Admissions

The information provided in this section identifies our compliance with the Academy Admissions Code of Practice and the Academy Admission Appeals Code of Practice as they currently apply.  As a maintained Academy, Lord Lawson of Beamish complies with the law on admissions and will take part in the Fair Access arrangements set up by Gateshead LA and have regard to its advice.  We participate in the co-ordinated admission arrangements operated by Gateshead LA. Additionally, we appreciate that the Secretary of State may direct us to admit a named pupil to our Academy, on application from an LA. This will follow appropriate consultation with the Secretary of State

For all relevant information on our admissions policy, for all year groups, please see the document below. Page 3 provides a contents list which affords information including; how places are offered, casual admissions, appeals, special educational needs and transport.

Additionally, you can use the link www.gateshead.gov.uk/schooladmissions to apply online.

Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy Admissions Policy 2022

Introduction

We, at Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy, allocate places at our Academy using the Gateshead Community Secondary Academy Admissions Policy. We consult the Governing Body each year about this policy and arrange admissions to our Academy using the Co-ordinated Admission Scheme. We will also use this policy and scheme when deciding the allocation of places for In Year transfer/casual admissions to the school.

The admission policy is as follows

Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy will:

  • Admit students between the ages of 11 and 19.
  • Accept students up to the Academy’s agreed planned admission number for the year.
  • Normally admit students who have been referred for placement at a particular school/Academy through the Pupil Placement Panel who determine some admissions under the Fair Access protocol.

Oversubscription Criteria

We will consider applications from parents who have named the Academy as any ranked preference on their application form; this is referred to as the equal preference system. If the number of applications outweigh the number of places available at the Academy, we will than allocate places by using the following order of priority:

  • Criteria 1 Children in Public Care (and as deemed under Section 22 of the Children Act 1989) including a child who was previously “looked after” but immediately after being “looked after” became subject to an adoption, residence, or special guardianship order.
  • Criteria 2 Children who appear to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.
  • Criteria 3 Children who live in the school’s catchment area.
  • Criteria 4 Children who will have a brother or sister at the secondary school during the coming academic year.
  • Criteria 5 Other children who have exceptional medical and social grounds see point 1 below.
  • Criteria 6 All other children.

Point 1- We can consider individual applications in cases involving exceptional medical or social needs. Such applications must be supported in writing from relevant registered health professionals i.e. a doctor or social worker. The evidence must demonstrate why the chosen school is the most suitable and what difficulties would be caused if the child were to attend another school. We will not consider such applications if the relevant evidence is not provided. The evidence will be presented to the Council’s Pupil Placement Panel for consideration. Each case will be considered individually, and no assumption should be made that the submission of the relevant evidence will, in itself, be sufficient to allocate a place.

Tie breaker

If within any of the above criteria there are more applicants than places available, priority will be given to those children based on the distance they live from the Academy, measured ‘as the crow flies’ in a straight line from the centre of the home residence to the Academy’s main entrance. Children living nearest to the Academy will have priority. Distance is measured using a geographical information system (GIS). Where two or more applicants share the same distance, a random allocation process will be used to determine the ranked order of the applications in question.

Sibling Link

For your child to receive priority because of an older brother or sister in the sixth form at the school, the brother or sister must have been at the school at the start of Year 11.

Address

For the purposes of deciding whether a child lives in the catchment area of a school we will use the parent or guardians address or the address of a relevant adult who has parental responsibility, as defined under the 1989 Children Act, for the child.

Waiting List

If places become available we will consider all relevant applications using a waiting list. The waiting list will be maintained by the academy from the start of the academic year. All applications on the waiting list are placed according to the admission criteria and priorities set out above. However children who are the subject of a direction to admit by the LA or who have been referred for admission and have been allocated a place through the Fair Access Protocol will take precedence over any child on the waiting list.

Important Dates

From 10 September 2021 Gateshead residents can apply online.

Online applications must be submitted by 31st October 2021. Alternatively, parents can request a paper application from The School Admissions Team on 0191 433 2757. Paper applications must be returned to The School Admissions Team, Dryden Centre, Evistones Road, Gateshead, NE9 5UR by 31st October 2021.

If you live outside Gateshead and want to apply to a Gateshead school, you must obtain an application form from your home Council and return it to them by their closing date, even if the schools you want to apply to are in Gateshead. However, you must still consider the information in Gateshead Council’s ‘Admission to Secondary School’ booklet so that you know what the admission arrangements are to Gateshead schools. This information is available on the Gateshead Council website. Your own Council will send us notification of your application and they will let you know the final allocation of a school place for your child.

Offer Date

A letter will be sent to parents resident in Gateshead on or around 1 March 2022 informing them of the school they have been offered for their child. Gateshead residents who apply online are also informed by email on 1 March 2022.

General Information and Definitions

For information on our admission arrangements and definitions of the terms used in this policy please refer to our “Admission to Secondary School” booklet for 2022 on the Gateshead Council website.

Gateshead’s co-ordinated admission scheme and catchment areas referred to in this policy can also be viewed online or at The Dryden Centre.

Community Secondary Schools Sixth Form Admission Policy September 2022 – Applications for Year 12

Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy provides courses of study for post 16 (6th Form) students. The majority of the 6th form students transfer from Year 11, but we generally have places available for external students.

The entry requirements for 6th form are largely dependent on the course of study that a student wishes to access. They are the same for internal and external students.

In general, students wishing to access Advanced Level courses must possess a minimum of 5 GCSEs at grade 4.

Details of specific entry requirements and courses available may be obtained from the school. The availability of courses is dependent upon the number of applicants and the financial sustainability of the course and the governing body of the school determines this in consultation with the senior leadership team.

In the event of oversubscription priority will be given to:

  1. Students who have attended the Academy in the previous academic year (during Year 11) and who satisfy the Academy’s entry requirements for the course available.
  2. All other students of the relevant age who satisfy the Academy’s entry requirements for the course available.

Where there are more applicants than places available in any of the priorities above, we will then give priority to children in the following order:

  1. Children in Public Care (and as deemed under Section 22 of the Children Act 1989) including a child who was previously “looked after” but immediately after being “looked after” became subject to an adoption, residence, or special guardianship order.
  2. Students who live in Academy’s catchment area.
  3. Students who will have a brother or sister at the Academy during the coming academic year.
  4. All other students.

Applicants refused admission to a 6th form are entitled to appeal to an independent appeals panel.

Explanations of the terms used in this Policy

Academy – A school where the governing body set the criteria and is responsible for the school admissions.

Appeal – Any parent whose child is refused a place at one of their preferred schools has a right to appeal to an independent appeal panel.

DfE – The department for Education (central government for education).

Home local authority – A child’s home local authority is the authority in which they reside.

Looked after children – Children who are in the care of a local authority and as defined by section 22 of the children Act 1989 (see also previously looked after children).

Oversubscribed – Where there are more requests for admission to year group in a school, than there are places available.

Parent/guardian/carer – A person who can exercise legal parental responsibility as defined under the 1989 Children’s Act.

Planned admission number (PAN) – The maximum number of pupils to be admitted into a particular year group at a school.

Preference – The legal right of parents to state the school they would prefer their child to attend.

Previously looked after children – Previously looked after children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order.

Sibling link – An older brother/sister or step brother/sister that shares the same parent/guardian and lives at the same address as the child applying and will be attending the preferred school at the time school of admission or adopted brothers and sisters living at the same address and to children who are fostered and have other children from the host family attending the school in question.

Single offer of a school place – The one offer for a place at a school which is made to parent on 1 March 2022.

Special guardianship order – An order appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian or guardian’s as described under Section 14A of the children Act 1989.