Procedure for admitting pupils to the academy
Process of Application
Arrangements for applications for places at Strood Academy will be made in accordance with Medway Council’s co-ordinated admission arrangements and will be made on the Common Application Form provided by the applicant’s home local authority.
The Academy will use Medway Council’s timetable for applications to the Academy each year (exact dates within the months may vary from year to year). The timetable is published on Medway Council’s website and applicants should ensure they meet the deadline set.
Application for Admission in Year 7
Consideration of Applications
The Published Admission Number (PAN) is 240. Where fewer than the published admission number(s) for the relevant year group are received, the Academy will offer places at the Academy to all those who have applied. Unsuccessful applicants may appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel.
Fair Banding Test
Strood Academy is an all ability school and in order to secure an all ability intake that is representative of the national ability range, all applicants for admission should take a fair banding test which is prescribed by NFER (National Foundation for Educational Research). This is not a ‘pass or fail’ test. This is to ensure that children across the ability range are admitted. All applicants for places in the Academy will be banded according to the principles of fair banding, using the national profile.
The Academy will have five bands to ensure an intake with a spread of ability. The bands will be based on the national ability range (determined by NFER) and the bandings will be in the ratio 10:20:40:20:10.
If places become vacant in some bands, for example, because parents/carers accept offers of places at other schools, and no applicants in those bands remain without a place, they will be evenly filled by children falling into the next nearest bands (i.e. the bands on either side, or below or above, if the first child is from the band above then the next will be from the one below).
The tests will be administered during September/October – in the year preceding entry. Parents and Carers can access the test for their child by filling in and returning a test registration form which will be available via the Academy website (www.stroodacademy.org.uk) and from the Academy reception from term 6 of Year 5. This test registration form should be returned within the prescribed deadlines as indicated on the registration form specifying the preferred test date.
All applicants for an Academy place, including those with an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) of SEN, will be required to take the Fair Banding test. All applicants will be offered fair access to the test and reminded of the dates, times and locations available to sit the test. Following the test, applicants will be divided into bands based on NFER scores within the national profile. Any applicants who have not taken the banding test at the correct time will only be considered after children who have sat the banding test at the correct time.
Procedures where Strood Academy is oversubscribed
After the admission of students with an EHCP where Strood Academy is named, the oversubscription criteria shall be applied in the order in which they are set out below.
Within each band the criteria will be applied in the following order:
- Children looked after (in the care of, or accommodated by, the local authority) or previously looked after who immediately after being looked after were adopted or subject to a residence or special guardianship order (as further defined in paragraph 1.7 of the School Admissions Code)
- Current family association (i.e. elder brother or sister in the Academy at time of application who will still be attending when the applicant child is admitted. In this context, brother or sister means:
- 1 Natural brother or sister (including adopted siblings)
- 2 Step brother or sister
- 3 Foster brother or sister
- 4 Those who live as brother or sister living together as a family unit at the same address
- Child of a staff member
The son or daughter of a member of staff who has been employed at the Academy for a period of 12 months at the time at which the application for admission to the Academy is made, or who has been recruited to fill a shortage subject post at the Academy. For this criteria, son or daughter means a child who lives in the same house as the member of staff, including a natural son or daughter, an adopted child, stepson or daughter, or foster child. Children residing in the same households as part of an extended family, such as cousins, will not be eligible under this criterion. If children come from multiple births (twins, triplets, etc.) and the Academy would reach its Published Admission Number (PAN) after admitting one or more, but before admitting all of those children, the Academy will offer a place to each of the children, even if doing so takes the academy above its PAN. - Nearness of children’s homes to the school (see footnotes on page 4)
- Random allocation will be used as a tie-break to decide who has highest priority for admission if the distance between two children’s homes and the school is the same. This process will be independently verified.
Post 16 Admission Criteria
The capacity of Year 12 for both internal and external candidates is 150. To determine eligibility for admission, the Academy will publish specific criteria in relation to minimum entrance requirements for courses of study in Year 12 based on GCSE grades or other measures of prior attainment. These arrangements will be published in the Academy’s sixth form prospectus. These criteria will be the same for internal and external transfers and will be published in its prospectus and on the Academy’s website.
Students failing to meet the grades for their preferred course option will be offered alternative courses if available. Students already on the Academy roll are entitled to transfer to Year 12 if they meet the published academic standards of entry. If Year 12 is oversubscribed then, after the admission of students with an EHCP where the Academy is named, the criteria will be applied in the order in which they are set out below:
- Students in looked after, or previously looked after (as defined in paragraph A on page 2).
- Current family association (as defined in paragraph B page 2)
- Nearness of students’ homes (see footnotes on page 4)
- Random allocation will be used as a tie-break to decide who has highest priority for admission if the distance between two children’s homes and the school is the same. This process will be independently verified.
Waiting Lists
Where in any year the Academy receives more applications for places than there are places available, a waiting list will operate. This will be maintained by the Academy and it will be open to any parent /carer to ask for his or her child’s name to be placed on the waiting list, following an unsuccessful application. Waiting lists will comply with the School Admissions Code’s provisions.
The waiting list for rising Year 7 students will be held by the Local Authority until 31st December.
Children’s position on the waiting list will be determined solely in accordance with the oversubscription criteria set out in this policy. The oversubscription criteria will be applied to determine priority in the band in which te vacancy arises. A further waiting list will be maintained for Post 16 applicants. Where places become vacant they will be allocated to students on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria.
Arrangements for Admitting Students Outside the Normal Admissions Rounds
The Academy will be responsible for in-year applications and for applications for year groups other than the normal point(s) of entry. The Academy will provide application forms and local authority forms will also be accepted.
The Academy will consider all such applications and if the year group applied for has a place available in the appropriate band (for Fair Banding Applications) the Academy will admit the child unless the applicant has significant behavioural and/or attendance issues (other than at the normal admission point i.e. Year 7) in which case the child will be referred to the Local Authority Fair Access Panel. If more applications are received than there are places available, the oversubscription criteria above for Year 7 or for post-16 places shall apply.
The Appeals Process
If your application is refused you have the right to appeal and details will be included in the refusal letter.
Important Footnotes
Nearness of children’s homes
Distance will be measured by the shortest available safe walking route between home and school as measured by the Council’s Geographical Information System. Those living closer to the school will receive the higher priority. Medway Council’s Geographical Information System measures the start point, end point and distance of each route in the following way.
The Start Point
The centre point of the road closest to the centre point of the student’s home address. The centre point of the student’s address is a grid reference taken from Ordnance Survey Mapping.
The End point
The centre point of the road closest to the Academy entrance in Carnation Road represented by a grid reference of the Academy defined within the Geographical Information System. The same end point used for everybody.
The distance
The shortest available route between the start point and the end point uses the centre point of streets and any other available safe walking routes. ‘In a situation where these is no available safe walking route between a child’s home and the academy, the shortest route by road, between the ‘start point’ as defined above the ‘end point’ as defined above will be used purely to prioritise admission. In these circumstances there will be no expectation that the walk should be the one taken, or that it is a ‘safe walking route’.
It is important to note that any roads that have been built recently (particularly in new developments) may not be included on the network. If this is the case, the measurement will start from the nearest available road on the network from the property.