Bellemoor School | Southampton

Number on Roll - 729

Admissions Process Southampton City Council is the admissions authority for all Community Secondary schools.

First preference:
If the number of first preference applications received by the closing date is greater than the published admission limit, admissions will be decided on according to the following priorities:

1. Children with statements of special educational needs that name the school.
   
2. Children in public care (looked after children).
   
3. Children who live within the schools designated catchment area. If the school is oversubscribed from within the catchment area, priorities 4 (i) to (v), as set out below, will be used.
   
4. Children who live outside the schools designated catchment area, in the following order:

(i) children whose parents have named a particular school because the child has a significant medical or psychological condition which means they must attend the preferred school rather than any other. Applications must be supported by appropriate written evidence from a doctor or psychologist.

(ii) children who have a brother or sister already on the roll of the school who will continue to attend that school during the following year. (This includes children who live as siblings in the same family unit.)

(iii) children who live in the catchment area of a co-educational school whose parents have specifically stated their  reference for a single sex school;

(iv) children attending a designated catchment junior or primary school, namely Foundry Lane Primary School,  Hollybrook Junior and Shirley Junior and St Marks Junior Schools.

(v) children who live closest to the school based on the shortest practicable walking distance using public roads and footpaths. Distances are measured from home to school for in-catchment children and from either home to school or home to the designated catchment area boundary for out-catchment children, as laid out in the individual schools admissions policy. Should the school be oversubscribed from within any of the criteria 4(i) to 4(iv) above, then distance, as given in 4(v), must be used to prioritise applications.

Second preference:

If the school has places available after admitting all on-time first preference applications, any on-time second preference applications will be considered in accordance with the priorities set out within this document.

Third preference:

If the school has places available after admitting all on-time first and second preference application, any on-time third preference applications will be considered in accordance with the priorities set out above.

Late applications:

If the school has places available after admitting all on-time applications, late applications will be considered in  accordance with the priorities set out above. Late first preference applications will be considered first followed by late second preference applications and then late third preference applications. If parents apply after the closing date for applications has passed, for example because they have recently moved into the area, a place will be offered if one is available in the childs particular year group. The place will be offered in accordance with the priorities of the published admission criteria.

Unplaced children:

Any child who remains unplaced after all of their preferences have been processed, either because they failed to get into any school requested or they did not complete a form, will be allocated a place at their catchment school, if places are still available. If there are no places available at their catchment school, they will be allocated a place at the nearest school with places available to their home address. Distance to the home address will be measured by public roads and footpaths.

Waiting lists

If the school is unable to offer a child a place, parents can request that their childs name be placed on a waiting list. If places become available,  children on the waiting list will be offered them according to the priorities set out in the admission policy. The length of time on the waiting list cannot be taken into account. The waiting list will be structured as follows:

On-time applications - the waiting list will be divided into three categories, prioritised according to the admissions policy:

• 1st preferences
• 2nd preferences
• 3rd preferences

Late applications

Late applications will be treated in the same way as unsuccessful on-time applications and placed on the waiting list according to preference and the priorities of the admissions policy. Waiting lists will be maintained by the Admissions officer at Southampton City Council. Separate 1st, 2nd and 3rd preference waiting lists will be held until 31st August when they will then be consolidated into one list prioritised according to the admissions policy without taking preference into consideration. At this point the waiting list will be passed to the schools concerned for future maintenance.