St. Mary’s Bryanston Square School:

Admissions Policy 2011-2012

INFORMATION ABOUT PRIMARY SCHOOL ADMISSIONS: 2011/2012

Admission Arrangements

 St Mary’s is a Church of England Voluntary Aided School and we participate in the Westminster scheme for coordinated admission arrangements. Applicants to St Mary’s must complete the Westminster Common Application Form. The school also has a supplementary form that needs to be completed in addition to the Westminster Common Application Form. All forms are available from the school office.

 Families are encouraged to visit the school (this is not part of the admissions process) and the school administrative officer will be able to answer your questions about the school.  

• As well as providing you with a supplementary form we will:

• put your name and address on our mailing list.

• give you a copy of our school brochure which includes our Admissions Policy.

• answer any questions about how to apply.

• ask you if you would like to be invited to an open afternoon when you would have an opportunity to look round and ask questions before applying.

 In January, before the school year in which your child will be five years old, you will receive your supplementary form. The Local authority Common Application Form is also available either from the school or by contacting the School Admissions Team (020-7641-1817).

 The closing date for applications is 1^st March 2011.

 We are allowed to admit 30 children each year but we often have more applicants than places. You may, therefore, wish to apply to other schools in the neighbourhood as well as St. Mary’s.

 Children are admitted to the Primary Schoo1 reception class in September.

Places in Reception class will be offered on 10^th May 2010. If you are offered a place, which you accept, you will be invited to come with your child to spend an afternoon with us shortly before he or she starts school.

ADMISSIONS CRITERIA: 2011/2012

 There are 30 places available for our Reception class. Should there be more applications than places, places will be offered in the following order of priority:

1.  Children in care (looked after by a Local Authority).

2.  Baptised⁽¹⁾   children living with parent(s)⁽²⁾  who are resident⁽¹⁾  in the combined parish of St. Mary’s Bryanston Square and St. Mark’s, Old Marylebone Road and whose parents   are practising⁽³⁾ members of one of those churches.

3.  Children living with parent(s) who are resident in the combined parish of St. Mary’s Bryanston Square and St. Mark’s, Old Marylebone Road and whose parents are practising members of a Christian⁽⁴⁾ Church

4.  Other children living in the combined parish of St. Mary’s Bryanston Square and St. Mark’s, Old Marylebone Road.

5.   Children living with parents who are resident in, and practising members of a Christian church within, the local area⁽⁵⁾ (the local area is defined below).

6.  Other children living with parent(s) in the local area, with preference being given to siblings of pupils who are already in the school (who will still be in the school on the younger sibling’s starting date) who have not been offered a place under criteria 2 to 5.

7.   If there are remaining places these will be offered to children living outside the local area and decided on distance from the school (as measured by the shortest walking distance from the main school entrance).

 In exceptional circumstances a child may be admitted by the governors following consultation and where there are exceptional medical or social reasons and provided that they are satisfied that there is a medical/social need for that child’s admission. Letters from appropriate professionals would be needed to support such an application detailing how the school can meet their needs and how they would suffer detriment if they went to another school.

 In the event of equal qualification the place will be offered to the child who lives nearest to the school as measured by the shortest walking distance from the main school entrance.

 Footnotes

⁽¹⁾ Confirmation of residence and/or baptism (if appropriate) is required.

⁽²⁾ This includes those having parental responsibility as defined by the

Children’s Act 1989.

⁽³⁾ For the purposes of Admission, the Governors deem “practising” to mean, on average, at least twice monthly attendance at Church for at least a full year.

⁽⁴⁾ For the purposes of Admission, the Governors deem “Christian” to mean membership of churches recognised by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland or the Evangelical Alliance.

Information provided by applicants about Church membership will be verified by contact with the churches concerned.

 ⁽⁵⁾       The local area is defined as: 

The eastern boundary consists of a line running through:

Hollies Street, western side of Cavendish Square, Harley Street and Brunswick Place.

south/south-west of The Outer Circle/Cornwall Terrace, Hanover Gate, part of Park Road, Wellington Road to the junction with Circus Road.

 The northern boundary consists of a line running through:

Circus Road (west of Wellington Road), Hall Road and Sutherland Avenue.

 The western boundary consists of a line running through:

Warrington Crescent, Warwick Avenue, crossing the Harrow Road to part of North Wharf Road, beside Paddington Station (London Street), Sussex Place, along Stanhope Terrace and Brook Street.

 The southern boundary consists of a line running through:

Bayswater Road (east of the junction with Brook Street), Marble Arch and Oxford Street to its junction with Hollies Street.

 A map is available from the school

APPEALS AND WAITING LIST PROCEDURES

The decision to admit or to refuse to admit a particular child is the responsibility of the Governing body.

 Parents of children who have been refused admission to the school have the right of appeal to an Independent Appeals Panel which has been set up for the purpose.  The procedures to be followed are the Local Authority procedures. 

 Unsuccessful applicants will be added to the school's waiting list.  Any places that subsequently arise will be offered to children on the waiting list strictly in accordance with the oversubscription criteria described above.

 Parents of children who have been refused admission may obtain a copy of the procedures from the school office.

 CASUAL ADMISSIONS 

Casual admissions are those which take place at times other than normal admission to the Nursery or Reception class.  If there are no children waiting for places, admission will be on a first-come, first-served basis.  Where we have more applicants than vacancies, admissions will be made from the waiting list in accordance with our admissions criteria.

 Unsuccessful applicants can choose to be placed on our waiting list; however parents are advised that the length of timon the waiting list does not determine admissions decisions.  Our waiting list is reviewed and updated regularly

This policy will be reviewed annually in November