ADMISSIONS ARRANGEMENTS FOR SEPTEMBER 2022

The governing body of Queen Elizabeth's Grammar, Alford, is the admission authority for theacademy. They will admit, essentially by assessment, those pupils who they consider the most likely to benefit from grammar school education.

ENTRY AT 11+

The 11+ testing will be in line with the Lincolnshire Grammar Schools' Consortium, with the academy's Year 7 intake drawn from those in approximately the top 25% of the ability range of the relevant age group. The current admissions in Year 7 is 84 in three-forms of entry.

The catchment area's primary schools have offered to administer the 111+ exam tests on behalf of the governors of Queen Elizabeth's Grammar, Alford. lf pupils are not able to take the 11+ tests in their

primary school, they may take them at their nearest grammar school or at Queen Elizabeth's.

The 11+ procedure will involve two tests: one verbal reasoning and one non-verbal. Both tests will be taken in the September for pupils in their final year at primary school (and of the appropriate age group).

Applications should be made via Lincolnshire County Council or directly to the school. 

lf there are more applications than places then the oversubscription criteria will be used to decide who should be offered the place. lf it is necessary to refuse a place then you will be informed of your right of

appeal. Parents can apply online or by contacting the school or call the school for a paper form. Parents resident in other areas must apply through their home local authority.

Queen Elizabeth's Grammar, Alford will use the Lincolnshire County Council's timetable published online for these applications and the relevant Local Authority will make the offers of places on their

behalf as required by the School Admissions Code. 

A parent for the purposes of making an application is a person with 'parental responsibility' or a person who has day to day care of a child.

This is in line with section 576 of the Education Act (1996).

ln accordance with legislation the allocation of places for children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (Children and Families Act 2014), who have achieved the required score, naming the school in the plan will take place first.

Remaining places will be allocated in accordance with this policy.

The criteria are listed in the order we apply them. lf it is necessary to distinguish between more than one applicant in any criteria, the next criteria will be applied until the tiebreaker is used.

Preference will be given to:

t. Pupils who have reached the required score and who are or have previously been in public care as defined below.

2. Pupils living within the designated free transport area (our traditional catchment area) who have reached the required score. A map of this designated free transport area is available from the school office and on our website.

Queen Elizabeth's Grammar, Alford - A Selective Academy

Pupils who do not live within our designated free transport area but attend the primary schools within it (Alford, Huttoft, Mablethorpe, Sutton-on-Sea, Theddlethorpe, Willoughby

and Withern) and who reach the required score.

Pupils not living in the designated free transport area or attending a primary school in this area who reach the required score.

ln the case of a category being oversubscribed , and pupils have reached the required score, pupils will be ranked according to their 11+ test scores and admitted in descending order of score.

ln the event of a number of pupils having exactly the same 11+ score then the governors will apply a tiebreaker based on the straight line distance (this will be calculated electronically 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 school) with the child

living closest to the academy being given the place. 

lf two or more applicants are still tied for the last place then the governors will arrange for an independent person to undertake a random allocation for these children only.

A child in public care, sometimes referred to as 'looked afte/ child is a child who is:

1. in the care of a local authority, or

2. 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 care 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. 

ln 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 in line with local council policy. 

The Governors will not refuse a service child a place because the family does not currently live in the area. For late co-ordinated applications and mid-year applications we will aim to remove any disadvantage to UK service personnel (UK Armed Forces) by applying the school's policy.

I Historically, all those living in the designated free transport area, or attending a primary school within this area, have attained places.

2 Typically about half of each year group comprises pupils who do not live within the designated free transport area.

Oversubscription criteria to their address. We will check to see if the address is within the distance of the last child admitted in the last admission round that was oversubscribed on offer day. lf the

address is within the distance the governors will consider admitting providing all children in public care have already been admitted and there are no children with higher priority under the oversubscription criteria on the ranked reserve list. This will be irrespective of the fact that the school has had appeals or appeals are scheduled. 

We will need the notice of posting or official government letter and posting address before we can consider an application under these

arrangements.

By law the governors must consider parents who have named the school using the common application form (or have applied online) before any other parents. The governors will investigate any concerns they may have about the information you provide on the application form and may withdraw the offer of a school place if they find evidence that a fraudulent claim has been made.

Parents of pupils not offered places at the academy have the right of appeal against the academy's admission panel decision. Appeals forms may be obtained from the Headteacher's PA after places are allocated in March and should be returned to school by the end of that month to ensure that they will be heard 'on time'with other appellants. 

All appeals will be heard by an independent appeals panel who will consider whether 'prejudice'would arise were the child to be admitted, and the weight of the parents' case in terms of extenuating  circumstances. The decision of the appeals panel is binding. Repeat applications will not be considered in the same academic year unless there has been a significant change in circumstances.

The governors will keep a waiting list (reserve list) up until the end of the autumn term. ln this school we will only add to the waiting list children who have achieved the required standard in the selection tests. This list is kept in the order given above and it is where the child stands in relation to these criteria rather than the length of time on the waiting list that will determine if a place is offered. We also keep a waiting list for other year groups when appropriate and this is kept for an

academic term following the application date.

 ENTRY AT OTHER TIMES

Pupils are normally admitted at 11+ and 16+, but we will consider requests for places at other times if there should be places available. The governors seek to admit the most able pupils and will admit

those pupils where there is evidence that the pupil is in the top 25% of the ability range and whose performance indicates that they would benefit from the curriculum and pace of work available at this academy. Selection will be based upon KS2 results, CATS and other standardised test information which is available. 

The assessment tests we use in school are for English and Mathematics each lasting 1 hour and these are from national curriculum/GCSE papers which can be standardised to indicate whether an applicant would be placed in the top 25% of the ability range nationally. 

Parents should contact the school to arrange testing.

 FAIR ACCESS PROTOCOLS

Local Authorities are required to have Fair Access Protocols in order to make sure that unplaced children who live in the home local authority, especially the most vulnerable, are offered a place at a suitable school as quickly as possible. This includes admitting children above the published admissions number to schools that are already full. Students allocated under fair access protocols will take precedence over those on a waiting list. Queen Elizabeth's Grammar, Alford will participate

in Lincolnshire County Councils the fair access protocol.

FRAUDULENT OR MISTEADING APPLICATIONS

As an admission authority we have the right to investigate any concerns we may have about your application and to withdraw the offer of a place if we consider there is evidence that you have made a fraudulent claim or provided misleading information, for example a false address was given which denied a place to a child with a stronger claim. 

We reserve the right to check any address and other information provided so we can apply the oversubscription criteria accurately and fairly.

VISITS TO THE ACADEMY

The academy's annual open evening takes place on the first Thursday in October. Details are sent to all feeder schools and publicised in the local press. Parents of prospective pupils are welcome to visit the academy at other times by prior arrangement with the Headteacher, by contacting the school.