Offer date: 17th April 2023

Reception Admissions are released by Westminster on Monday 17th April 2023.

If you have been notified by Westminster that you have a Reception place at Ark Atwood Primary Academy we will be delighted to welcome you into the Atwood Community in September 2022. We will be contacting families directly in the second half of the summer term to arrange paperwork, inductions and transitions and look forward to welcoming you into the Ark Atwood community!

Enquiries re admissions should be directed to Westminster Admissions: https://www.westminster.gov.uk/children-and-families/education/school-ad...

Helpful information: https://www.westminster.gov.uk/media/document/primary-school-hints-and-t...

 

How to apply

Applications for places at Ark Atwood will be made in accordance with Westminster Council's co-ordinated admission arrangements. Information on our school will be included in their Starting School brochure, which you can pick up from the council offices. Copies will also be available from most nurseries and early years centres. We use the primary school admissions timetable specified by Westminster Council each year and published annually.

Online applications are open via the Westminster Council website: https://www.westminster.gov.uk/starting-primary-school

Deadline for Applications is: Saturday 15th January 2023

 

Admissions criteria

Ark Atwood Primary Academy is a non-selective school for local children. We have 60 reception places available each year in two forms of entry. If the school is oversubscribed, priority will be given to students with statements of special educational needs, where the academy is named on the statement. The remaining places will then be offered in the order of priority below:

  • Looked After Children and all previously Looked After Children.
  • Children of staff of the school where there is a demonstrable skill shortage.
  • Children who have a sibling who already attends the school and who will continue to do so on the date of admission (for this purpose “sibling” means a whole, half or step-brother or step-sister resident at the same address).
  • Children of staff of the school (where there is no skill shortage).
  • The remaining places will be allocated children who live closest to the school, using a straight line distance from the main entrance of the permanent site, at Amberley Road of the academy to the main entrance to the child’s home.

Admissions to Ark Atwood are detailed in policies below.

PDF iconArk Atwood Admission Policy 2018-19

PDF iconArk Atwood Admission Policy 2019-20

Ark Atwood Admission Policy 2020-21.pdf

Ark Atwood Admission Policy 2021-22 FINAL.pdf

Ark Atwood Admission Policy 2022-23 FINAL.pdf

Ark Atwood Admissions Policy 2023-24 FINAL.pdf

Ark Atwood Admission Policy 2024-25 FINAL.pdf

 

Ark Network Appeals Timetable 

Appeals for children refused a place at a preferred school for admission to Reception class in September 2023 will be heard in line with the School Admissions Appeals Code.

  Offer date Deadline for lodging an appeal
Primary 17th April 2023 17th May 2023

Appeal panel hearings will take place within 40 school days of the deadline date for submitting an appeal.

The independent appeal panel clerk will notify parents/carers of the date of their appeal; appeal hearings will take place during May/June/July 2023.

In Year:

Appeals for children refused admission to year groups other than Reception will be heard within 30 school days of receipt of the appeal. Parents/carers will be notified of their appeal hearing date by an independent appeal panel clerk.

For all year groups, please click here for the appeal form

 

Before submitting a Primary appeal, please read the following:

 

Infant Class Size Appeals

The law states infant classes of 5, 6 and 7 year olds may not normally contain more than 30 pupils with a single teacher. As such, there are limited grounds in which an appeal for an infant class will be successful. There are only three grounds on which infant class size appeals can be upheld.

  1. If the panel finds that the admission of additional children would not breach the infant class size limit.

  1. The panel finds that the admission arrangements for the school did not comply with admissions law or were not correctly and impartially applied and the child would have been offered a place if the arrangements had complied or had been correctly and impartially applied. Here, the panel must be satisfied not only did the arrangements not comply with admissions law or were not correctly and impartially applied but also the child would have been offered a place if the arrangements had complied or had been correctly and impartially applied.
  1. The panel decides that the decision to refuse admission was not one which a reasonable admission authority would make in the circumstances of the case. Please note that the law defines ‟unreasonable‟ very narrowly in these cases and it means a decision which was “perverse in the light of the admission arrangements”, i.e. it was “beyond the range of responses open to a reasonable decision maker” or a decision which is “so outrageous in its defiance of logic or of accepted moral standards that no sensible person who had applied his mind could have arrived at it.”. The panel must use the legal definition of „unreasonable‟, and not their own personal definitions.

If the panel decides that the answer to any of the above categories is yes then your appeal may be allowed. Otherwise your appeal will be refused. Please note that the panel may also take into account the practical consequences for the school and the children in relevant infant classes if any or all the appeals were to be successful.

 

Further information from Ark Schools about the Appeals Process, including the link for lodging an appeal, can be found in this document:

Admissions Appeals Booklet 2023.pdf

 

In Year Admissions

Applications made to any year group outside the main admissions round (In-Year admissions) should be made directly to Westminster local authority. If you wish to apply for a place, please complete the application form here: https://www.westminster.gov.uk/children-and-families/education/school-ad...  

Parents/carers will be informed of the outcome of their application within 15 school days.

If a place is refused the child will be added to the waiting list, the position on the waiting list will be determined according to the oversubscription criteria in the School’s Admissions Policy. If refused a place, the parent/carer has the right to appeal the decision.

 

Nursery Admissions

Applications for our September 2023 intake need to be submitted via the link below. The Application Form sets out the application process.

Application Form

 

If you have any queries regarding admissions to Ark Atwood please contact the school via email info@arkatwoodprimary.org or 020 7266 7070