The main principle of admission to Platanos College is to secure and maintain the character of the school as a comprehensive school, providing for the needs of young persons within the 11–16 age range. In order to achieve this, the admissions criteria have been designed to produce an intake that is representative of the national ability range. Pupils will, therefore, be admitted according to a banding system.
The school participates in the Local Authority co-ordinated admission procedure and all deadlines within that should be adhered to by applicants.
The school welcomes applications from children of all abilities, including from those with additional or special educational needs or disabilities. In formulating this policy, the school has had regard to the principles and provisions of the Equality Act 2010, including the public sector equality duty. In particular, the school will not discriminate against any candidate in its admission arrangements or their implementation, because they or a member of their family has, or are perceived to have, a protected characteristic as set out in the Act.
Five ability bands (encompassing a proportionate spread of different abilities) will be determined by the results of Cognitive Ability Tests (CAT scores) and the school will admit equal numbers of applicants into each band for Year 7 entry.
All applicants will be required to sit the Cognitive Ability Test (Admissions Test) once following an application to Platanos College. This test takes place in the autumn term soon after the admissions deadline and applicants are informed of the date and details of the Admissions Test in writing.
It is not used to select children with a higher ability over those with a lower ability. Once children have been placed in the band which accords to their test results, the mark they achieved will not be considered any further during the admissions process.
In exceptional circumstances, in the case of inability to sit the Cognitive Ability Test due to serious illness or a learning disability or difficulty, proxy indicators of ability from the primary school will be used.
A separate Art/Music aptitude band in addition to the above is available for children who are successful in their application for a scholarship place as part of the admissions process.
The published admissions number (PAN) for Year 7 is 160, which includes pupils admitted through the banding process and under the Art or Music selection process.
As according to the Admissions Code, children with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan naming the school will be admitted. Children with an EHCP which names Platanos College will be allocated a place before other applicants are considered. The school will also give priority to applications on behalf of children in, or previously in, public care (‘looked after children’) residing with the primary carer with the relevant documentary evidence.
In the event of oversubscription in any ability band, admissions will be determined using the below criteria in the following order of priority for each ability band:
Tie-breaker
After applying the above criteria, random allocation within each ability band will be used for the remaining applicants and available places. This process will be supervised by someone independent of the school.
Note: In the event of undersubscription for a particular band, i.e. if after carrying out the above exercise there are any places remaining in any band, they will be allocated to:
Where there are more children applying than the total number of places available in Year 7, a waiting list will be maintained. Children on the Year 7 waiting list will be ranked in accordance with the order of priority outlined in Section 5 above, with the children remaining in their bands, and not in relation to the date that the application was received or when the child’s name was added to the waiting list. Where parents/carers wish to add their child’s name to the waiting list, all applicants will be tested and placed in one of the five ability bands based on their test results. The waiting list for Year 7 admission will be kept open until the end of the Autumn Term of that same admissions round.
Late applications for Year 7 may be made to the school and will be maintained in order of the over-subscription criteria for each band in the year group. Late applications for the Year 7 admissions round (without a CAT test score) must still be made via the local authority and will be placed in the non-ability band.Please note that these applications will be processed by the local authority after the national offer day in March of the same admissions year, as according to the local authority procedure.
Any pupil not offered a place will be placed on the waiting list and will have the statutory right of appeal. Where places become vacant in a particular band, they will be allocated to applicants on the waiting list for that band in accordance with the oversubscription criteria.
Waiting lists are maintained for other year groups as above and places are also allocated in accordance with the oversubscription criteria as outlined in Section 5 above for each band in the year group.
In the event of a place being available for a particular band in a year group with no one on the waiting list, they will be allocated to: (1) any children in the band immediately above or below who have not yet been allocated a place, in order according to the oversubscription criteria above, then (2) any other children of other bands according to the same oversubscription criteria, then (3) children without a place who did not sit the banding test as according to the oversubscription criteria.
Platanos College is committed to taking a fair and reasonable proportion of children who are vulnerable and/or hard to place, as identified in the locally agreed Fair Access Protocol in accordance with the Admissions Code.
Applicants for in-year admissions (which is outside of the normal Year 7 admissions round) should contact the school directly to complete the school’s in-year application form. THE FORM CAN ALSO BE FOUND HERE.
The child will be required to sit the CAT admissions test before admission is considered. The CATs score will be used to assign the child to the appropriate ability band of the corresponding year group.
Allocation will follow the above over-subscription criteria if a waiting list exists for the ability band of the year group.
Parents/carers may, under certain circumstances, request that their child be admitted to a year group outside of their normal age group.
The Academy Trust is the admission authority for considering such requests and will decide whether the individual circumstances make it an appropriate arrangement on educational grounds. Where a child has been educated out of their normal age group in their primary education, the parent/carer may again request admission out of the normal age group when they transfer to their secondary education. However, it will be for the Academy Trust to decide whether to admit the child out of their normal age group.
Parents/carers must consider the impact this may have and must submit evidence of support from a relevant professional.
The Academy Trust will comply with section 2.17 of the Admissions Code, that: “Admission authorities must make decisions on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned. This will include taking account of the parent’s views; information about the child’s academic, social and emotional development; where relevant, their medical history and the views of a medical professional; whether they have previously been educated out of their normal age group; and whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely. They must also take into account the views of the head teacher of the school concerned.”
Parents requesting admission to an age group below the child’s actual age should submit an application for the child’s actual age group before the relevant closing date. The request for later admissions should accompany the application. This enables the application to be processed and a school place secured in the child’s actual age group if the request is refused by the school (subject to the application of the oversubscription criteria). Parents will be informed of the outcome of their request.
If the Academy Trust agrees to the request, the same oversubscription criteria above will be applied.
Parents or carers have a statutory right of appeal under the School Standards & Framework Act 1998 if a place is not offered. Appeals against admission decisions are heard by an Independent Admissions Appeal Panel and will be in accordance with the School Admission Appeals Code. An appeal against a refusal of a place must be made within 20 school days of the date of the refusal letter.
Parents and carers are asked to have regard to paragraphs 2.12 and 2.13 of the Admissions Code which lists the circumstances when an offer of a place may be withdrawn. This includes where an offer was obtained through a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application.
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