Summercroft Primary School Admission Arrangements  -  Proposed changes for 2023-2024

Being an Academy, the school decides its own admission arrangements. As the admissions process for the school is coordinated by Hertfordshire County Council, the school’s governors have decided that the admission arrangements should largely follow those which the council sets for the schools which it maintains.

The school has been using the council’s definition of Home address, which provides that if a child lives at two addresses equally then the address of the parent/carer who claims Child Benefit/Child Tax Credit will be considered to be the child’s main residence and that if two different applications are received for a child from the same address then the application from the parent in receipt of Child Benefit/Child Tax Credit will be processed.

The Office of the Schools Adjudicator has recently determined that it is not reasonable simply to use the address where Child Benefit is claimed in these cases. Having obtained legal advice, the council is proposing to use a new definition of Home address, which does not refer to Child Benefit, and the school is proposing to use this definition too. The school is required by law to consult on this for a minimum period of six weeks. The proposed wording of the new definition is:-

“The address given in the application must be the child’s current permanent address at the closing date for applications, permanent meaning that the child has lived at that address for at least a year. Where the child has not lived at the address for a year, the parent(s)/carer(s) must be able to demonstrate that they own the property or have a tenancy agreement for a minimum of twelve months and the child must be living in the property at the closing date for applications.

The application can only be processed using one address. If the child lives at more than one address, for example due to a separation, the address used will be the one where the child lives for the majority of the time. If the child lives at two addresses for an equal amount of time each, the parents/carers should make a joint application giving one address.

If the child’s current permanent address is disputed, parents/carers should provide court documentation showing the address that should be used for admission allocation purposes. If two applications are received with different addresses, neither will be processed until the address issue is resolved.

It is for the child’s home local authority to determine address. If two applications giving different addresses are received from the same local authority, it is for that local authority to determine the child’s current permanent address. If two applications are received from two different local authorities then the above process will be used.

If two different applications are received for the same child from the same address, for example containing different preferences, the parents/carers will be invited to submit a joint application or to provide court documentation showing the preferences that should be used for the admission allocation process. Until the issue is resolved, neither application will be processed.

For the application rounds, if one or both of the different applications was/were received “on-time” then a joint application will be considered “on-time” if it is received before the late deadline. If the joint application is received after the late deadline it will be treated as “late”. The late deadline is 1st February 2023 for primary applications. If this date changes then an amendment will be published on the council’s admissions web pages at the start of the 2023/24 application process in September 2022.”

The full text of the school’s proposed admission arrangements for 2023/24 can be viewed by clicking here or using the link below. If you wish to make comments on the proposed new definition of Home address for the school’s governors to consider then you should do so during the consultation period which runs from 1st November 2021 to 12th December 2021. Please either email them to admin@summercroft.herts.sch.uk or send or deliver them to The School Office, Summercroft Primary School, Plaw Hatch Close, Bishop’s Stortford, CM23 5BJ.

Michael Kirby

Chair of Governors