Admission Applications

Please read the St Richard’s Catholic College’s Admissions Policy & Supplementary Information Form.

The Governors’ Published Admission Number for Year 7, in September 2024, is 200 pupils.

The procedure for applying for a place at St Richard’s Catholic College for Year 7 September 2024 is as follows:

1. Apply direct to the Local Authority via the Synergy parent portal on the East Sussex County Council website. If you are not able to apply online please contact the Admissions and Transport team on 0300 330 9472 for a paper application.

If you live outside East Sussex, you must apply through your ‘home’ local authority.  Your local authority will then pass on the details of your application.  They will be responsible for letting you know the outcome.

The deadline for applications to East Sussex County Council is  31^st October 2023.

2. Complete and return to St Richard’s Catholic College the Supplementary Information Form (“SIF”). This allows the Governors to put all applicants in order of priority for admission in line with the published admission policy.  Please note that completion of the SIF is not mandatory.  However, if a completed SIF is not received, the Governors can only consider your application within the last criterion (category 9).

The deadline for returning the SIF to the Admissions Secretary at St Richard’s is 31^st October 2023. 

You are advised to keep a copy of the CAF and SIF for your records.

Timetable

Appeals Procedure

Parents/carers whose applications for places are unsuccessful may appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel set up in accordance with the Department for Education Appeals Code (February 2012).  As the school’s admissions authority, the Governors of St Richard’s Catholic College will comply with reasonable requests from parents/carers for information which they need to help them prepare their case for appeal.

Appeals must be made in writing on the appeal form which can be downloaded HERE or requested from the Admissions Secretary and must set out the reasons on which the appeal is made. Completed appeal forms should be addressed to the Admissions Appeal Clerk at the school address.

Parents/carers have the right to make oral representations to the Appeal Panel.

Appeals should be lodged no later than the date set by ESCC (28th March 2024).

Appeals lodged during this period will be heard within 40 school days of the deadline for lodging appeals.  Parents will be given at least 10 school days written notice of the date of the appeal.

If it is not possible for late application appeals to be heard with the ‘on-time’ appeals they will be heard within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged.

Deadline for submitting additional evidence

You should send us all your evidence supporting your case when you make your appeal.  However, extra evidence can be sent to us up to 7 working days before the hearing.  Please note you can send additional evidence after this deadline or bring extra items with you on the day of your hearing (if appeals are held in person) but the appeal panel may decide not to accept this late evidence.  Submitting extra evidence late can sometimes lead to your hearing being adjourned, or even postponed to another day.

In Year Admissions for St Richard’s Catholic College from 1 September 2023 until 31 August 2024

Please read the St Richard’s Catholic College Admissions Policy and SIF for 2023-2024

What are In Year Admissions?

You can make an in-year application if your child needs to join a school outside of the normal admissions round – for example, if you move house and your child can no longer attend their current school.

How Parents can apply for a school place

If you want to apply for an In-Year admission to St Richard’s Catholic College, you need to complete:

1. The East Sussex In Year Application Form

• The online ESCC Application Form can be found here: ESCC In Year School Admissions
  [Note: If you are not able to apply online please contact the ESCC Admissions and Transport team on 0300 330 9472 for a paper application.]

2. The School’s Supplementary Information Form (SIF)

• The 2023-2024 SIF is available at: Supplementary Information Form
• You MUST return the Supplementary Information Form to the school admissions team at: admissions@strichardscc.com

Who processes your application?

The Governing Body is the Admissions Authority for St Richard’s Catholic College and has responsibility for admissions to the school, including setting the priority of admissions when the school is oversubscribed. The Governing Body will consider whether it has any vacancies and if so, whether they are able to offer a place. The school will confirm to East Sussex County Council (ESCC) as soon as possible. The school will contact you to let you know the outcome of your application.

When will parents be notified of the outcome of their application?

Upon receipt of an In Year application, the school aim to notify parents of the outcome of the
application in writing within 10 school days. However, it might take up to 15 school days. You must respond to any offer of a place within ten school days.

The right to appeal

If you are refused a place at any school you applied for, you have the right to make an appeal to an independent appeal panel. Where an application is refused, the school will set out the reason
for refusal.

Other Information

Where an applicant is offered a school place following an in-year application, and the offer is accepted, arrangements should be made for the child to start school as soon as possible, particularly where the child is out of school.

If your child is not offered a place, you can add their name to a waiting list. Waiting lists are ranked according to each school’s admission criteria. Your child’s position on a waiting list may go down as well as up, for example, if other children with greater priority according to the school’s admission criteria are added to the list.

You are advised to keep a copy of all documentation for your records.

In-Year Appeals Procedure

Parents/carers whose applications for places are unsuccessful may appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel set up in accordance with the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. As the school’s admissions authority, the Governors of St Richard’s Catholic College will comply with reasonable requests from parents / carers for information which they need to help them prepare their case for appeal.

Timetable – Subject to COVID-19 Regulations

Appeals must be made in writing on the appeal form which can be downloaded HERE or requested from the Admissions Secretary and must set out the reasons on which the appeal is made. Completed appeal forms should be addressed to the Admissions Appeal Clerk at the school address.

Parents/carers have the right to make oral representations to the Appeal Panel.

Appellants do not have the right to a second appeal in respect of this school for the same academic year unless, in exceptional circumstances, the Governing Body has accepted a second application from the appellant because of a significant and material change in the circumstances of the parent/carer, child or school but has still refused admission.

Appellants may apply for a place in this school in respect of a later academic year and have a further right of appeal if that application is unsuccessful.

Appellants may complain about maladministration on the part of the Appeal Panel to the local Government Ombudsman.  A complaint to an Ombudsman is not a further appeal and must relate to the administration of the appeal rather than the appeal decision.  Maladministration covers matters such as failure to follow correct procedure or failure to act independently and fairly.  It does not cover the merits of decision that only the panel has the authority to make.  Therefore, generally, the Ombudsman cannot consider whether the Appeal Panel was correct to uphold or dismiss the appeal.

The Ombudsman is not able to overturn the appeal panel’s decision but, where they find that there has been maladministration, they may make recommendations for a suitable remedy.  For example, they may recommend that an appeal is reheard by a different panel and with a different clerk.

Appellants considering making a complaint can contact the Local government Ombudsman’s Advice Line on 0300 061 0614, visit the website at www.log.uk, email advice@lgo.org.uk or write to:

The Local Government Ombudsman PO Box 4771 Coventry CV4 0EH.

Admission of children outside their normal age group

Please note that it is the view of the Government, the Diocese, the LA and the Governing Body of this school that a child is educated alongside his/her age equivalent peers, in almost all cases.

Should a parent/carer request to have a decelerated entry to school i.e. to start later than other children in their chronological age group, they must initially apply for a school place in accordance with the deadlines that apply for their child’s chronological age.

If the request is accepted, the application for the normal year group may be withdrawn before a place is offered. The parent/carer will be required to apply in the usual way the following year, along with the cohort of applicants for that year group.  It should be noted that the application will not receive priority over or above any other applicant for this year group and the application will be considered in line with the published admission criteria applicable for that year of entry alongside all other applicants to the school.

In relation to the request, decisions are made on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interest of the child.  The governing body will expect the parent/carer to supply them with appropriate information and evidence.  What the governing body will take into account will include:

• Views of parent/carer
• Information relating to the child’s academic/social/emotional development, where relevant
• Medical history and the views of a medical professional
• Any previous history of being educated outside of their normal age group
• If the child may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely
• Views of the Principal of the school.

Please note that parents/carers do not have the right to insist that their child is admitted to a particular age group.  It is the Governing Body who, having considered the circumstances of each individual case, will make a decision.  The governing body will set out clearly for the parents/carers concerned the reasons for their decision in each case.

If the parent/carer is unhappy with a decision about which year group their child will be admitted to, the following applies.  Parents/carers who are refused a place at a school for which they have applied have the right of appeal to an independent admission appeal panel.  However, there is not a right of appeal if the child has been offered a place and it is not in the year group the parent/carer would like. In such cases, the parent/carer could make a complaint through the school’s complaint procedure.

If a parent/carer requests to have an accelerated entry to school i.e. to start earlier than other children in their chronological age group, they must initially apply for a school place at the same time that other families are applying for that cohort.  If the governing body agrees for the child to have an accelerated entry, the application will be processed.  If it is not agreed for the child to have an accelerated entry, they will be invited to apply again in the following year for the correct cohort.

Contacts

For enquiries, please contact our Admissions Office via email admissions@strichardscc.com or Tel: 01424 731070 Extn 103