If you would like your child to attend our school, please see full details of our enrolment and admissions below.

Enrolment

Enrolment in a new school is a simple and quick process. When parents decide to move their child, we ask them to let their current school know. This will ensure that a child doesn't go missing and the current school will also be prompted to send the pupil information electronically.

When you enroll your child into our school we will ask you to fill out the forms below so we can update the information on our system. 

Admissions

Admissions Policy 2024/2025  

Admission procedures for children entering Reception and Years 1 to 6.  

The Governors of Borrowdale Church of England (VA) Primary School are the Admissions Authority for the school.  Following consultation with the Diocesan Board of Education and the Local Authority the Governors have set the published admission number (PAN) for access to the reception class as 7. 

The parental pack contains information and an application form for admission to our school.   Applications for a place at the school should be made on the Local Authority Common Application Form or online and returned to the school or the Local Authority by the closing date of 15 January 2024. 

An application for entry in September 2024 must be made by the closing date which is the 15th January 2024.   

Parents are encouraged to name three schools in order of preference on the application form.  Places will be allocated according to this admissions policy and the Local Authority’s Coordinated Admissions Scheme.  A letter or email informing parents of their allocated school will be sent by the Local Authority.  Parents not offered a place at their preferred schools will be informed of the reason, offered the right of appeal against this decision and allocated an alternative school by the Local Authority. 

All children will be admitted unless there are more applicants than places, in which case applications will be ranked using the following criteria.  These are listed in order of priority.

1. Children who are in Public Care or who have been adopted but were formerly in Public Care. This also includes children who were previously in Public Care outside of England. A child in public care is defined as a child who is looked after by the Local Authority within the meaning of section 22 of the Children’s Act 1989.

2. Children who have physical and/or medical needs who would be disadvantaged by travelling to another school. Written evidence from an appropriate professional would be required for the Governors to consider admission in this category.

3. Children living within the catchment area having a brother or sister attending our school at the time of their admission giving priority, if necessary, to those children with the youngest siblings.  Brothers and sisters are those living at the same address including step, adopted and foster children.

4. Children living within the catchment area.

5. Children living outside the catchment area having brothers and sisters attending our School at the time of their admission giving priority, if necessary, to those children with the youngest siblings.  Brothers and sisters are those living at the same address including step, adopted and foster children.

6. Children living outside the catchment area. 

The catchment area of the school is determined by the Borrowdale Parish boundaries. A map of these boundaries can be found in school. 

The criteria outlined above will be strictly followed there being one exception.  If a child has a Education, Health and Care Plan naming Borrowdale Church of England Aided Primary School then irrespective of the criteria the child will be admitted as in these circumstances the Governors have a statutory duty to admit the child concerned.  

Tie Break

In categories where there are more applicants than places available, distance will be the determining factor except in categories 2 and 5 where age is specified as the determining factor. The distance is measured from the child’s home front door to the main entrance door of the school. The distance is determined by the shortest walking route by road. The Governors will use the Local Authority School Admissions Department’s measuring system to ensure consistency of measurement. The closest addresses will have priority.  

Address of Pupil

The address on the application form must be the current one at the time of application.  Where a child can live at more than one address the home address is to be the one where the child sleeps and thus wakes up for all or the majority of the school week.  Where there is any doubt the governors reserve the right to verify the information provided by the parent(s), for example, through the GP or the child benefit address. 

In Year Admissions

In year admissions are those which occur outside the “normal” admission time.  If you wish your child to attend Borrowdale Church of England Primary School we would advise that you visit our school, and admission details will be provided if we have a vacancy in the relevant year.  If your child is refused a place you will be informed of your right to appeal.

In determining whether there is a vacancy the school will seek to ensure that the number in each year does not exceed 7 or the total number of pupils in each class (normally two year groups taught together) does not exceed 14. 

Fraudulent applications

If the Governors of Borrowdale Church of England Primary School discover that a child has been awarded a place as a result of an intentionally misleading application from a parent, for example, an incorrect address and as a result it effectively denies a place to a child with a stronger claim then the Governors will withdraw the offer of a place.  The Governors will reconsider the application and the right of appeal offered if a place is refused. 

Deferred admission

For children beginning School following their fourth birthday admission is normally in September.  However, if you wish entry can be deferred until later in the year or until the term in which your child reaches compulsory school age.  For example if your child’s fifth birthday is between September and December then, if you wish, admission may be deferred until the beginning of the Spring Term.   If it is between January and April admission may be deferred until the beginning of the Summer Term. You can also request part time education until the term in which your child reaches compulsory school age. The Governors recommended that in your child’s interests full time education is deferred no later than the start of the Spring Term. 

Summer-born children (children born between 1 April and 31 August) do not attain compulsory school age until the September after they would normally start school in Reception.  In line with government recommendation, the Governing Body as the admission authority for voluntary aided schools will admit these children into a Reception class a year later than usual at their parents’ or carers request.  These children will remain eligible for their full entitlement to schooling, and will subsequently transfer to junior (where applicable) and secondary school with other children in the year group in which they have been educated, rather than with their ‘chronological cohort’.

Where a summer-born child is allocated, and takes up a September Reception place, in the normal year of admission (i.e. the beginning of the academic year in which they turn 5) then subsequently attends school beyond the end of the autumn term of the admission year, an application for a Reception place the following September will not be considered as a ‘summer-born’ application. In this situation the child has already commenced school and any request to be admitted out of the normal year group will be considered on its individual merits.

Other requests, for early or delayed transfer to secondary school, for example, will be considered on their individual merits.  Unlike delayed entry for summer-born children, others have no automatic right to education outside of their chronological age group, although there is no legal bar to this.

Parents or carers seeking early transfer should submit their request to school admissions by 30 September for secondary applications, and by 31 October for primary applications in the year before that in which they would usually apply.  This will allow time for the application to be considered prior to the closing date for applications.  Parents or carers will still need to submit preferences by the appropriate closing date.

Parents or carers seeking delayed entry/transfer should submit their request by the same dates in the year in which they would apply if their child was transferring at the usual age.  This will allow consideration of the request prior to the closing date for preferences to be submitted, allowing parents or carers sufficient time to submit preferences in the event their request is denied.

Appeals Procedure

If the Governors are unable to offer your child a place because of over subscription you as a parent have a right of appeal under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 as amended by the Education Act 2002 and subsequent legislation.  You should notify the Clerk to the Governors of Borrowdale Church of England Primary School within 14 days of receiving the letter which will give the grounds for refusing a place.  As a parent you will have an opportunity to submit your case to an independent (of the Governors) appeals panel.  You must set out your grounds for the appeal in writing.  You will normally receive at least 20 days  notice of the time and venue for the appeal hearing where you will be able to present your case in person.  This right of appeal does not prevent you from making an appeal in respect of any other school.  The Independent Appeal will be organised on behalf of the Governors by the Legal and Democratic Services Unit at Carlisle.

Waiting List

Those children who are not offered a place may, if the parents so wish, be placed on a waiting list.   The names will be placed on the list in the order of the admissions criteria.  Late applicants will be slotted into the list according to the admissions criteria.  It is thus possible for a child recently arrived in the area to have a higher priority than a child who has been on the waiting list for some time.   Irrespective of whether an appeal has been submitted, if a place becomes available it will be offered to the child at the top of the list.   The waiting list will remain open for the duration of the academic year.  

Infant Class Size

If your child was refused a place in a reception or key stage one class because of Government limits on infant class size, the grounds on which your appeal could be successful are limited.  You would have to show that the decision was one which no reasonable governing body would have made or that your child would have been offered a place if the governors’ admissions policy had been properly implemented.

While no infant class is to contain more than 30 pupils there can be very limited exceptional circumstances.  The admittance of such a child(ren) will be known as an “excepted pupil” for the time they are in an infant class or until the numbers fall back to the size limit.  An excepted child would be one from a multiple birth when one of the siblings is the 30th child admitted.  It might also include a child with an EHCP or looked after child or a child of Crown Servants/U.K. Service Personnel to be admitted outside the normal admission period.   

Multiple births

The Governors of Borrowdale Church of England Primary School will ensure as far as possible that twins, triplets or those children born in the same year are not separated.  This means that in such cases, where one sibling is offered a place according to our oversubscription criteria, then their sibling(s) may also be offered a place even if this exceeds the PAN, but only if there is capacity in the school

Nursery

If you have a child in our Nursery School/Class then you must make a separate application for the Reception Class.  A place in our Nursery School/Class does not guarantee a place in our Reception Class