Admissions Process
The admissions authority is the Governing Body of Hurstmere School. The planned admission number is 210.
The parents of all applicants must complete an application form obtained from their home Local Authority. Applicants will then sit a compulsory ability banding assessment at the school.
Hurstmere School will admit pupils representing all levels of ability from admission applicants. They will be tested and placed in one of nine bands.
There will be 23 places available in bands 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 and 24 places available in bands 1, 5 and 9. In the event of oversubscription, applicants will be admitted using the criteria set out below:
Priority 1 – Looked after children
Looked after children (in public care) and previously looked after children.
Children in public care at the time of application, or children who were previously in public care, but ceased to be so because they were adopted, or became subject to residence orders or a special guardianship order.
Children who appear to the Admission Authority to have been in State Care outside of England but ceased to be so as a result of being adopted.
Priority 2 – Medical
This is given where a child, sibling or a parent has a medical condition, which would cause significant hardship if the child could not attend the school of parental preference. In such cases the school will require confirmation that it is essential, on medical grounds, for the child to attend Hurstmere School.
Note: If you wish to request this priority you must do so, and provide any supporting evidence, at the time of application. Later requests will be considered only if the medical condition occurs after the closing date for applications. Medical conditions consequential from a failure to obtain the preferred school, for example emotional distress (whether or not leading to a recognised medical condition), do not fall within this priority. “Significant hardship” will be interpreted as being greater than inconvenience, financial disadvantage or emotional upset.
Priority 3 – Sibling
This is given to a boy with a brother or sister attending a Penhill Academies Trust school (currently Sherwood Park Primary, Blackfen School for Girls or Hurstmere) at the time of admission living in the same household. This includes a full or adopted brother/sister or step/half brother or sister.
Priority 4 – Penhill Academies Trust Feeder School
This is given to a boy who attends Sherwood Park Primary School.
Priority 5 – Children of a member of staff
This gives priority to children of staff where the member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the application was made.
Priority 6 – Distance
Pupils who live within the nearest radial distance (direct line distance between the applicant’s home to Hurstmere School’s entrance on Hurst Road) to Hurstmere School on the close of the published admissions application date.
Note: Home address is the address at which the child lives with a parent or registered guardian who is the main carer, defined as the parent eligible to receive Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit or if this does not apply the address where the child spends the majority of the school week (Monday- Friday).
Tie-break
Random allocation will be used as a tie-break to decide who has highest priority for admission if the distance between two children’s homes and the school is the same. This process will be independently verified.
Pupils with a statement of Special Education Needs or an Education, Health and Care Plan will be dealt with through a separate process. The Governing Body will admit those pupils whose statements or plans name Hurstmere, after the process has been completed.
In-Year Admissions
Applications for places during the year should be made direct to the school. For an In-Year application form please contact the school.
Waiting List and Continued Interest List
Where applications exceed places, a waiting list will be maintained until 31st December in the year of admission, in accordance with the admission criteria. After that date a new Year 7 list will be created and held from January 1st to 31st July, containing the names of pupils whose parents have expressed (in writing) a continued interest in a place at Hurstmere. Similarly, Continued Interest lists will be created and held from September 1st until 31st July each year for Years 8-11 inclusive.
Continued Interest lists will be ordered in line with the oversubscription criteria, and therefore positions on those lists are subject to change in the event of new applications.
Fair Access Protocol
Hurstmere School is required to participate in the Fair Access Protocol. The school can be directed to admit a pupil and this could mean a child being admitted ahead of the waiting list or even if the year group is full.
Right of Appeal
Unsuccessful applicants have the right to appeal. In such cases parents should forward their appeal in writing to the Clerk to the Governors, at the school address, within 20 school days of hearing that their child has not been allocated a place. An Independent Appeals Panel will then hear the appeal.
Banding Assessments will be held on Monday 2nd, Tuesday 3rd and Thursday 5th December 2024. Assessments will take place between 16:00 – 18:00 on each of the 3 days.
In accordance with the Coordinated School Admission Arrangements parents will be sent a letter saying which school their child has been offered. This letter will be posted by first class post on the first working day of March 2025.