Co-ordinated Secondary Admission Arrangements 2009
All local authorities are required by regulations in the School Standards and Framework Act 1988 to have co-ordinated admissions for all schools within its area for each academic year.
Co-ordination establishes a mechanism that ensures that, as far as practical, every child living in a local authority area who has applied in the normal admissions round receives one and only one offer of a school place on the same day.
The Local Authority co-ordinates the admission arrangements for all schools within Darlington Borough.
This includes receiving all the application forms and, on behalf of governors of Foundation, Academy and Voluntary Aided schools as well as for Community schools, then writing to parents/carers informing them which school place has been allocated.
Pupils Transferring to Secondary School in September 2009
Children who were born between 1st September 1997 and 31st August 1998 will transfer to secondary school in September 2009. If your child falls into this age group and presently attends a primary school in Darlington Borough, in the week beginning 8th September 2008 your child will receive a SSA (secondary school application) asking the parent/carer to express a preference(s) for a particular school(s). The form provided for your reply should be returned to your child’s present school by 24th October 2008. Forms received after 24th October 2008 (late applications) will only be considered in exceptional circumstances e.g. families who have moved into the area after the closing date. These applications will be considered up to and including Friday 16th January 2009.
Where a family intends to move into the Borough, a request for a school place based on the new address cannot be considered until a letter is provided from a licensed conveyancer or solicitor confirming exchange of contracts.
All other applications will only be considered once the process for allocating places has been applied to those applications received by the deadline. Where a SSA has not been received by 1st March 2009, Darlington Borough Council will offer a place at the nearest school to the child’s home address with available places.
Whilst every effort will be made to ensure that your preferences are met, the Authority will, in any event offer your child a place on 1st March 2009. You are required to reply to the offer within 7 working days from the date of the offer letter, otherwise the Authority will look to withdraw the offer of the place.
Any enquiries about secondary school admissions should be made to the Admissions Section, Children’s Services, Town Hall, Darlington DL1 5QT, Telephone (01325) 388027 or 388812.
Please remember to return your parental preference form by 24th October 2008.
Pupils not living in the Borough of Darlington but attending a Primary School in Darlington Borough
If your child is due to transfer to secondary school in September 2009 and you wish your child to attend a Darlington secondary school you should contact your Home Authority by 24th October 2008 giving details of your address, the name and date of birth of your child and school currently attending they will then forward that information onto us.
The adjoining Local Authorities to this area are listed in the secondary brochure 2009/10.
Expressing your preference of School
The law allows parents/carers to express a preference for the school(s) they wish their child to attend. However, where a school is popular and oversubscribed, some parents/carers will inevitably be disappointed as priority for admission must be given to those applicants with the strongest claim under the published admissions arrangements (see secondary brochure 2009/10). The SSA you receive from the Authority will provide space for you to state your preferred school(s) and indicate your reasons for such. All preferences and the reasons for them will be considered. However this Authority has a policy of NOT selecting pupils by aptitude for any of its secondary schools and therefore does not allocate places according to a schools specialism. The only criteria used to allocate places are those published in the secondary brochure 2009/10.
Before you make your final decision you should find out which school(s) you prefer, visit the schools and meet the Head Teacher, staff and children. Each school also produces a prospectus and has an open evening. The prospectus includes information about the school and details about the curriculum, attendance and admissions arrangements to help you decide which school is right for your child. You can also find reports about schools on the website of the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) at: www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports and annual school performance tables can be found at www.dcsf.gov.uk/performancetables.
The Head Teacher cannot offer your child a place or guarantee that a place will be available at the school.