Admissions Policy

 

Admission Arrangements for The Phoenix Free School of Oldham

These are the admission arrangements for the 2014/2015 school year.

The Academy Trust of the Phoenix Free School of Oldham is responsible for admissions policy.  Only the Governing Body is able to decide who is eligible for a place at the Phoenix Free School of Oldham.  Neither the Headteacher nor their representatives are able to offer a school place.  All applications for places at the school will be considered in accordance with the arrangements set out below.

 

General Statement

The Phoenix Free School of Oldham is a publicly funded, non-selective, co-educational secondary school for 11-18 year olds.  It primarily serves central Oldham post codes OL4, OL8, OL9 and OL1, but it also serves the wider Oldham area.  In this way, the Phoenix Free School of Oldham becomes part of the provision for the community.

  Admission to Year 7 in September 2014

Phoenix Free School of Oldham will manage their own admissions for 2014/2015.

Applications for admission to Year 7 in September 2014 can be completed by filling in an electronic application and registration form on the Phoenix Free School of Oldham website:  www.phoenixfreeschool.org.uk

Applicants can also choose instead to request a hard copy of the application form to be posted to their home address by calling the following number . Completed hard copy applications should be returned by post to the following address: Phoenix Free School of Oldham c/o Affan Burki, 11 Retiro Street, Oldham, OL1 1SA.

Applications must be received by midnight, 23:59, hours on 23rd January 2014.

From 2015 onwards, Phoenix Free School of Oldham will be part of the local authority’s co-ordinated arrangements. This requires the parents to complete a common application form provided by the local authority in which the applicant lives.

Copies of the form are available from the admissions team at Oldham Council or online at: http://www.oldham.gov.uk/info/200327/admissions/1137/apply_for_a_secondary_school_place  Full details of the application process are available in the local authority brochure, which can be obtained by phoning the Admissions Office of the Oldham Council at .

The Phoenix Free School of Oldham can provide advice and assistance to parents on the admissions process.

  Late applications

Applications received after the stated deadline will be considered at the discretion of the Governing Body and will be considered after all applications received on time.

Offer of places

Phoenix Free School has an agreed Published Admissions Number of 120 for admission into Year 7 and will admit up to this number each year.

All applicants will be admitted if fewer than 120 applications are received.

Letters informing applicants of the outcome of their applications will be sent by first class post on 7 th February 2014.

Applicants to whom places are offered will be required to inform the Governing Body of their decision about whether to accept or reject the offer within 14 days.

  Waiting list

Unsuccessful candidates will also be offered the opportunity to be placed on a waiting list. The waiting list will be maintained in the order of the over subscription criteria set out below and not in the order in which applications are received or added to the list.  Consequently the order of the list will be revised as new applications are received, and pupils may go down in priority if a pupil with a higher priority subsequently applies

The waiting list will be maintained for the academic year 2014-15. If parents wish to apply to join or remain on the waiting list for the following year (2015/2016) they must contact the school in writing to request this after the start of the school year in September 2014.

Admissions and over-subscription criteria

Children with a statement of Special Education Needs that names the Phoenix Free School of Oldham (subject to the school’s right of appeal to the Secretary of State) will be offered a place before all other applications are considered.

Where the school receives more applications than it has places available, the criteria listed below will apply. After the admission of children with a statement of Special Educational Needs which names Phoenix free school of Oldham the over-subscription criteria will be

1. Looked-after children who are in the care of a Local Authority, including those that have been previously looked after but ceased to be so because they were adopted or became subject to a residence or special guardianship order. A looked-after child is a child who is a) in the care of a local authority, or b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in their exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989)

2. Children who will have a sibling attending the Phoenix Free School of Oldham at the time of admission.  A “Sibling” is defined as a child who lives as brother or sister in the same house, including natural brothers or sisters, adopted siblings, stepbrothers or sisters and foster brothers and sisters. Where there are insufficient places in the appropriate year group to enable all siblings from a family unit to be admitted, including twins, triplets, etc, priority for available places will be given in order of birth, eldest first.

3.  Children of staff at the Phoenix Free School of Oldham where the member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made, and/or the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.

4. After places have been filled by the first three criteria, the remaining places shall be divided by five and allocated equally to applicants’ residential categories: OL4; OL8; OL9; OL1; and all remaining applicants.  If the 20% share of places exceeds the number of applicants in any of the above categories, the excess shall be distributed equally to other categories which have an excess of applicants.

5. Within each category where there is an excess of applicants to the available places, as a tie break pupils will be selected by independently supervised random allocation.

Other admissions

Vacancies occurring after the initial offers have been made on 1 st March 2014 but before 31 st August 2014 will be offered in accordance with the admissions arrangements outlined above.

Thereafter, ‘in-year’ applications can be made through the Local Authority Pupil Services. Places will be offered in accordance with the arrangements above.

To verify the child’s current home address:

If it is unclear whether an application meets the oversubscription criteria one of the following documents may be required:

A current year’s Council Tax bill addressed to at least one of the child’s parents/carers as specified on the application form.

OR

A current Bank Statement issued to one of the child’s parents/carers as specified on the application form

OR

A current utility bill issued to one of the child’s parents/carers as specified on the application form

OR

Where none of these documents are available, an alternative will be agreed.

If you have moved from the address you stated on your application form documents for the address on the application form as well as your current address may be required.

 Multiple Addresses

Where a child is resident with parents at more than one address, the permanent residence will be deemed to be that at which the child spends the majority of the school week. In the event that the child’s time was split evenly between parents addresses, the address at which the child is registered at its General Practice shall apply.

Withdrawal of Places

  False information, or the omission of material information, may result in disqualification, or the withdrawal of a place after it has been offered, accepted or taken up.

The School may withdraw an offer where; it has been offered in error; following a further opportunity to respond notifying that the offer may be withdrawn, a parent has not responded within a reasonable period of time or; it is established that the offer was obtained through a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application. Applications that supply misleading information will be considered afresh and parents will have the right to appeal should the application be refused.

The school may withdraw a place once the child has started at the school where that place was fraudulently obtained; taking into account the length of time the child has been at the school.

 Unsuccessful Applications

Where the governors are unable to offer a place because the school is oversubscribed, parents have the right to appeal to and independent admission appeal panel, set up under the School Standards and Framework Act, 1998, as amended by the Education Act, 2002.  Parents should notify the clerk to the governors within 14 days of receiving the letter refusing the place.  Parents will have the opportunity to submit their case to the panel in writing and also to attend in order to present their case.  You will normally receive 14 days’ notice of the place and time of the hearing.  Please note that this right of appeal against the governors’ decision does not prevent you from making an appeal in respect of any other school.

  Waiting Lists

Pupils will be added to the waiting list where they were refused a place and those schools were ranked higher on the CAF than the place offered.  Places on the waiting list will be strictly prioritised in criteria order given above and will operate until the end of the autumn term.  Applicants can move up or down the waiting list whenever someone is added.

Places will only be allocated from the waiting list when the number of pupils falls below the Admission Limit of the school.  Whilst the waiting list is in operation, when a place does become available it will be allocated to the child at the top of the list on the day that written confirmation of the vacancy is received.

In Year Transfers

  Applications for admission outside of the normal admission round (In Year Transfers) are normally considered each school week.  They should be made on the In Year Transfer Form available from the school.

 Where there are sufficient places an application will normally be agreed unless specific circumstances apply.

Where there are insufficient places for the number of applicants, all applications will be ranked in accordance with the criterion listed above and places awarded accordingly.

 Where a place is not available, the application will normally be refused and the applicant will be offered the right of appeal to an independent appeals panel.

 If a place is agreed, the Headteacher will, within two weeks of an offer of a place being made, determine a start date.

Pupils are normally admitted to a school at the start of the next new term other than with the prior approval of the Headteacher of the school or in circumstances beyond the parent’s control, e.g. movement into the Borough.

Pupils are required to start at the school within two weeks of the start date offered by the Headteacher and places cannot be held open beyond this period.  Applicants must be in a position to take up a place within this stated period.

Repeat applications made for entry to the same year group at the same school will not be considered, unless there has been significant and material change to either the families or the schools circumstances, since a previous application, and this is relevant to the application for admission.  Where information was known at the time of the original application or appeal, but parents chose not to use it, this will not be considered as additional information or a change in circumstances.

In accordance with DfE requirements, where a Fair Access Protocol has been adopted by the Council, pupils may be admitted under this protocol outside of the normal admission arrangements noted above.

Sixth Form Admissions (first entry estimated in September 2019)

A prospectus will be issued by the school in September each year, detailing the courses on offer in the Sixth Form for the subsequent year and the admission requirements for each course. At least one Open Evening will be held which may be attended by both internal and external candidates. Applications must be received at the school by the first day of term in January. Academic references will then be sought. Offers will be made in the second week of March, with decisions required 14 days after issuance of offers. The procedure will be timed to co-ordinate with other Sixth Form institutions in Oldham. Priority is given to students attending Phoenix the preceding year who meet the following subject criteria.

1. Achieving the IGCSE (or equivalent) grades required for the courses selected (minimum of 2). These will be detailed in the Sixth Form Prospectus. As a guideline, this will normally be a ‘B’ grade in the most appropriate IGCSE subject(s), together with ‘C’ grades in English Language and Mathematics if these subjects are not already specified. Students may apply for A level subjects not studied at IGCSE, with equivalent entry criteria determined on an individual basis by the subject Head of Department.

2. Places remaining available on the selected courses:

If there are sufficient places remaining for all external applicants who meet the above subject criteria, then all will be admitted. If places are oversubscribed, the following criteria apply in order of priority:

 

  1. Children with a statement of Special Education Needs that names the Phoenix Free School of Oldham (subject to the school’s right of appeal to the Secretary of State) will be offered a place before all other applications are considered.
  2. The other oversubscription admission criteria detailed above in the normal admissions procedure.
  3. Up to 9 external students may be admitted based on aptitude for one or more chosen A level subjects. This will be determined by predicted grades and/or letter of recommendation from current educational establishment/supervisor.  Applicants must indicate whether they wish to be considered in this category and in which subject(s) by ticking the appropriate box(es) on the application form.

Procedures for waiting lists, appeals, etc. are also identical to the normal admissions procedure above.

All offers are subject to attaining the grades/conditions specified in the offers. Special consideration will be given to students whose actual grades are below the minimums due to unavoidable circumstances such as medical conditions. Evidence will always be required, and it will be the responsibility of the applicant’s parent/guardian to ensure such evidence is produced in a timely manner after results day (or preferably before, if the condition was known, poor performance expected and evidence is available).

Progression from Year 12 to Year 13

This will normally require a minimum of a ‘D’ grade at AS level (or equivalent internal exams) in at least 2 subjects in year 12.