Secondary school admissions

Postal strike and secondary school admissions

To avoid delays, please apply online. If you prefer to complete the paper form, please get your application form in early, or, if it’s getting near the deadline of 23 October, hand-deliver it to the Children's Services reception on the first floor at Regal House, London Road, Twickenham.

While we are sympathetic to the problems a postal strike can cause, late applications can reduce the chances of getting a place at the school you want.

About secondary school admission arrangements

Full details of the admission arrangements for entry to Richmond upon Thames secondary schools in September 2010 can be found in the Admission to Secondary School brochure(pdf, 2354KB). To get a copy of the brochure, or to make any enquiry regarding secondary school admissions, please telephone the Council's Admissions Section on 020 8891 7514. Please note that there is an error on page 6 of printed copies of the brochure, where the highlighted date in the second column should be 11 December 2009.

Full details of how to apply are given in the Admission to Secondary School brochure (see above), but the basic steps are given here:

Applying for a Year 7 place

Admission arrangements for entry into secondary school are coordinated across London and beyond. 33 London boroughs and five local authorities (including Surrey) bordering the capital coordinate secondary school admissions with the aim of ensuring, as far as possible, that each child is offered just one state school place. This is known as the pan-London admissions system.

This means that local authorities (LAs) exchange details for any children whose parents/carers have applied for state schools within their administrative areas and they then make offers of places on the same date, 1 March - National Offer Day.

Until 2004, there was no requirement for LAs and schools to confer with each other, resulting in many parents receiving more than one state school place for their children. They have then taken a long time 'sitting' on offers without telling the LAs or schools which they have decided to accept. This has meant that places have not been freed up quickly for other children who needed them.

Under the pan-London system, all parents apply, on one common application form, for up to six community schools (including church and foundations schools and academies). These schools can be in-borough or out-borough, but the form must be returned to the Admission Section of the borough in which the child lives. Information is then exchanged between the LAs and one offer is made at the highest-ranked of your preferences, if any, at which a place is available.

Coordination has put an end to multiple offers, for the benefit of the children. If your child does not live within Richmond Borough, you should ensure that you obtain and complete the application form of the local authority in which your child lives.

The application process is as follows:

You can use one form, either paper or online (but not both), to apply for up to six state-maintained (not private) secondary schools within Richmond Borough or any other local authority's area. You can obtain the paper form from the Admissions Section by telephoning 020 8891 7514 or emailing education.admissions@richmond.gov.uk; but if you live outside the borough you should contact your home local authority's admissions section The schools you state can be community, church or foundation schools or academies, or a combination thereof, and you do not have to use all six preferences. However, as demand for places in the borough is high, you are strongly advised to include your closest community school or academy among your preferences. The closing date for 2010/2011 admissions will be 23 October 2009.
If you list Christ's School or any schools outside the borough on your application form, the Admissions Section will pass the relevant details to those schools so that they can consider your child against their admissions criteria. If you are applying to a church school on the basis of your religious commitment, or to a selective school, you should obtain a supplementary form form the school and return the completed form to the school. The Admissions Section will then be notified as to whether your child can be offered a place at that school.
If you list any Richmond Borough community schools on your application form, the Admissions Section will consider your child against the borough's admissions criteria.
If your child could be offered more a place at more than one school or academy - whether church, community or foundation, or in-borough or out-borough - the place offered will be at whichever of those schools you listed highest on your application form.
The Admissions Section will send you a letter by first-class post (for 2010/2011 admissions this will be on 1 March 2010) to let you know the result of your application (this is known as the 'initial allocations stage'). If you applied online, you will also be able to log on to find out your child's allocated school, from 7am on the following day.
If you are not offered a place for your child at one of your preferred schools, their name will be placed on the waiting list and you will have the right to appeal against the decision. If you live within Richmond Borough and none of your preferences can be met, the Admissions Section will offer you a place at an alternative school (which may be a community or church school or academy), subject to availability.
As some offers of places are turned down by parents, further offers will be made throughout the spring and summer from the waiting lists.

The timetable for the application process for 2010/2011 admissions will be as follows:

From Monday 1 September 2009: You can apply online from this date.
By Friday 23 October 2009: Your application - either online or the paper form - must be received by the School Admissions Section by the end of this day. The online admissions portal closes at midnight.
Friday 11 December 2009: The last date (until the waiting lists start after the National Offer Day) by which a new address will be used for the purpose
Monday 1 March 2010: National Offer Day. The Admissions Section will send you a letter, by first class post, to let you know the result of your application.
Tuesday 2 March 2010: If you applied online, you will be able to log in to the online admissions portal from 7am to find out the result of your application, if you have not received the letter by then.
Monday 16 March 2010: Closing-date for receipt of reply-slips indicating whether or not you wish to accept the school place offered.
May/June: Appeals heard.

Applying for a place once a year-group has started

You should telephone the Admissions Section on 020 8891 7514 to find out which schools have vacancies, and you should then telephone whichever schools or academies you are interested in.
Please note, though, that from September 2010 onwards, the Admissions Section will coordinate all 'in-year' admissions for schools within the borough and for borough residents who are new to the area and want places in those or out-borough schools.

Online secondary admissions applications

The online portal will be open for 2010/2011 Year 7 admissions from 1 September 2009 and will close at midnight.on 23 October 2009.

You should note that some (mostly faith or selective) secondary schools - including Christ's School if you would like a 'Foundation' place for your child there - require you to complete a supplementary form which you should obtain from, and return to, the school concerned. Christ's School's supplementary form can be downloaded here: Christ's supplementary form(pdf, 25KB).

Personal information policy and validity of information given

The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (the “Council”) respects your privacy rights and is committed to ensuring that it protects your details, the information about your dealings with the Council and other information about you available to the Council (“your information”).

In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, the Council will use your information, for the purpose of processing your application for a school place, to: (a) deal with your requests and administer its departmental functions (b) meet its statutory obligations; and (c) prevent and detect fraud.

The Council may share your information (but only the minimum amount of information necessary to do the above and only where it is lawful to do so) with other departments within the Council (including the elected members), the School Nursing Service, central government departments, law enforcement agencies, statutory and judicial bodies, community services providers and contractors that process data on its behalf.

The Council may also use and disclose information, that does not identify individuals, for research and strategic development purposes.

In the case of any application that you make, it will be assumed that the information that you give is true to the best of your knowledge and belief and that you understand that if you give any false or deliberately misleading information, or deliberately withhold any relevant information, on the online application form and/or supporting papers, your application may be invalid and could lead to the withdrawal of an offer of a school place.