The Road to Learning 2008
Applying for a reception class place
What you need to do
- Collect information to help you decide which schools you prefer
- Visit the schools to see for yourself what they can offer
- Study the information which shows statistics from last year's applications for schools in Barking and Dagenham. This information should give you an idea of the chance that you have of getting a place at your preferred schools
- Fill in the Common application form (
PDF 155K) and rank the schools in the order you prefer. Do not forget to fill in any priest reference forms for any voluntary aided schools that ask you to do this - Apply online or send your common application form to us or your preferred school before the closing dates
- You must write to us to tell us if you want the place we have offered you or we will withdraw our offer and your child will not have a school place
What you need to know
If your child was born between 1 September 2003 and 31 August 2004 they are able to start full-time school from September 2008. If you want to apply for a reception place in a neighbouring borough, you must contact that authority for details about their application process. However, we suggest you also apply to us in case that authority cannot offer your child a place in their schools.
If you would like to apply for a place at an infant or primary school in Barking and Dagenham you will need to fill in the enclosed Common application form ( PDF 155K). If you do not have a copy of the common application form, you can get one by doing one of the following.
- Apply online
- Download a paper form ( PDF 155K) from our website
You will then need to list up to 3 Barking and Dagenham infant or primary schools on the common application form in the order you prefer. Once you have filled in your form, please send it to your preferred school or us by the relevant closing dates (see the full timetable).
If we receive more applications for a school than there are places available in that school (that is, the school is oversubscribed), we will use the admission criteria to decide which applications are successful. We explain the criteria for community schools in Barking and Dagenham and for our voluntary aided school in these web pages.
Before you apply, please make sure you read and understand these criteria and check how places were distributed at each school last year.
It is important that you rank the schools in the order you prefer. If we can then offer your child a place at 2 or more of the schools you have listed, we will give your child a place at the one you ranked the highest of these schools. If we cannot give your child a place at any of the schools you have applied for, we will give your child a place at the nearest school to your home which has a place available.
We will post this offer to you on Friday 4 April 2008. We cannot tell you about the results of your application over the telephone. If you have not received your letter by Wednesday 9 April 2008, please contact us for a copy. If you have applied online, you can find out the results of your application online on Friday 4 April 2008 - this is before you receive your letter.
What happens next?
You need to write to us to tell us if you want this place. We provide a reply form for you to fax, or send back to us. Otherwise you can email your acceptance quoting your child's name and date of birth. You can phone us 5 working days after posting your reply form to check that we have received it.
If you do not accept the place we offer you by the reply date Friday 25 April 2008, we will withdraw our offer. If we withdraw our offer, or you reject our offer, your child will not have a school place.
We strongly recommend that you accept the place we offer you, while you stay on the waiting list and or change your preferences and or appeal against our decision (or all of these things). This is because your child must be educated from the term after their fifth birthday. At this time, if they are still without a school place and you live in Barking and Dagenham, we will give your child a place at the nearest school with places available. This place may well be further from your home than the one we originally offered.
You have a right to appeal if we turn down your application and your preferred school is listed higher than the one we offered you. The appeal is organised by the admission authority for the school. If the school is a community school, the admission authority is Barking and Dagenham. If the school is a voluntary aided school, the governing body is the admissions authority.
If you decide to appeal for a place at a community school in Barking and Dagenham, fill in the appeal form which we will send with your results letter and return to the address printed on the front of the form. If you decide to appeal for a place at any of our voluntary aided schools, you must contact that school direct for an appeal form and the school's procedures.
Proof of address
We check addresses to prevent fraudulent applications. To do this, we need to check where you and your child are living. At your child's induction day, the school you have been given, will ask to see proof of your and your child's address.
They will need to see your 2008-2009 council tax bill or a copy of your tenancy agreement as well as a photocopy of your child benefit book or letter from the Benefits Agency for your 2008 claim.
Please check that the name and address of the child matches the information you give on your application form and on the child benefit book or letter from the Benefits Agency. Also, the guardian named on the application must be listed on the council tax bill or tenancy agreement.
Children in care
If your child is in the care of a local authority, you must also include a letter from the social worker confirming the legal status of the child and the local authority that the child is in the care of. The letter should also provide the reasons for the preferences of the schools you have listed.
How we offer places
The 2007 School Admissions Code says that schools are 'required to admit children with statements of special educational need where the school concerned is named on the statement'. As a result these children's applications are processed first and if the school has been named in their statement these places must be taken off from the school admission number for that year group.
The admission authority then issues the rest of the places using the admission criteria. For example, if the admission number for a school is 80 and 3 places have been given to children whose statements names that school, the other 77 places will be issued in line with the admission criteria.
How we use your preferences
We process all applications using the equal-preference model. We explain this below.
- We consider each of your preferences as if it were your only preference
- For each of your preferences, we use the admission criteria to see if we can offer your child a place
- If we can then offer your child a place at 2 or more of the schools you have listed, we will give your child a place at the one you ranked the highest of these schools
How we use the admission criteria
If there are more applications than there are places available at a school, the admissions authority will use their admission criteria to decide which applications to accept.
In Barking and Dagenham, the local authority is the admissions authority for community schools, see the criteria for these schools. The governing bodies are the admissions authority for our voluntary aided schools see their admission criteria.
Please make sure that you understand the admission criteria that the schools listed on your form will use. We provide the notes to explain particular points about the criteria they use.
