Oversubscription criteria
When the school is oversubscribed, after the admission of pupils with an Education, Health and Care plan or Statement of Special Educational Needs naming the school, priority for admission will be given to those children who meet the criteria set out below, in priority order:
1 Children in Care/Looked After Children
Children who are looked after by a local authority or were previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, 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 the exercise of their social services functions [see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989).
2 Social Medical
Children who the authority accepts have an exceptional medical or social need for a place at Alexandra Park Secondary School. Applications will only be considered under this category if they are supported by a written statement from a doctor, social worker or other relevant independent professional. The information must confirm the exceptional medical or social need and demonstrate how Alexandra Park is the only school that can meet the defined needs of the child.
3 Brother or Sister
Children with a brother or sister already attending the school in year 7 – 11 and who will still be attending on the date of application. This category includes foster brothers and sisters, half brothers and sisters, stepbrothers and sisters or adopted brothers and sisters. Parents should note that in all these cases, the brother or sister must be living at the same address as the child for whom the application is made.
4 Children of members of staff
A staff member is defined as a person who has a permanent contact of employment with the Governing Body of the school at the time of application and qualifies in the following circumstances:
- The child for whom application is being made is living at the same address as the staff member; and either
- the member of staff is recruited to a post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage; or
- the member of staff has been employed by the school for three or more years at the time the application for admission is made.
The upper limit on the number of children of staff to be admitted in any one academic year is 16. The tiebreak for the admission of children of staff will be the length of time the member of staff has worked at the school.
5 Distance
Children living closest to the preferred school.
Tie breakers
The tie breaker for criteria other than the children of staff is: children living closest to the school measured in a straight line from the Ordnance Survey address point for the child’s home to the Ordnance Survey address point of the school, calculated using a computerized mapping system. The tiebreak for two or more applications that live exactly the same distance from the school will be random allocation using a computerized system.
Multiple births
If only one place is available at the school and the next child who qualifies for a place is one of multiple birth, the school will go over the published admission number.
Waiting list
Parent/carers can request that their child be added to the waiting list following an unsuccessful application. The waiting list is maintained by the local authority and is ordered strictly in accordance with the above oversubscription criteria.
Waiting list positions can change at any time depending on other applicants’ circumstances and it is important to note that a child’s position may go down as well as up if other applicants join the waiting list. Being on the waiting list does not guarantee a place at the school.
Oversubscription criteria
When the school is oversubscribed, after the admission of pupils with an Education, Health and Care plan or Statement of Special Educational Needs naming the school, priority for admission will be given to those children who meet the criteria set out below, in priority order:
1 Children in Care/Looked After Children
Children who are looked after by a local authority or were previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, 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 the exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989).
2 Social Medical
Children who the authority accepts have an exceptional medical or social need for a place at Alexandra Park Secondary School. Applications will only be considered under this category if they are supported by a written statement from a doctor, social worker or other relevant independent professional. The information must confirm the exceptional medical or social need and demonstrate how Alexandra Park is the only school that can meet the defined needs of the child.
3 Brother or Sister
Children with a brother or sister already attending the school in year 7 – 11 and who will still be attending on the date of application. This category includes foster brothers and sisters, half brothers and sisters, stepbrothers and sisters or adopted brothers and sisters. Parents should note that in all these cases, the brother or sister must be living at the same address as the child for whom the application is made.
If a place is obtained for an older child using fraudulent information, there will be no sibling connection available to subsequent children from that family.
4 Children of members of staff
A staff member is defined as a person who has a permanent contact of employment with the Governing Body of the school at the time of application and qualifies in the following circumstances:
- The child for whom application is being made is living at the same address as the staff member; and either
- the member of staff is recruited to a post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage; or
- the member of staff has been employed by the school for three or more years at the time the application for admission is made.
The upper limit on the number of children of staff to be admitted in any one academic year is 16. The tiebreak for the admission of children of staff will be the length of time the member of staff has worked at the school.
5 Distance
Children living closest to the preferred school.
Tie breakers
The tie breaker for criteria other than the children of staff is: children living closest to the school measured in a straight line from the Ordnance Survey address point for the child’s home to the Ordnance Survey address point of the school, calculated using a computerized mapping system. The tiebreak for two or more applications that live exactly the same distance from the school will be random allocation using a computerized system.
Multiple births
If only one place is available at the school and the next child who qualifies for a place is one of multiple birth, the school will go over the published admission number.
Waiting list
Parent/carers can request that their child be added to the waiting list following an unsuccessful application. The waiting list is maintained by the local authority and is ordered strictly in accordance with the above oversubscription criteria.
Waiting list positions can change at any time depending on other applicants’ circumstances and it is important to note that a child’s position may go down as well as up if other applicants join the waiting list. Being on the waiting list does not guarantee a place at the school.
Misleading or false information
Under the Trust’s oversubscription criteria, places may be allocated on the basis of the proximity of the child’s permanent home address to the school. The Board of Trustees are concerned that on some occasions the permanent home address given by some applicants may not be genuine, but rather an address of convenience, given for the specific purpose of securing a place at the school. The Board of Trustees wants to ensure that applicants who provide an address of convenience or misleading or fraudulent information do not deprive other children of a rightful place at Alexandra Park School.
An address of convenience is considered to be an address used by a parent/carer solely or mainly in order to gain an advantage in accessing a school place for a child where the address used is not the child’s only or main residence.
We take any attempt to obtain a school place through fraudulent means very seriously. If the Board of Trustees becomes aware that a place was secured for a child at the school on the basis of an address of convenience or misleading or false information, it reserves the right, within the terms of the School Admissions Code, to withdraw the offer of a place or, if the child has already started at the school, to remove the child from the school roll.
We consider that every school place obtained by deception is unfair, as other children are being deliberately denied their legitimate claim to take up that place. We work collaboratively with Haringey Council to carry out rigorous checks to ensure that applications are not fraudulent. We carry out random checks on a number of applications and we reserve the right to carry out home visits to the address used on your application form.
The Board of Trustees will refer the suspected use of an address of convenience to Haringey Local Authority for consideration under the Haringey Address of Convenience Protocol, available online at www.haringey.gov.uk/fraudulent-applications.