Admissions

Becoming a pupil at Nettleham Infant School 

We are an inclusive school that welcomes children from all backgrounds and abilities.
All applications will be treated on merit and in a sensitive manner. The only restriction we place on entry is that of number. If the number of children applying for entry exceeds
the places available, we enforce the procedure set out in our Admissions Policy in order to determine whether a child is accepted or not. It is our wish to allow parents the right to have a place at the school of their choice. However, this is not always possible if there is an excessive demand on school places available.

How parents can apply for their child to be admitted to our school
As our school is an Academy, the school determines the admission arrangements in agreement with the Governing Body. The Governing Body is therefore the ‘Admissions Authority’ for our school.

Process of application for the normal intake year
Arrangements for applications for places in Reception at Nettleham Infant School will be
made in accordance with Lincolnshire County Council's co-ordinated admission arrangements; parents’ resident in Lincolnshire can apply online at

https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/schools-and-education/school-admissions/primary-infant-and-junior-school-places/132835.article

Over-Subscription Criteria

• Education Health Care Plans. In accordance with legislation the allocation of places for children with the following will take place first; Statement of Special Educational Needs (Education Act 1996) or Education, Health and Care Plan (Children and Families Act 2014) where the school is named. Remaining places will be allocated in accordance with this policy.

If the school receives more applications than it has places the governors will apply the following criteria in the order given:

1. Looked after children and all previously looked after children. A 'looked after child' is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989) at the time of making an application to a school. Previously looked after children are children who were looked after but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order). This includes children who were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 (see section 12 adoption orders) and children who were adopted under the Adoption and Children’s Act 2002 (see section 46 adoption orders). Child arrangements orders are defined in s.8 of the Children Act 1989, as amended by s.12 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Child arrangements orders replace residence orders and any residence order in force prior to 22 April 2014 is deemed to be a child arrangements order. Section 14A of the Children Act 1989 defines a ‘special guardianship order’ as an order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian (or special guardians).
2. There is a sibling who will be on the school roll when the child applies for a school place. A sibling is considered to be:

• A full brother or sister, whether or not resident in the same household
• Another child normally resident for the majority of term time in the same household, for whom an adult in the household has parental responsibility as defined in the Children Act 1989.
•  A brother or sister attending the school at the time of application, or who will be attending the school at the expected time of admission. In addition, in the case of infant schools a brother or sister attending Nettleham Junior school or will be attending Nettleham Junior School at the time of admissions.

1. The distance from the child’s home to the school, meaning that children who live closest to the school are given priority.

• Straight-line distance in miles, as measured electronically, calculated to three figures after the decimal point (e.g. 1.543 miles) by Lincolnshire County Council school admissions team from the Post Office Address Point of the home to the Post Office Address Point of the Academy.
• Home address is defined as the address where the child lives for the majority of the school term time with a parent who has parental responsibility as defined in the Children Act 1989 and a parent includes a person who is not a parent but who has responsibility for her/him. This could include a pupil’s guardians but will not usually include other relatives such as grandparents, aunts, uncles etc unless they have all the rights, duties, powers and responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and her/his property.
• Where a child lives normally and habitually during the school week with more than one parent at different addresses, the home address for the purpose of school admissions will be that of the parent who lives closest, as the crow flies, to the school in question.
• Equally, where a family possesses more than one home, the Governing Body will take as the home address (place of residence) the address where the family and child habitually and normally live for the majority of the school term time.

The Governing Body has the right to investigate any concerns it may have with respect to the accuracy of information provided by parents on an application form and to withdraw the offer of a school place if there is evidence that parents have made fraudulent claims, e.g. concerning parental responsibility or place of residence. N.B. Attendance at Nettleham Infant Nursery does not constitute an automatic offer of a place at Nettleham Infant School

Children of UK Service Personnel (UK Armed Forces)

In order to meet the government’s military covenant aimed at helping Service personnel, and Crown Servants returning from abroad we have adopted the following arrangements. For families of service personnel with a confirmed posting to the area, or crown servants returning to live in the area from overseas, the Governors will:
• Allocate a place in advance of the family arriving in the area provided the application Is accompanied by an official letter that declares a relocation date and a Unit postal address or quartering area address to use when considering the application against the school's oversubscription criteria.
• Accept a Unit postal address or quartering area address for admissions purposes for a service child. The Governors will not refuse a service child a place because the family does not currently live in the area.

Admission Appeals
The procedures for appeals relating to admissions will be in accordance with all relevant legislation. If parents wish to appeal against a decision to not allocate a place, they can do so by applying to the Governing Body. An independent appeals panel, who are not connected to the school in any way, then meets to consider all appeals by parents who have been refused a place at our school and who wish to appeal against this decision. Appeals are organised by the County Councils Legal Services Section and entirely separate from the admission system. An appeals panel’s decision is binding for all parties concerned. If the appeals panel decides that we should admit a child to our school, then we will accept their decision.

Mid Year Admissions
The school will accept admissions into other year groups if there are places. If there are more applications than places, then the over subscription criteria will be used to decide who should be offered the place. If there are no places, then parents will be informed of how to access the independent appeals system. You can app;y for a midyear place at our school from visiting the above LCC website. 

Infant Class Size
Infant children (aged four to seven) are taught in classes that have a maximum number of 30 children, in line with government legislation. By Law the school is unable to accept more than 30 children in any of our classes.