Determined Admissions Arrangements: 2024-2025
Opening
Danes Educational Trust, for Elstree Screen Arts Academy will admit up to the published admissions number for:
Year 10 - 100 students
Year 12 - 150 (50 external places)
Section 324 of the Education Act 1996 requires the governing bodies of all maintained schools to admit a child with an EHCP that names their school. All schools must also admit children with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) that names the school.
If there are fewer applications than places available, all applicants will be offered a place. If there are more applications than places available, the criteria outlined below will be used to allocate places.
Rule 1 Children looked after and children who were previously looked after, including those 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 or became subject to a child arrangements order or a special guardianship order.
Rule 2 Sibling: Children who have a sibling on the roll of the school at the time of application (up to Year 12). (Proof of the sibling relationship will be required if a place is offered).
In Year admissions: the sibling may be in the school’s final year as long as they will still be in attendance at the time of admission
Rule 3 Children of Teaching Staff: children of permanent teaching and non-teaching staff whose contract of employment (not a casual contract) names the school as their primary place of work where (a) the member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made, and/or (b) the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage. To be eligible under this rule children of teaching staff must live at the same address as the member of staff. This includes step-children.
Rule 4 Distance: Children who live nearest to the school with those closest being prioritised.
These rules are applied in the order they are printed above. If more children qualify under a particular rule than there are places available, a tiebreak will be used by applying the next rule to those children.
Applications
To apply for a place at the school, the application from can be found on the website:
https://esaacademy.org/application-form.
The closing date for applications is 31st January for entry in September. Applications received after this date will be treated as late applications. ESA does not deal with applications received after the deadline until all on time applications have been considered.
If a parent/carer has exceptional reasons for applying late, they will need to include the reasons and evidence when they apply. A panel will decide whether the application will be treated as late or on time.
31st January – deadline for applying on time.
28th February – last date to submit a written explanation of why the application was late, for the application to be agreed as on time.
Tie Break
Where there is a need for a tie-breaker where two different addresses measure the same distance from a school, in the case of a block of flats for example the lower door number will be deemed nearest as logically this will be on the ground floor and therefore closer. If there are two identical addresses of separate applicants, the tie break will be random allocation.
Elstree Screen Arts Academy will use independently verified random allocation as a tie-break.
Continuing Interest
After places have been offered, the school’s continuing interest (waiting) list will be maintained by Elstree Screen Arts Academy and will operate until the end of the Autumn Term. To retain a CI application after this time, parents must make an In Year application.
A child’s position on the CI list will be determined by the admission criteria outlined above and a child’s place on the list can change as other children join or leave it. The school, on behalf of the Trust, will contact parents/carers if a vacancy becomes available and it can be offered to a child.
In Year Admissions
Parents can make an online application via Hertfordshire County Council website www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/admissions or from the Customer Service Centre, 0300 123 4043 for a paper application form. Parents should return the application form direct to the County Council (address on the form). Elstree Screen Arts Academy will make the decision whether to offer a place.
Fair Access
The school participates in the county council’s Fair Access protocol and will admit children under this protocol before children on continuing interest. Under the Fair Access Protocol the school will also admit and over the Published Admission Number (PAN) if required.
Appeals
Parents wishing to appeal who applied through Hertfordshire’s online system should log in to their online application and click on the link “register an appeal”. Out of county residents and paper applicants should call the Customer Service Centre on 0300 123 4043 to request their registration details and log into www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/schoolappeals and click on the link “log into the appeals system”. The county council will write to you with the outcome of your application and if you have been unsuccessful, will include registration details to enable you to login and appeal online at www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/schoolappeals.
Appeals for in-year admissions
Appeals for in-year admissions The county council will write to you with the outcome of your application and if you have been unsuccessful, will include registration details to enable you to login and appeal online at www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/schoolappeals.
Post 16 provision
Elstree Screen Arts Academy has the capacity for 150 students for entry into Year 12, including a published admissions number of 50 for external applicants. If fewer than 100 of Elstree Screen Arts Academy’s own Year 11 students progress to Year 12, Elstree Screen Arts Academy will admit additional numbers of eligible external students up the capacity limit of 150.
Admission to the post 16 provision will be for any student who meets the minimum academic standards as set out in the Key Stage 5 section of the website: post 16 provision prospectus: https://esaacademy.org/apply.
In the event that there are more qualified external applicants who satisfy the published minimum entry requirements than places available, the oversubscription criteria on page 2 will apply.
Appeals for post 16 provision
If an application is refused, there is a statutory right of appeal. Further details of the appeal procedure will be provided with the letter explaining why the application has been refused, Appeals against non-admissions may be lodged by the parent or the student.
Students out of year group
Elstree Screen Arts Academy’s policy is for children to be educated within their correct chronological year group, with the curriculum differentiated as necessary to meet the needs of the individual child. This is in line with the DfE guidance which states ‘in general, children should be educated in their normal age group’. (‘Advice on the admission of summer born children’ December 2014).
If parents/carers believe their child(ren) should be educated in a different year group they should, at the time of application, submit supporting evidence from relevant professionals working with the child and family stating why the child must be placed outside their normal age cohort.
The Trust will decide whether the application will be accepted on the basis of the information submitted. The Trust’s decision will be based on the circumstances of each case and will include the view of the parents, the Headteacher, the child’s social, academic and emotional development and whether the child has previously been educated out of year group. There is no guarantee that an application will be accepted on this basis. If the application is not accepted, this does not constitute a refusal of a place and there is no right to an independent statutory appeal. Similarly, there is not right of appeal for a place in a specific year group at the school.
Summer born applications that are delayed for a year will be processed in exactly the same way as all other Year 10 or 12 applications received at that time.
Definitions and Explanatory Notes
The following definitions apply to terms used in the admissions criteria:
Rule 1: Children looked after and children who were previously looked after, including those 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 or became subject to a child arrangements order or a special guardianship order.
Places are allocated to children in public care according to Chapter 7, Section 2 of the School Admissions (Admission Arrangements and Co-ordination of Admission Arrangements) (England) Regulations 2012.
These children will be prioritised under rule 1.
Highest priority will also be given to children who were previously looked after, including those looked after outside England, but ceased to be so because they were adopted, or became subject to a child arrangement order or a special guardianship order.
A “child looked after” is a child who is:
in the care of a local authority, or
being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (section 22(1) of The Children Act 1989)
All children adopted from care who are of compulsory school age are eligible for admission under rule 1.
Children in the process of being placed for adoption are classified by law as children looked after providing there is a Placement Order and the application would be prioritised under Rule 1.
Children who were not “looked after” immediately before being adopted or made the subject of a child arrangement order or special guardianship order, will not be prioritised under rule 1. Applications made for these children, with suitable supporting professional evidence, can be considered under rule 2.
Definition of sibling:
A sibling is defined as: the sister, brother, half brother or sister, adopted brother or sister, child of the parent/carer or partner or a child looked after or previously looked after*. An applicant who is related as a step-sibling to a pupil by the inter-marriage of one of each of their parents prior to application date. In every case living permanently** in a placement within the home as part of the family household from Monday to Friday at the time of this application.
A sibling must be on the roll of the named school at the time the younger child starts. 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.
*Children previously looked after are those children adopted or with a special guardianship order or child arrangements order. This definition was amended following a determination by the OSA in August 2014.
**A sibling link will not be recognised for children living temporarily in the same house, for example a child who usually lives with one parent but has temporarily moved or a looked after child in a respite placement or very short term or bridging foster placement.
Multiple births:
The school will admit over the school’s published admission number when a single twin/multiple birth child is allocated a place at a school.
Home address:
The address provided must be the child’s current permanent address at the time of application.
‘At the time of application’ means the closing date for applications.
‘Permanent’ means that the child has lived at that address for at least a year
Where a family has not lived at an address for a year, they must be able to demonstrate that they own the property or have a tenancy agreement for a minimum of 12 months and the child must be resident in the property at the time of application. If , because of the nature of the agreement, it is not possible to provide a 12-month tenancy agreement, alternative proof of address will be requested and verified as necessary with the Shared Anti-Fraud Service.
The application can only be processed using one address. If a child lives at more than one address (for example due to a separation) the address used will be the one which the child lives at for the majority of the time. If a child lives at two addresses equally, parents/carers should make a single joint application naming one address
If a child’s permanent residence is disputed, parents/carers should provide court documentation to evidence the address that should be used for admission allocation purposes. If two applications are received, with different addresses and/or different preferences, neither will be processed until the address issue is reconciled.
It is for a child’s home Local Authority to determine the address. If two applications, with different addresses are received from the same Local Authority, it will be for that Local Authority to determine the permanent address. If two applications are received from two different Local Authorities, the above process will be used.
If two different applications are received for the same child from the same address, e.g., containing different preferences, parents/carers will be invited to submit a joint application or provide court documentation to evidence the preferences that should be used for the admission process. Until the preference issue is reconciled neither application will be processed.
For the transfer application rounds, if the initial differing applications (one or both) were received “on-time”, an amended joint application will also be considered “on-time” if received before the “late deadline”. If the amended joint application is received after the late date, it will be treated as “late”. The late deadlines for the 2024/25 transfer application process are 2nd December 2023 for secondary and upper applications and 1st February 2024 for reception, junior and middle applications. If these dates change, amendments will be published on the admissions web pages at the start of the 2024/25 application process in September 2023.
Fraudulent applications:
The school, in liaison with Hertfordshire County Council, will do as much as possible to prevent applications being made from fraudulent addresses, including referring cases to the Shared Anti-Fraud service for further investigation as necessary.
Address evidence is frequently requested, monitored and checked and school places will be withdrawn when false information is deliberately provided. Action will be taken in the following circumstances:
When a child’s application address does not match the address of that child at their current school;
When a child lives at a different address to the applicant
When the applicant does not have parental responsibility
When a family move shortly after the closing date of applications when one or more of the following applies:
The family has moved to a property from which their application was less likely to be successful
The family has returned to an existing property
The family lived in rented accommodation for a short period of time (anything less than a year) over the application period
Official/public records show an alternative address at the time of application.
When a child starts at the allocated school and their address is different from the address used at the time of the application. Parents/carers will need to show that they have relinquished residency ties with the previous property and they, and their child(ren) are permanently residing at the address given on the application form.
Home to school distance measurement for purposes of admissions:
A ‘straight line’ distance measurement is used for all home to school distance measurements for admission allocation purposes. Distances are measured using a computerised mapping system to two decimal places. The measurement is taken from the AddressBase Premium address point of your child’s house to the address point of the school. AddressBase Premium data is a nationally recognised method of identifying the location of schools and individual residences.
Definition of “nearest school”
The definition of “nearest school” under Rule 5 includes all schools and academies (regardless of status) unless that school prioritises applications and allocates places on the basis of faith.
Applications from children* from Overseas
All children of compulsory school age (5 to 16 years) in England have a right of access to education. However, where a child is in England for a short period only, for example less than half a term, it may be reasonable to refuse admission to a school.
*Children who hold full British Citizen passports (not British Dependent Territories or British Overseas passports), or have a UK passport describing them as a British citizen or British subject with the right of abode or are European Economic Area nationals normally have unrestricted entry to the UK.*
An application for a school place will only be accepted for such children currently overseas if, for In Year applications, proof is provided that the child will be resident in Hertfordshire within two weeks. In Year allocations are made on the assumption that the child will accept the school place and be on roll within that timescale.
For the Primary application process applications will not normally be accepted from, nor places allocated to, an overseas address. The exception to this (for both In Year and transfer processes) is for children of UK service personnel and crown servants (and from military families who are residents of countries with a Memorandum of Understanding with the UK). In these cases HCC will allocate a place in advance of the family arriving in the area provided the application is accompanied by an official letter that declares a relocation date and a HCC Unit postal address or quartering area address, for consideration of the application against oversubscription criteria.
Applications will also be considered, and places offered in advance for these families, if the application is accompanied by an official letter that declares a relocation date but does not provide a quartering or unit address because the family will be residing in private accommodation. In these cases, if the family does not already have a permanent address and/or permanently reside in Hertfordshire, the military base or alternative ‘work’ address in Hertfordshire will be used for allocation purposes. If the family already has an established alternative private address, that address will be used for admission purposes.
The schools, in liaison with HCC, will also consider accepting applications from children* (as defined above) whose family can evidence intent to return to and/or permanently reside in Hertfordshire prior to the start of the new academic year. These applications, if accepted, will be processed from the overseas address until sufficient evidence is received to show the child is permanently resident in Hertfordshire. Evidence must be submitted at the time of application.
Evidence submitted after the date for late applications cannot be taken into account before National Allocation Day. Decisions on these applications will be made by a panel of senior officers and communicated with parents within 6 weeks of the closing date for applications.
If an applicant owns a property in Hertfordshire but is not living in it, perhaps because they are working abroad at the time of application, the Hertfordshire address will not be accepted for the purposes of admission until the child is resident at that address.
Other children, than those mentioned above, from overseas do not generally have automatic right of entry to the UK. An application for a school place will not therefore be accepted until they are permanently resident in Hertfordshire. Proof of residency such as an endorsed passport or entry visa will be required with the application, in addition to proof of Hertfordshire address, for example a council tax bill or 12 month rental agreement.