RALEIGH INFANT AND ADMIRALS ACADEMIES

All admissions for children to join Reception (Raleigh) or Year 3 (Admirals) in September are co-ordinated through the Local Authority.  The application process opens on the 25th September 2023 for Reception and the 6^th November 2023 for year 3.  All applications close on 15^th January 2024.  

National offer day is 16th April 2024.

Norfolk Local Authority manages all admissions on our behalf and can be contacted at:

Tel: 0344 800 8020
Email: admissions@norfolk.gov.uk
Website: Admissions at Norfolk County Council

In-Year applications are any application for a school place made to any year group, apart from September admissions to Reception and Year 3.  For applications into existing year groups, a place will be offered when the number of pupils in the relevant year group is below the admission number for that year group. 

All In-Year applications should be made through the Local Authority. For further guidance on this process can be found on the Moving schools during the school year section of the Norfolk admissions website.

Admissions for our Nursery are handled at the academy. If you would like to visit our nursery to see the learning environment and meet our Nursery Manager, please ring our academy office on 01842 753993 or email us at office@ral.eastern-mat.co.uk

Our Nursery sessions run from 8.30am - 11.30am. Children may start in our Nursery the term after their third birthday.

You can find more information on our Nursery by clicking here.

Raleigh Infant and Admirals Academies follows their admissions policy for all children, including those with SEND.  Summarised details from the Policy are included below, with relevant sections high-lighted for ease of reference:

Admissions Policy Primary:

• Students are admitted at the age of four, without reference of ability or aptitude.
• Where applications for admissions exceed the number of places available, the Academy Council (or its delegated subcommittee) will apply the over-subscription criteria within this policy.
• Infant class sizes (those where the majority of children will reach the age during the school year) will not contain more than 30 pupils with a single class teacher, unless there are exceptional circumstances for the time they are in an infant class or until numbers fall back to the infant class size limit.

Expected children are:

• Children admitted outside of the normal admissions round with statements of special educational needs, Health and Care Plans specifying a school;
• Looked after children and previously looked after children admitted outside normal admissions round;
• Children admitted, after initial allocation of places, because of a procedural error made by the admissions authority or local authority in the original application process;
• Children admitted after an independent appeals panel upholds and appeal;
• Children who move into the area outside the normal admissions round for whom there is no other available school within a reasonable distance;
• Children of UK service personnel admitted outside the normal admissions round;
• Children whose twin or sibling from a multiple birth is admitted otherwise than as an expected pupil;
• Children with special educational needs who are normally taught in a special educational needs unit attached to the school (if the school has one), or registered at a special school, who attend some infant classes within the mainstream school. *Raleigh Infant and Admirals Academies do not have a Specialist Support Base

• Where one of our academies hosts a Specialist Resource Base (SRB) on site, the admissions authority is the Local Authority.  Where students are entered onto the academy roll they are under a separate PAN for the SRB and not included in the academy's annual PAN,
• Offers of placement will be communicated by the Local Authority to families on 17th April or the next working day.
• Students and families wanting to join other year groups should contact the Academy Principal Admissions Manager for possible admission.
• We will provide for the admissions of all children in the September following their fourth birthday.  Parents may defer the date of their child's admission until a point later in the school year, but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age and not beyond the start of the final term of the school year in which the application was made.
• Where parents wish, their child may attend part-time until later in the school year, but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age.

Over-subscription Criteria:

Where applications for admission exceed the number of places available, the Local Governing Body (or its delegated committee) will apply the following criteria in order of priority set out below to decide which children to admit:

• Children with a Statement of Special Education Needs or Education, Health and Care Plan naming the Academy must be admitted.
• Children who are in public care or living in accommodation provided by the Local Authority (Looked After Children) and children who have previously been looked after, including those who have been adopted.
• Children living within the catchment area of the academy, with an older sibling at the academy.
• Children of staff where the staff member has been employed at the school for 2 or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made; and/or the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant position for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.
• Other children living inside the catchment area.
• Children living outside the catchment area with an older sibling at the Academy.
• Where more children meet each of these criteria in turn than there are place available, a fair 'tie-breaker' will be invoked, which will be a calculation of the distance as the crow flies, between the front door of the child's home and the entrance of the Academy, with the child living closest to the Academy getting first preference, the second closest of the next place and so on until the places are filled.

If parents wish to appeal against a decision relating to admissions, this must be done in writing and a form can be obtained from the Academy Office or by phoning the office on 01842 753993. The academies follow the appeals process of Norfolk Local Authority. Further information on this process can be found on the Norfolk Schools Admissions website.