Admissions

Joining Our School

If you would like your child to start at our either of our schools, please contact the appropriate office for further information or to arrange a visit. 

Further information about children starting school is available on the Norfolk County website.
 


Timetable for school admissions for September 2024

First admission to school (pupils born between 1/9/2019 and 31/8/2020)

  • Round Opens: 25 September 2023
  • Round Closes: 15 January 2024
  • Offer Day: 16 April 2024 


By law, children must start statutory education full-time at the beginning of the term following their fifth birthday. 

  • Details of application process and a link to the online application form can be found here.
  • If you are considering applying to defer your child's admission to Reception class to the following school year read the guidance below:


Useful links:



View Our Admissions Policy

  • Joining at the start of Reception & Years 1 to 6

    By law, children must start statutory education full-time at the beginning of the term following their fifth birthday. 


    Details of application process and a link to the online application form can be found here.


    If you are considering applying to defer your child's admission to Reception class to the following school year read the guidance below:

  • Joining the School During the School Year

    Reception and Years One to Six


    A move to a different school at any time other than admission to reception, transfer to junior or transfer to secondary is known as an ‘in-year transfer’. This could be a move between Norfolk schools or a move to a Norfolk school from a school in a different area.


    If you want to transfer to a school that is not in Norfolk you will need to contact your new local authority to ask about their admissions process. Find your new local authority using the Government’s postcode finder.


    Under no circumstances should you withdraw your child from their current school before an alternative school place has been allocated.

     


How Places Are Offered

For admission into Reception each September, the LA, on behalf of the Governing Body, will offer a set number of places. This is the Published Admission Number (PAN) for that year group.

In the event that more than the PAN are received, the oversubscription criteria will be applied to determine priority for places. Both preferences are treated equally, regardless of whether they are first or second preference

Over-subscription Criteria

If there are more applications for places than there are places available, we will give preference to children living nearest to the school, according to the following rules in this order of priority:


Children who are due to start school and:

  1. have a statement of special educational needs naming that school
  2. are in public care or have been adopted. children who appear to the Admission Authority to have been in state care (i.e. in the care of or accommodated by a public authority, religious organisation or any other provider whose sole/main purpose is to benefit society) outside of England but ceased to be so as a result of being adopted only.
  3. live in the area served by the school and who have a sibling attending the school at the time of their admission
  4. live in the area served by the school who have a brother or sister attending the feeder junior school
  5. have a disability and live in the area served by the school (Appropriate professional evidence will be required to confirm the disability)
  6. live in the area served by the school
  7. have been allocated a permanent place at a Specialist Resource Base attached to the school. (Places allocated by Norfolk County Council's Placement panel)
  8. live outside the area served by the school who have a brother or sister with a statement of special educational needs attending the school at the time of their admission
  9. live outside the area served by the school who have a brother or sister attending the school at the time of their admission
  10. live outside the area served by the school who have a brother or sister attending the feeder junior school
  11. have a disability and live outside the area served by the school (Appropriate professional evidence will be required to confirm the disability)
  12. live outside the area served by the school

If all children within any of the above rules cannot be offered a place, the highest priority will be given to children living nearest to the school within that rule. To determine who lives nearest, distance will be measured on a straight line 'crow fly' basis, using Ordnance Survey data. The address will be measured from the post office address point on the property.

In the unlikely event that distance does not separate the final two or more pupils seeking the last remaining place, a random allocation will be used to determine who is offered the final place.

NOTE: Criteria 7 only applies to schools which have a Specialist Resource Base on site.

Feeder school priority will only apply in the first year of entry to the school.

 

Please contact the school should you have any questions. 


Reserve Lists

When an application is refused, the child’s details are automatically placed on a reserve list for the year group, ranked according to the oversubscription criteria.

As part of the co-ordinated scheme for primary admissions, the LA Admissions Team holds the initial reserve list on behalf of the governing body until the end of the first week of the autumn term in the initial year of intake.

If A Place Opens Up

Parents will be contacted immediately if a place becomes available for their child, but should be aware that their child’s place on a reserve list may change if an application is subsequently received that meets a higher criterion than their own.

The governing body then manages the reserve list until the end of the autumn term.

Mid-Phase Applications

Where mid-phase applications are received, children’s details will be automatically placed on a reserve list for the year group, ranked according to the oversubscription criteria.

Reserve lists will be held for a period of one term following the term for which the place was refused.

Appeals

If you are unsuccessful in getting a place at Hilgay Riverside Academy, details of the appeal process can be found here.