Claremont High School

Arrangements for Admission at Secondary Transfer

The academy operates admissions under the Brent Local Education Authority’s scheme for co-ordinated admission to secondary school. Where applications exceed the number of places available (Published Admission Number, 270 for years 7, 8, 9 and 265 for years 10 and 11) the following criteria in order of priority will be employed for admission.

Oversubscription Criteria

• Looked After Children or children in public care including children who were in care but have since been adopted or become subject to a residence order or special guardianship order.
• Children for whom it is essential to be admitted to Claremont High School Academy because of special circumstances to do with significant medical needs, social needs or special educational needs. The recommendation must be received in writing from a consultant at an NHS hospital or equivalent. This criterion relates to the child’s medical, social and special needs and does not include any other member of the child’s family. The supporting evidence should set out the particular reasons why Claremont High School Academy is the most suitable school and difficulties that would be caused if the child had to attend another school.
• Those who have a brother(s) and/or sister(s) (including half or stepbrother(s) and sister(s) if residing at the same address) attending Claremont at the time of application and on the date of admission. This excludes a brother(s) or a sister(s) of those students who join the academy in Year 12 or Year 13.
• Children of members of staff who have been employed at the school for a minimum of two years at the time the application is made and/or recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is an evident skill shortage.
• Those children attending one of the four Academy feeder primary schools; Byron Court, Mount Stewart, Preston Park and Uxendon Manor.
• Up to ten per cent of children will be admitted on the basis of aptitude in music. Each child applying under this criterion will be invited to attend a written musical aptitude assessment at the school.
• Other Children.

Music Assessment
The duration of this assessment is approximately forty minutes. There will be sixty questions to include pitch, rhythm, texture and melody.

Each child will be notified in advance of the assessment date and venue. Those unable to attend on this date due to compelling religious, medical or other reasons will be offered one alternative date.

Children who achieve the qualifying mark in the assessment will be invited to an audition to perform a single piece on their chosen instrument or vocally. This will be a free choice of piece, which should last no longer than three minutes. As there is a free choice of instrument and piece, children of all abilities and all cultures will have equal opportunity to succeed. The purpose of the audition is not to assess ability but rather to determine whether the child has the capacity to learn or develop musical skills and benefit from the facilities at the academy. Children invited to audition will be given an individual appointment during the academy day.

Tie Breaker

Within each criterion, priority will be given to the applicant who lives closer to the academy. This will be measured in a straight line from the front door of a pupil's permanent address to the academy reception. A random allocator will be used to determine the offer of a place where two or more children are deemed to live the same distance from the Claremont.

Waiting List

In addition to the right of appeal, unsuccessful candidates will be offered the opportunity to be placed on a waiting list, which will be maintained throughout the year, in order of the over-subscription criteria and not in the order in which applications are received.

Brent Local Authority’s In Year Fair Access Protocol will take precedence over Waiting Lists where applicable.

This means that a child’s position on the list can go down as well as up, depending upon the child’s circumstances and those of other applicants. The Waiting List will be closed each year and will not roll over. Parents wishing to stay on the Waiting List will be required to submit a request to Brent Council’s School Admissions Service.

Casual Admission Arrangements

When applying for a place in Years 7 to 11 parents/carers should apply to the Local Authority.

Proof of the child’s permanent residence will be required except where this has already been provided through the Common Application Process.

If you wish to make an application to this school you will need to contact your local council. If you are a Brent resident you need to contact Brent Council’s School Admissions Service on 020 8937 3110 or visit www.brent.gov.uk/admissions. All applications will be considered in line with our published admission arrangements. Outcomes of applications will be sent to you by Brent Council on behalf of the Governing Body. Unsuccessful applicants will be placed on the waiting list.

The admission of pupils with a Statement of Special Educational Needs (SEN) is dealt with by a completely separate procedure. Details of this separate Procedure is set out in the SEN Code of Practise. At Claremont we are committed to taking vulnerable children who are hard to place and in accordance with locally agreed protocol.

Independent Appeals

Parents/Carers have the right of appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel if they are dissatisfied with an admission decision of the School. This includes pupils refused progression from the School’s Year 11 to Year 12. The arrangements for appeals will be in line with the Code of Practice on School Admission Appeals published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). Parents/Carers wishing to make an appeal should send a completed form to the Clerk of Appeal Panel to the address given on the Appeal form.

Parents with Shared Responsibility

Where a child lives with parents with shared responsibility, each for part of a week, the address where the child lives is determined using a joint declaration from the parents stating the pattern of residence. If a child’s residence is split equally between both parents, then parents will be asked to determine their residential address for the purpose of admission to academy. If the residence is not split equally between both parents then the address used will be the address where the child spends the majority of the school week.

Admission Arrangements for Sixth Form

All Claremont Year 11 students who meet the minimum entry requirements are eligible to apply to progress to Year 12. Places are initially offered to internal, eligible year 11 students and then to external applicants who meet the minimum entry requirements as published in the Sixth Form prospectus and contingent on the availability of appropriate resources. The maximum number of external candidates likely to be admitted is 40, although this may be exceeded if demand for available courses can be met.

External Applicants

In the event of all those applying meet the criteria and the published admissions number being exceeded, the School will apply its Admissions Criteria 1, 2, 3 and 4.