Schools and learning

Secondary - What Can you Do Now? (Continuing Interest & Appeals)

We are sorry that you have not been offered your preferred secondary or upper school place. There are some steps that you can now take. Places do become available at some oversubscribed schools, and this varies from year to year. If you would like to pursue a place at a school outside Hertfordshire, we recommend that you contact the local authority where the school is located.

The support available to you is listed below and also in the leaflet “what can you do now?”. This support is available free of charge for every family. External organisations or consultants that charge to provide admissions advice are not endorsed by Hertfordshire County Council and do not have access to any extra information that is not available here. If you have any questions or need further help please contact our Customer Service Centre.

Quick guide to options available

These options can all be done at the same time:

1 - Accept the school place you have been offered by 17 March 2008
2 - Ask to go on the continuing interest list by 17 March 2008
3 - Request and return an appeal pack by 4.00pm on 31 March 2008
4 - Request a pupil audit report from 3 March 2008

More information about the next steps you can take is contained in this leaflet.

Next steps are simple at www.hertsdirect.org/admissions

If you applied online for a secondary or upper school place you can:

print a copy of your allocation reply form online (if you lose the one we send you) and return it to the school at which your child has been offered a place by 17 March 2008

register a continuing interest for community and voluntary-controlled schools until 17 March 2008

view your updated position on the continuing interest list approximately every two weeks from week commencing 7 April 2008

return an appeal for community and voluntary-controlled schools until 4pm, 31 March 2008

view a summary of your pupil audit report.

All parents/carers can:

request an appeal pack

request a pupil audit report

request a list of Hertfordshire maintained secondary and upper schools with places

view or download the moving on booklet, and get further information about schools’ admission rules and contact details.

Information about next steps

1 Accept the school place you have been offered by 17 March 2008

Fill out the allocation reply form and send it to the school at which your child has been offered a place by 17 March 2008.

If you turn down the offer of a place, inform your local Admissions and Transport team of the educational provision you will be making for your child. If you do not accept the school
place and do not respond to our letter, we will give you reasonable notice, and the offer of a school place will be withdrawn.

You can accept the place even if you want to apply for continuing interest or lodge an appeal.

2 Ask to go on the continuing interest list by 17 March 2008

You can register a continuing interest in up to three community and voluntary-controlled schools. These can be different from the schools you listed on your secondary application form.

If you applied online, register a continuing interest online until 17 March 2008 (online facility is only available until this date) OR

Fill out the paper form at the back of this leaflet and return it by 17 March 2008.

If you register a continuing interest after 17 March 2008 your application will not be included in the first time we run the continuing interest process but will be included in further rounds.

If you would like to register a continuing interest in a voluntary-aided or foundation school, please contact the school direct. If your child is offered a place at a voluntary-aided or foundation school or at a school outside Hertfordshire, please inform your local Admissions and Transport team.

3 Request and return an appeal pack by 4.00pm on 31 March 2008

You have the right to appeal for a place at any of the schools listed on your secondary application form at which your child was not offered a place. Appeals are heard by independent panels made up of people who have no connection at all with the original decision. Appeal forms must be received by 4.00 pm on 31 March 2008.

If you applied for a place at a community or voluntary-controlled school online you can submit an appeal on the website OR

Request a paper appeal form online or by contacting the Customer Service Centre.

Appeals begin in the week commencing 28 April 2008. Everything you need to know will be in your appeal pack. Please note that returning an appeal for a school does not register you on the
continuing interest list for that school. This must be done separately.

If you wish to appeal to a voluntary-aided or foundation school, please contact the school direct.

4 Request a pupil audit report from 03 March 2008

A pupil audit report shows you how we have applied the rules to your applications to community and voluntary-controlled schools. You can request a copy online or from the Customer Service Centre. Voluntary-aided and foundation schools should be able to provide you with similar information; please contact the school direct.

Home to school transport

An overview of the home to school transport policy is shown below. For details of the full policy see www.hertsdirect.org/admissions or contact the Customer Service Centre.

Only a small number of children in Hertfordshire qualify for free home to school transport. If a child is not entitled to free home to school transport it is a parent’s responsibility to ensure that their child can get to school. During May you should receive notification if your child is eligible for free home to school transport.

Nearest school
Free transport will be provided for all children attending their nearest suitable school where the distance from home to school is over the statutory walking distance. This means more than 3 miles from home for children aged 8 and over. The nearest suitable school is identified by considering whether your child would have qualified for a place at the school. This can be inside or outside the administrative county of Hertfordshire.

Safety
Free transport will be provided for all children attending their nearest suitable school which is less than the statutory walking distance where it is considered unsafe for the child, accompanied as necessary, to walk the route with reasonable safety.

Low income families
For entitlement to free transport low income families are defined as those having children entitled to free school meals or whose parents are in receipt of their maximum level of Working Tax Credit. For entitlement to free school meals for your child you must be claiming Income Support or Income-Based Job Seeker’s Allowance, Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit) or Child Tax Credit (income less than £14,495 and not receiving Working Tax Credit). From September 2008 free transport will be provided for all children from low income groups of compulsory
school age either:

to one of the three nearest schools within two and six miles of the child’s home or

to the nearest school preferred by reason of a parent’s religion or belief* within 2 and of 15 miles of the child’s home.

The 2 mile limit will be measured in the same way as the “statutory walking distance”, i.e. along the ‘nearest available route’. Any distance more than 2 miles will be measured using the Integrated Transport Network (ITN). The ITN measures along roads.

Religion or belief
The following children will be entitled to free home to school transport subject to living over statutory walking distance from the school:

children who are currently attending the nearest school of their faith and receiving free home to school transport will continue to do so whilst they are still in statutory education at that same school and living at the same address. If a family move house we will reassess the eligibility for free home to school transport in accordance with the current home to school transport policy at the time of the move.

children who are transferring to the nearest faith school who have a place there in line with their parents’ beliefs* and who have an older sibling who is currently receiving free home to school transport under the previous faith transport policy, who lives at the same address and is still in statutory education at the same faith school in September 2008.

Assisted places can be purchased on Education routes which currently serve faith schools.

Special Educational Needs
Free transport will be provided where the child’s statement of special educational needs specifies the need for free transport.

Children not eligible for free home to school transport
If your child does not qualify for free home to school transport, there may be other help with travel arrangements/costs available to you. Please see the Moving On booklet, look on the website, or call the Customer Service Centre for further information.

*

For Church of England schools, your child must be baptised into the Church of England or you must be on the parish electoral roll.

For Catholic schools, your child must be baptised as a Catholic.

For Jewish schools, you must be a member of a synagogue community.

Parents/carers of children attending the nearest school that accords with their religious faith or genuine secular philosophical conviction.

Some answers to common questions

Which Hertfordshire secondary and upper schools have places?
You can view a full list of schools with places online, or you can contact the Customer Service Centre and request that a copy be sent to you.

What if my circumstances have changed?
If you have had a change of circumstances (for example, you have moved house or have some new evidence to support a claim that your child has a social or medical need to attend a certain school), please write to the address at the top of your allocation letter, providing details and evidence. If you are not sure what information to send in, please contact our Customer Service Centre.

A panel of officers will meet to consider any claims that a child has a particular medical or social need to go to the school. A child can only be admitted under this rule if a place becomes available at the school.

What if I have concerns about the way my child’s application has been processed?
If you are concerned that your application for a school place has not been correctly dealt with, or are not satisfied with the service that you have received, we will try to resolve this matter with you. You should discuss your concerns with your local Admissions and Transport Officer or send a letter to your local Admissions and Transport Team Manager. We find that most concerns can be resolved in this way.

How do I find out about the progress of my child’s continuing interest application?
We will write to you week commencing 7 April 2008 to let you know your child’s position on the continuing interest list, or at any point if your child is successful in gaining a place at one of the schools. We run the continuing interest process approximately every two weeks from April to August 2008. If you have registered a continuing interest online you can view your up-to-date position at any time. All parents can request an update by calling the Customer Service Centre. We will write to all parents/carers again at the end of the continuing interest process.

How do I know if the school is a community, voluntary-controlled, voluntary-aided or foundation school?
The Moving On booklet, which can be viewed online, shows each school’s type. Hertfordshire County Council manages appeals, continuing interest lists and produces pupil audit reports for all community and voluntary-controlled schools. The governing bodies of voluntary-aided and foundation schools are responsible for appeals and continuing interest lists for these schools.

Contacting us for advice and support

01432 737500 - Customer Service Centre
01923 471500 - if you are calling from 01923 and 0208 area codes
01438 737599 - textphone (for deaf and hard of hearing people only)

The lines are open from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 4pm on Saturdays. Our team of advisers is able to answer most enquiries. If not, you will be put in contact with staff in your local office.

Email
You can contact us via email at hertsdirect@hertscc.gov.uk or via our online contact form on the website at www.hertsdirect.org

Local Admissions and Transport teams
If you need to write to your local Admissions and Transport team, please write to one of the addresses below. Check the map to see where your local team is located.



Admissions and Transport team: East 1
Old Grammar School
Broadway
Letchworth
Hertfordshire
SG6 3QG

Admissions and Transport team: East 2
County Hall
Hertford
Hertfordshire
SG13 8DF

Admissions and Transport team: West
Apsley One
Brindley Way
Hemel Hempstead
Hertfordshire
HP3 9BF

Contact details for out neighbouring authorities can be found at the back of the Moving On booklet