Guildford County School

Parents / Admissions

 

 

 

Admissions to the School
 
Admissions to the school are determined by the governors in accordance with the policy set out below. The Published Admissions Number for Year 7 is 160. The Governors are committed to a continuing policy of open admissions to the school without any selection or discrimination.
 
Applying for a place
 
Admissions booklets and application forms are distributed to all children in Year 6 in Surrey maintained schools in September, and are also made available through Surrey’s Contact Centre which answers general admission enquiries for the Local Authority (LA). The telephone number for the Contact Centre is 0300 200 1004. This information is also available on the Surrey County Council website: www.surreycc.gov.uk/admissions.
 
You can apply for a school place either on the Surrey LA paper application form or on-line. The application form invites parents to rank their three preferred schools in order of priority. The paper application form should be completed and returned to your child’s current Surrey maintained school, or directly to the LA if s/he attends an out-county or independent school. The on-line form goes directly to the LA. The closing date for all applications (either paper or on-line) is at 12.00pm on Friday 23 October 2009. 
 
Allocating places
 
The following admissions criteria are used, in order of priority, to allocate places when the school is oversubscribed:
 
1.       Children in Care
2.       Exceptional Circumstances
3.       Siblings
4.       Distance to School
5.       Any Other Applicants
 
1. Children in Care
 
Children in Care are those children who are looked after by the local authority and who are currently in their care or who are being provided with accommodation by the authority for a continuous period of more than 24 hours.
 
2. Exceptional Circumstances
 
Exceptional circumstances means children with a serious or life-threatening medical condition which makes attendance at Guildford County School essential, or children where there are sensitive and/or serious individual and/or family circumstances. In the case of a medical condition or disability, this should be stated on the application form and can only be considered if substantive medical evidence is attached. Please note that a letter from a GP will not normally be deemed sufficient evidence. Governors reserve the right to consult with their own or local authority medical advisers. If there are sensitive and/or serious individual and/or family circumstances, these should be stated at the time of application. Substantive evidence, such as a report from a support service, must be provided.
 
3. Siblings
 
This means children who have siblings on role at the school at the time of their admission. A sibling also includes a step, foster or half brother/sister living at the same address.
 
4. Distance to School
 
The distance to Guildford County School is measured in a straight line from the address point of the pupil’s house, as set by Ordnance Survey, to whichever of the school's four entrances available for pupils to use is the closest to that address point. This is calculated using the Transport Team’s Geographical Information System. A child’s home address is considered to be the child’s permanent address where he/she lives with at least one parent and where he/she spends the majority of the school week. Parents will be asked to provide evidence to prove a permanent address.
 
5. Any other applicants
 
 
Late applications
 
If you do not manage to meet the deadline for applications, because you are new to the area, you wish to change your preference, or for any other reason, please contact the school and submit your application form, paper or on-line, to Surrey LA.
 
Waiting Lists
 
At the beginning of March letters are sent out by Surrey Local Authority informing all parents of the school at which a place has been allocated to your child. If you have not been offered a place at Guildford County School by the LA and you are still keen to accept one, or if you are applying for a place after the beginning of March, please contact us immediately. We operate a waiting list to determine which child will be offered any place that becomes available. The waiting list reflects our admissions criteria as listed above.
 
Appeals
 
Please contact the school directly in the first place if you would like to lodge an appeal, since we can let you know whether an appeal is likely to be necessary. The appeals system is operated independently of the school, and we aim to ensure that all appeals are heard by the end of June. 
 
Casual admissions
 
We handle directly any applications received from the first day of the school year onwards, and in all other year groups, including the Sixth Form. Please contact us if you would like more information about whether there are places available.
 
Admission into the Sixth Form
 
Each year, the Governors invite Year 11 students who already attend Guildford County School to express an intention to join the Guildford County School Sixth Form. Applications are also invited from students of Year 11 age who are members of other schools, and wish to join the Sixth Form (Years 12 and 13) of Guildford County School. They will do this by, for example, advertisement in the local newspaper and through the distribution of the Sixth Form brochure to local schools, and by the publishing of an applications date – normally in late January for students wishing to join in the following September. The Governors will however consider applications when they are received; and places will be offered on the basis of negotiated programmes of study.
 
Entry Requirements
 
Students are normally required to gain 5 GCSE passes or the equivalent at Grade C or above for AS/A2 courses, but all students are considered on an individual basis. No minimum requirements are set for other courses.
 
Published Admissions Number
The PAN for the Sixth Form, which refers to students from other schools, is 20 in Year 12 and 10 in Year 13. We will however consider accepting additional students should we reach our PAN.
 
Allocating Places
 
The following admissions criteria are used, in order of priority, as defined above, to allocate places in the Sixth Form when the Sixth Form is oversubscribed:
 
  1. Children in Care
  2. Exceptional Circumstances
  3. Siblings
  4. Distance to School
  5. Any other Applicants
 
Meetings
Meetings will normally be held to provide advice on options and entry requirements for particular courses, with students in Guildford County School Year 11 and those from other schools.
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