Casual Admissions (in year transfers)
Casual Admissions are those that occur outside the normal admission round for the admission of children to school. It is normally expected that when children enter their reception year or transfer at age 11 to secondary school they will continue at their school throughout their school career. However there will be limited circumstances where a parent or carer considers a transfer request to be appropriate. Continuity of education is important for a child and so a change of placement should always be considered carefully by parents and carers and not undertaken hastily. Not all schools offer the same combination of subjects or syllabuses and a move at such an important time and any move should be carefully considered.
Often casual admission requests occur due to families moving to a new address. Year groups in some schools maybe full and therefore may not have places available when you move house or decide to transfer your child from one school to another. Unfortunately we cannot hold places back for parents who decide in the future to move into the catchment area of their chosen school. We apply the same admission policy for casual admissions as for the normal admission round. Admission to Gateshead schools is dependant on the availability of places in the appropriate year group at the time of application.
If you want to arrange a transfer between schools maintained by us, you will need to complete an application form (In-Year transfer form) for this purpose. You can approach the chosen school direct to see if it is suitable. However you must still complete a transfer form which is available from Pupil and Parent Services at the Dryden Centre, Tel: 0191 433 8589. The form asks parents to indicate their preferred schools and the school they are proposing to leave. We usually expect you to have discussed your plans for a school transfer with the Head Teacher of your child's current school. If there is a place available then the admission date will be determined by the receiving Head Teacher and we will write to you to let you know this.
Please note that applications lodged in the last 2 weeks of the school term may not necessarily be resolved in time for the start of a new term. It is unwise to withdraw a child from one school before admission to another has been agreed. It is expected therefore that your child will continue to attend their current school during the application process.
If we refuse you a place at a community school we will let you know where there are places available at alternative schools and we will also offer you the right of appeal. Community Schools appeal forms are available from Pupil and Parent Services at the Dryden Centre on 0191 433 8589.
A completed appeal form should be returned to:
Legal and Corporate Services
Civic Centre
Regent Street
Gateshead Council
NE8 1HH
Legal and Corporate Services will acknowledge receipt of your form. Your appeal will be heard within 30 school days following the date of receipt. Vacant places sometimes arise before the date of the appeal hearing. Where this happens, the school will allocate vacant places to pupils on the waiting list using the admission criteria. Application, In-Year transfer forms and appeal forms in respect of applications to Voluntary Aided Schools, such as Roman Catholic Schools, are available directly from the respective school not Gateshead Council.
Where year groups in Community Schools are oversubscribed then each school will maintain a waiting list for the relevant year group and any future vacancies may be allocated using the school waiting list. To have your child's name placed on the waiting list you must write to the Head Teacher of your chosen school directly and ask for your child to be placed on the waiting list for the appropriate year group.
If your child has a Statement of Special Educational Needs you should contact staff within Pupil and Parent Services on telephone number 0191 433 8589 who will advise you with regard to the admission process for your child's admission to a new school.
If your child requires language support we will discuss this with officers from the Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service.
If your child has been permanently excluded from a school then contact the Exclusion Officer on tel. 0191 433 8591.
Fair Access Protocols
The Admissions Code requires each authority to agree and operate a Fair Access Protocol. This is a local agreement amongst all schools and operates outside the normal admission round. The aim is to ensure children without school places and in particular vulnerable children, looked-after children, children with challenging behaviour or those who have been permanently excluded and children who have been out of school for considerable periods of time due to illness or perhaps because they have moved into the area are offered a place at a suitable school as quickly as possible. In certain circumstances the protocol permits a child to join a school that is already full.
Pupils with Challenging Behaviour
It is normally unacceptable for schools to refuse to admit a child on the basis of their behaviour elsewhere. If a pupil, once admitted, is found to be seriously disruptive then the school may consider disciplinary action, including exclusion procedures. Exceptionally, outside the normal year of entry, an admission authority for certain schools may decide to refuse to admit a challenging child where there are places available, on the ground that admission would prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources. This will normally be only where a school has a particularly high concentration of pupils with challenging behaviour, or the child is particularly challenging, and in other cases the school:
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is under special measures or has recently come out of them (within the last two years);
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has been identified by Ofsted as having serious weaknesses or is subject to a formal warning;
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is subject to a formal warning notice;
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is a Fresh Start school or Academy open for less than 2 years; or
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is a Secondary School where less than 30% of children are achieving 5 or more GCSEs at grade A*-C, or a primary school where fewer than 65% of pupils achieve level 4 or above at Key Stage 2 in both English and mathematics for four or more consecutive years.