Skip to content ↓
Logo Welcome to

Harcourt Primary School

Admissions

Please be advised that if you wish to admit your child to Harcourt Primary School you should, in the first instance, contact Primary Admissions on 03000 412121.  You are very welcome to contact the school directly at any time for any information or to arrange a tour of the school.

Admissions Policy 2023/24

It is the policy of Harcourt Primary School to admit pupils at the beginning of the Autumn Term regardless of ability or aptitude. Children admitted at the beginning of the Autumn will be either statutory school age (children who attain the age of five between 1st September and 31st December of that year), rising fives (those who attain the age of five between 31st January and 31st March of the following year), or rising rising fives (those who attain the age of five between 1st April and 31st August of the following year.

In the event of oversubscription, the Governors will allocate 30 places to children according to the following criteria, and are in priority order:

  1. Where a child comes into the category of a Looked After Child. A child under the age of 18 years for whom the Local Authority (LA) provides accommodation by agreement with their parents/carers (Section 22 of the Children Act 1989) or who is subject of a care order under Part IV of the Act.
  2. Current family association. A brother or sister attending the school when the child starts. In this context brother or sister means children who live as brother or sister in the same house, including natural brothers and sisters, adopted siblings, stepbrothers or sisters and foster brothers and sisters. This follows the guidance in the LAs Primary Admissions Booklet.
  3. Health and special access reasons. The evidence for this must be strong and the Governors will require written evidence from an appropriately qualified medical practitioner. Parental Health is not a criterion. These will be applied in accordance with the school’s legal obligations, in particular those under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. The evidence must demonstrate a special connection between the child’s needs and Harcourt Primary School.
  4. Nearness of children's homes to school.  We use the distance between the child’s permanent home address and the school, measured in a straight line using the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) address point data. Distances are measured from a point defined as within the child’s home to a point defined as within the school as specified by NLPG. The same address point on the school site is used for everybody. The school uses measurements provided by the LA and further information on how distances are calculated is available in the Primary Admissions Booklet published by the LA.  A child’s home address is considered to be a residential property that is the child’s only or main residence (not an address at which the child may sometimes stay or sleep) and which is either owned by the child’s parent, parents or guardian or leased or rented to them under a lease or written rental agreement. Where partners live apart, but share responsibility for the child, and the child lives at two different addresses during the week, we will regard the home address as the one at which the child sleeps for the majority of week days.
Any parent whose child has been refused admission has the right to appeal against the decision. The procedure for appeals can be obtained from the school. The Governing Body will establish arrangements for appeals against non-admission which will include an independent element.

To apply for a primary school place on-line please click here.