published admission number the place will be offered to the child at the top of the waiting list. This means a child who is on the waiting list will move down the list if another late application is received that falls within a higher priority under the oversubscription criteria. The waiting list will be held for one term in the academic year i.e. until 31 December 2025.

Explanation of Oversubscription Criteria

Notes

  1. A ‘Looked After Child’ is a child who is (a) in the care of a LA, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a LA in the exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989) at the time of making an application to a school.

    An adoption order is an order made under Section 46 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002.
    A ‘child arrangement order’ is an order made outlining arrangements as to the person with whom the child is to live under Section 8 of the Children Act 1989.

    ‘Special guardianship order’ is an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian or guardians (Section 14A of the Children Act 1989).
  2. A child is regarded as having been in state care in a place outside of England if they were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation or any other provider of care whose sole purpose is to benefit society.

The governors give a ‘Looked After Child' and a child who appears to have been in state care outside England priority in our oversubscription criteria. This means that when a place becomes available in the school year it can be offered to these children to ensure that they are quickly placed in an appropriate school. This is necessary as it is recognised that such children are a disadvantaged group who, because of frequent changes of school following their care placements, may have lower than average levels of attainment. It is also a statutory requirement that Admission Authorities give priority to a ‘Looked After Child' and a child who appears to have been in state care outside England in their oversubscription criteria.

Sibling Link

If your child has a brother or sister residing at the same address (including adoptive siblings, half siblings, step siblings, and long term fostered children) attending your preferred school in September 2025, the governors will consider this as a sibling link. However, no guarantee is given that siblings can transfer to the same school where the school is oversubscribed.

Distance from Parental Home Address

The distance will be measured from the centre of the parent’s home address (including flats) to the main school entrance using the Local Authority’s Geographic Information System (GIS) with those living closer to the school receiving higher priority. Where a child lives with parents with shared responsibility, each for part of the week the distance will be measured from the parental home residence of the Parent / Carer who receives the child benefit for the child / children (documentary evidence will be required).

'Tiebreaker’ - Distance Measurement

Where there are not enough places to admit all the children falling within a particular criterion a distance measurement will also be used as a tiebreaker using the Local Authority’s Geographic Information System (GIS). The distance will be measured in a straight line from the centre of the parent’s home address (including flats) to the main school entrance using the Local Authority’s Geographic Information System (GIS) with those living closer to the school receiving higher priority. Where a child lives with parents with shared responsibility, each for part of the week the distance will be measured from the parental home residence of the Parent / Carer who receives the child benefit for the child/children (documentary evidence will be required).