Admissions

The Havering Deanery Catholic Schools were founded by the Catholic Church to provide education for children of Catholic families.  As Catholic schools, we aim to provide a Catholic education for all our pupils. At a Catholic school, Catholic doctrine and practice permeate every aspect of the school’s activity. It is essential that the Catholic character of the schools education be fully supported by all families in the school. We therefore hope that all parents will give their full, unreserved and positive support for the aims and ethos of the school. This does not affect the right of an applicant who is not Catholic to apply for and be admitted to a place at the school in accordance with the admission arrangements.

 

The governing body is the admission authority and has responsibility for admissions to St Ursula’s Catholic Primary School. The local authority undertakes the co-ordination of admission arrangements during the normal admission round. The governing body has set its admission number at 30 pupils to the reception year in the school year, which begins in September.

 

The governing body will, where logistically possible, admit twins and all siblings from multiple births where one of the children is the last child ranked within the school’s Published Admissions Number (“PAN”).

 

Pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan or a Statement of Special Educational Needs (see note 1)

The admission of pupils with a Statement of Educational Needs or an Education, Health and Care Plan is dealt with by a completely separate procedure. Children with a Statement of Special Educational Needs or Education, Health and Care Plan that names the school must be admitted. Where this takes place before the allocation of places under these arrangements this will reduce the number of places available to other children.

 

Oversubscription Criteria

Where there are more applications for places than the number of places available, places will be offered according to the following order of priority.

 

  1. Baptised Catholic looked after and previously looked after children
  2. Baptised Catholic Children with a Certificate of Catholic Practice who are resident in the parish
  3. Other Baptised Catholic children with a certificate of practice
  4. Other baptised Catholic children
  5. Other looked after and previously looked after children
  6. Catechumens and members of an Eastern Christian Church
  7. Christian children of other denominations, whose applications is supported by a minister of religion
  8. Any other children

 

Within each of the categories listed above, the following provisions will be applied.

(i) The attendance of a brother or sister at the school at the time of enrolment will increase the priority of an application within each category So that the application will be placed at the top of the category in which the application is made after children in (i) above (see note 7).

 

Tie Break

 

Where more applications are received than places available under any of the oversubscription criteria listed above places will be offered to those living nearest to the school.

 

Priority will be given to students based on the distance of the home address from the school, as measured by a straight line from the school with those students living nearer the school being given higher priority.

 

The distance between the home address and the school is determined using address points and is measured in a straight line, not by the shortest walking or bus route, between the address point for the school and the address point of the child’s normal place of residence. (Address points are points marked in the centre of the child’s home address, or in the centre of the block of flats in which the child’s home address is located, and in the predetermined point of the school.)

 

In the event that two, or more, applicants applying for a single place at the school live at addresses that are located at exactly the same distance from the school, or live in the same block of flats, the place will be offered on the basis of lots drawn by representatives of the schools Governing Body who are not involved in the admissions process.

 

Application Procedures and Timetable

 

To apply for a place at this school in the normal admission round, you must complete a Common Application Form available from the local authority in which you live. You are also requested to complete the Supplementary Information Form attached to this policy if you wish to apply under oversubscription criteria 1 to 4, 6 or 7.

 

The school Supplementary Information Form must be submitted by the 15th January (or the working day before if the 15th January falls on a weekend), direct to the school address by 3pm. It is expected that all additional documents are submitted with the Supplementary Information Form by the same date.

 

You will be advised of the outcome of your application on 16th April or the next working day if you completed a paper application, (if applicable), by the local authority on our behalf. If you are unsuccessful (unless your child gained a place at a school you ranked higher) you will be informed, and advised of your right of appeal to an independent appeal panel.

 

If you do not provide the information required in the Supplementary Information Form (SIF) and return it by the closing date, together with all supporting documentation, your child will not be placed in criteria 1 to 4, 6 or 7, and this is likely to affect your child’s chance of being offered a place.

All applications which are submitted on time will be considered at the same time and after the closing date for admissions which is 15th January 2023.

 

Late Applications

Late applications will be administered in accordance with your home Local Authority Primary Co-ordinated Admissions Scheme. You are encouraged to ensure that your application is received on time.

 

Admission of Children Below Compulsory School Age and Deferred Entry

A child is entitled to a full-time place in the September following their fourth birthday. A child’s parents may defer the date at which their child, below compulsory school age, is admitted to the school, until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age, or beyond the beginning of the final term of the school year for which an offer was made. A child may take up a part-time place until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which the child reaches compulsory school age. Upon receipt of the offer of a place a parent should notify the school, as soon as possible, that they wish to either defer their child’s entry to the school or take up a part-time place.

 

Admission of Children Outside their Normal Age Group

A request may be made for a child to be admitted outside of their normal age group, for example, if the child is gifted and talented or has experienced problems such as ill health. In addition, the parents of a summer born child, i.e. a child born between 1st April and 31st August, may request that the child be admitted out of their normal age group, to reception rather than year 1.

 

Any such request should be made in writing to the Admissions Manager, London Borough of Havering, Town Hall, Romford RM1 at the same time as the admission application is made. The Admissions Manager will advise the schools governing body who will make its decision about the request based on the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child. In addition to taking into account the views of the head teacher, including the head teacher’s statutory responsibility for the internal organisation, management and control of the school, the governing body will take into account the views of the parents and of appropriate medical and education professionals, as appropriate.

 

Waiting Lists

 

In addition to their right of appeal, unsuccessful children will be offered the opportunity to be placed on a waiting list. This waiting list will be maintained in order of the oversubscription criteria set out above and not in the order in which applications are received or added to the list. Waiting lists for admission will operate throughout the school year. The waiting list will be held open until the last day of the summer term. 

Inclusion in the school’s waiting list does not mean that a place will eventually become available.

 

Admission of Service or Crown Servant Children

 

Admission authorities must not refuse to process an application solely because the family do not yet have an intended address and admissions authorities must:

 

  1. allocate a place in advance of the family arriving in the area (as long as one is available), provided the application is accompanied by an official letter that declares a relocation date.
  2. use the address at which the child will live when applying their oversubscription criteria, as long as the parents provide some evidence of their intended address. Admission authorities must use a Unit or quartering address as the child’s home address when considering the application against their oversubscription criteria, where a parent requests this.
  3. not reserve blocks of places for these children.
  4. ensure that arrangements in their area support the Government’s commitment to removing disadvantage for service children. Arrangements must be appropriate for the area and be described in the local authority’s composite prospectus.

 

In-Year Applications

 

An application can be made for a place for a child at any time outside the normal admission round and the child will be admitted where there are available places. The Havering School Admissions Team manage the In-Year application process on behalf of St Ursula’s alongside other schools in Havering.  You must therefore apply following the In-Year process set out via https://www.havering.gov.uk/admissions/inyear.

Alongside an In-Year application you will also need to complete and return a Supplementary Information Form (SIF) to St Ursula’s so that the school’s Governing Body can fully consider you application.  The SIF can be downloaded from here https://stursulascatholicprimary.co.uk/key-information/admissions.

 

Where there are places available but more applications than places, the published oversubscription criteria, as set out above, will be applied.

If there are no places available, the child will be added to the waiting list (see above).

 

You will be advised of the outcome of your application in writing, and you have the right of appeal to an independent appeal panel.

 

Fair Access Protocol

 

The school is committed to taking its fair share of children who are vulnerable and/or hard to place, as set out in locally agreed protocols. Accordingly, outside the normal admission round the governing body is empowered to give absolute priority to a child where admission is requested under any locally agreed protocol. The governing body has this power, even when admitting the child would mean exceeding the published admission number.

 

Nursery 

 

For children attending the school’s nursery, application to the reception class of the school must be made in the normal way, to the home local authority.  A supplementary information form must be submitted by the deadline stipulated.  Attendance at the school’s nursery does not automatically guarantee that a place will be offered at the school.

 

The governing body reserves the right to withdraw the offer of a place or, where the child is already attending the school the place itself, where it is satisfied that the offer or the place was obtained by deception.

Notes (these notes form part of the oversubscription criteria)

 

  1. A Statement of Special Educational Needs is a statement made by the local authority under section 324 of the Education Act 1996, specifying the special educational provision for a child. An Education, Health and Care Plan is a plan made by the local authority under section 37 of the Children and Families Act 2014, specifying the special educational provision required for a child.
  2. Looked after children and all children who were adopted (or subject to child arrangements orders or special guardianship orders) immediately following having been looked after, including those children who appear (to the admission authority) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.

 

  1. 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 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.

 

A child is regarded as having been in state care outside of England if they were in the care of or were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation, or any other provider of care whose sole or main purpose is to benefit society.

 

Adoption includes children who were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 (see Section 12 adoption orders) and children who were adopted under the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (see Section 46 adoption orders).

 

Child arrangements orders are defined in Section 8 of the Children Act 1989, as amended by Section 12 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Child arrangements orders replace residence orders and any residence order in force prior to 22 April 2014 is deemed to be a child arrangements order. 

 

  1. ‘Catholic’ means a member of a Church in full communion with the See of Rome. This includes the Eastern Catholic Churches. This will normally be evidenced by a certificate of baptism in a Catholic Church or a certificate of reception into the full communion of the Catholic Church. For the purposes of this policy, it includes a looked after child who is part of a Catholic family where a letter from a priest demonstrates that the child would have been baptised or received if it were not for their status as a looked after child (e.g. a looked after child in the process of adoption by a Catholic family).

For a child to be treated as Catholic, evidence of Catholic baptism or reception into the Church will be required. Those who have difficulty obtaining written evidence of baptism should contact their Parish Priest [who, after consulting with the Diocese, will decide how the question of baptism is to be resolved and how written evidence is to be produced in accordance with the law of the Church].

 

  1. ’Certificate of Catholic Practice’ means a certificate issued by the family’s parish priest (or the priest in charge of the church where the family attends Mass) in the form laid down by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. It will be issued if the priest is satisfied that at least one Catholic parent or carer (along with the child, if he or she is over seven years old) have (except when it was impossible to do so) attended Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation for at least five years (or, in the case of a child, since the age of seven, if shorter). It will also be issued when the practice has been continuous since being received into the Church if that occurred less than five years ago. It is expected that most Certificates will be issued on the basis of attendance. A Certificate may also be issued by the priest when attendance is interrupted by exceptional circumstances which excuse from the obligation to attend on that occasion or occasions. Further details of these circumstances can be found in the guidance issued to priests. http://www.dioceseofbrentwood.net/departments/education/school-admissions/
  2. ‘catechumen’ means a member of the catechumenate of a Catholic Church. This will normally be evidenced by a certificate of reception into the order of catechumens.
  3. ‘Eastern Christian Church’ includes Orthodox Churches, and is normally evidenced by a certificate of baptism or reception from the authorities of that Church.
  4. ‘brother or sister’ includes:
  1. all natural brothers and sisters, half brothers and sisters, adopted brothers and sisters, stepbrothers or sisters, foster brothers or sisters, whether or not they are living at the same address, and
  2. the child of a parent’s partner where that child lives for at least part of the week in the same family unit at the same address as the applicant.
  1. A ‘parent’ means all natural parents, any person who is not a parent but has parental responsibility for a child and any person who has care of a child.

 

For the purposes of this policy, parish boundaries are as shown on maps found at:

https://www.havering.gov.uk/info/20006/schools_and_education/484/school_parish_boundaries   and will be applied to the admission arrangements for:

 

St Ursula’s – Our Lady of St Ursula’s

St Alban’s – St Alban’s or English Martyrs

St Joseph’s – St Joseph’s or English Martyrs

St Mary’s – St Mary, Mother of God

St Peter’s – St Edward the Confessor

St Patrick’s – Corpus Christi

St Ursula’s – St Dominic, Most Holy Redeemer or Christ the Eternal High King.

 

  1. “children of other Christian denominations” means  children who belong to other churches and ecclesial communities which, acknowledge God’s revelation in Christ, confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the Scriptures, and, in obedience to God’s will and in the power of the Holy Spirit commit themselves: to seek a deepening of their communion with Christ and with one another in the Church, which is his body; and to fulfil their mission to proclaim the Gospel by common witness and service in the world to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. An ecclesial community which on principle has no credal statements in its tradition, is included if it manifests faith in Christ as witnessed to in the Scriptures and is committed to working in the spirit of the above.

All members of Churches Together in England and CYTÛN are deemed to be included in the above definition, as are all other churches and ecclesial communities that are in membership of any local Churches Together Group (by whatever title) on the above basis.

 

“Deanery of Havering” is defined by the diocesan authority and comprises the parishes of St. Dominic, Most Holy Redeemer and Christ The Eternal High Priest, St. Mary Mother of God, English Martyrs, Corpus Christi, St. Alban, St. Edward the Confessor, Our Lady of St Ursula’s & St. Joseph. (Diocesan Directory)