PAN and Oversubscription Criteria
The published admission number is 60 places into Reception. The school admits up to this number each year to the Reception year and, when full, the school will have 420 pupils on roll.
This Admissions Policy has been approved by the Bellevue Place Education Trust (BPET) Board, as the admissions authority for the school.
In accordance with the law, children with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) will be admitted to the school where the Local Authority has specifically named Deer Park School as the most appropriate placement.
Where there are fewer applicants than places available all applicants will be admitted. In the event of there being greater demand than there are place available to the school and after the admission of children with an Education Health and Care Plan that names the academy, places will be offered using the following oversubscription criteria in keeping with the School Admissions Code 2021:
- Children in care i.e. children in the care of the Local Authority as defined in the Children Act 1989. This category includes ‘looked after children’ and children who have previously been looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements or special guardianship order, 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.
- Children with a sibling at the school at the time of admission.
- Children of staff at the school.
- Proximity to the school. This will be measured by the straight line distance from the pupil’s home, to the main entrance point of the school site as determined by the London Borough of Richmond’s Geographical Information System.
Notes
- A child looked after is a child in the care of a local authority or provided with accommodation by that authority in accordance with Section 22 of the Children Act 1989. An adopted child is defined by section 46 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 or section 12 of the Adoption Act 1976. A child arrangement orders is defined by section 14 of the Children and Families Act 2014. A special guardianship order is defined by section 14A of the Children Act 1989.
- Priority to children of staff will be given in either or both of the following circumstances:
- Where the member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the child starts at the school; and/or
- The member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.
- Proximity of the child’s home to the school, with those living nearer being accorded the higher priority, will also serve to differentiate between pupils in criteria 2-4 if there are more applicants than available places under each criterion. Proximity to the school will be measured in a straight-line measurement. For the purpose of calculating distance, the school measures home to school distance in a straight line as determined by the London Borough of Richmond’s Geographical Information System and data supplied by Ordnance Survey. The starting point of the measurement is a grid reference point within the property, which is supplied by Ordnance Survey. The end point is measured to the main entrance of the school at its permanent location (389 Richmond Road, Richmond Upon Thames, TW1 2EF). Where applicants have identical distance measurements, priority amongst them will be determined at random. In blocks of flats, where applicants have identical distance measurements, priority amongst them will be determined at random.
- Sibling is defined in these arrangements as: a brother or sister, a half brother or sister, an adopted brother or sister, a step-brother or sister or the child of the parents’ partner where the child for whom the school place is sought is permanently living in the same family unit and at the same address as that sibling or a foster child permanently living in the same family unit whose place has been arranged by the social service department of the Local Authority. Children residing in the same household as part of an extended family, such as cousins, will not be treated as siblings. Proof of the sibling relationship will be required.
- For families living on boats, distance will be measured from the authorised mooring point. If the family is itinerant, the nearest mooring point will be used on the closing date for the receipt of applications.
- A child’s home will be their habitual residence and must be the address where you live with your child, unless you can prove that your child lives elsewhere with someone who has legal care and control of your child. A child’s home must be a residential property that is the child’s only or main residence[1], not an address at which your child may sometimes stay or sleep due to your domestic arrangements. The property must be owned, leased or rented by the child’s parent/s or the person with legal care and control of the child. Additionally, a child’s home address is where he or she spends most of the school week unless this is accommodation at a boarding school.
- In cases of multiple births where there is only one place available, and the next child on the list is a twin, triplet, or other example of multiple birth, we would admit both twins (and all the children in the case of other multiple births) even if this meant exceeding the agreed admission number of 60 for reception 2025/26 or the Published Admission Numbers (PAN) number of places in other year groups.
Tie Breaker
In the event that two or more children live at the same distance from the school, the tie breaker will be random allocation, where the supervised drawing of lots by an independent responsible person of good standing will be used to decide which child(ren) will be allocated the remaining place(s).
Method of Applications for Reception
The school will be participating in coordinated admission arrangements provided by Achieving for Children (AfC), in partnership with the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Parents/carers must apply on Common Application Form of the local authority where they live. This can be completed online via eAdmissions website on the Achieving for Children website. The closing date for reception class applications will be 15th January 2025. Notification letters will be sent out on 16th April 2025 by the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Applications received after the set closing date will be accepted, but will not normally be considered for a place at the school until after the initial offer date.
Date of Admission/Deferred Entry
Children will normally be admitted to the reception year in the September following their fourth birthday.
In line with the Admissions Code, parents can defer their child’s entry to the reception year until later in the school year, where they have been offered a place at a school to start before they are of compulsory school age. Where entry is deferred, the school will hold the place for that child and not offer it to another child. However, entry cannot be deferred beyond the beginning of the term after the child’s fifth birthday, nor beyond the beginning of the final term of the Reception Year. A child may attend school part-time until he/she reaches compulsory school age. Parents should inform the school if they wish to exercise this option.
Admission of children outside their normal age group
Children will normally be admitted to the reception year in the September following their fourth birthday and the vast majority of pupils are educated within their normal chronological age group. Any request for admission outside of the child’s chronological year of entry will be considered in accordance with paragraphs 2.18-2.20 of the Schools Admissions Code 2021.
The school’s admission authority will consider requests on the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. This will include taking account of the parent’s views; information about the child’s academic, social and emotional development; where relevant, their medical history and the views of a medical professional; whether they have previously been educated out of their normal age group; and whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely. The Headteacher’s views will also be taken into account. Parents may, if they wish, provide supporting evidence from a professional (GP, Hospital consultant or social worker) to assist the admission authority in making its decision. If the request is approved, the application will then be considered in accordance with the school’s oversubscription criteria in the event of oversubscription.
Parents have a statutory right to appeal against the refusal of a place at the school but this right does not apply if they are offered a place at the school but it is not in their preferred age group.
Waiting List
Unsuccessful applicants (including any applications received after the closing date) will be included on the school’s waiting list ranked in order of priority under the published oversubscription criteria, without regard to the date that the application was received. Please note a child’s position on the waiting list can go down as well as up. For example, if a new application is received or if a child on the list moves nearer to the school, the waiting list will need to be revised. The offer of a place does not depend on the length of time your child’s name has been on the waiting list. Waiting lists will be held by the school for one school year after the year of entry.
To understand more about how the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames processes waiting lists, read more here.
Appeals
If your child has been refused a place at Deer Park School, you may appeal the decision of the admissions authority, which is the Bellevue Place Education Trust. You can only lodge an appeal within 20 days once you have received a letter or email refusing a place at the school.
If you are appealing for more than one child, or more than one school, a separate form must be completed for each. The form can be found on the Deer Park website and should be filled and sent to: Clerk to the Appeal Panel, Deer Park School, 389 Richmond Road, Twickenham, Richmond Upon Thames, TW1 2EF.
The school will publish an appeals timetable annually on its website showing the relevant deadlines.
In-Year Admissions
For in-year admissions, parents/carers must apply to the school on the In-Year Common Application Form. Applications will be considered in accordance with above oversubscription criteria. In the event that it is not possible to offer a place, the child will be added to the waiting list and the appeals procedures described above will apply. All school admissions details and information on how to apply is available on the AfC Information website.
[1] “The address should be where the parent and the child live. Where a child has two homes due to parental responsibility being shared, the address used will be the one where the child spends most of the School Week (i.e. Sunday to Thursday nights inclusive) as confirmed by written evidence from both parents/guardians. If the same, reference will be made to NHS registration address and any child care provision (nursery or childminder). If a false declaration of address is deemed to have been made, the offer of a place may be withdrawn, even after a child has started at the school.”