School Admissions

School Tours

We are delighted that you are interested in applying for a place at our school for your son or daughter. We warmly welcome visits to our school. To book a tour with the Headteacher, please contact Linda (School Administrator) on 0208 883 6880. Tours normally take place every Wednesdays from 9.15-10.15, but we are able to conduct tours at other times if required. We look forward to welcoming you to our lovely school and showing you our children and staff in action.

School Admissions

Hollickwood School is a one-form entry primary school with a Nursery. Admissions for Nursery are managed by the school and Reception to Year 6 admissions are managed by London Borough of Barnet Admission Team.

Nursery

Morning and afternoon Nursery classes have 26 places each. All parents of three and four year olds are entitled to 15 hours of free childcare and working parents may be entitled to additional 15 hours of free childcare. At Hollickwood we offer a limited number of 30 hour places. These hours can be arranged over morning/ afternoon session or full days according to parents' needs. Application can be made by submitting the following form to the school office.

Reception to Year 6

From Reception to Year 6 we have a maximum of 30 pupils in each class. We follow the local authority policy on admissions. Click here to find out more about Barnet admission arrangements see the website and the Primary Schools Admissions Guide.

Reception applications can be made on-line using the E-Admissions website:
https://www.eadmissions.org.uk/

For in-year admissions in Reception to Year 6, please apply online using the Barnet website.

Applications for every age group will be considered according to our admissions criteria below.

Our Admissions Criteria for September 2024 are as follows:

Tie Breaker

Distance will be used as a tie-breaker within each category.

Final Tie Breaker

Where two applications cannot otherwise be separated because the distance from the child’s home address (as defined by this policy) to the school is equal, the order in which places selected in random order using Barnet’s computerised system and places will be offered accordingly.

Statutory Maximum Infant Class Size

The maximum number of pupils legally permitted to be in a class in Reception Year, Year 1 or Year 2 class is 30 pupils. There are, however, specific circumstances in which certain categories of children will not be counted towards the class size, which allows admission of these children to a class of 30 pupils or more pupils without breaching the statutory maximum infant class size. These children are known as “excepted pupils” until the class size falls back to 30 pupils. Parents are referred to Paragraph 2.16 of the Code (which is accessible on the Department for Education’s website) for further details in this respect.

Twins and Children of a Multiple Birth

Where a child who is a twin or a child of a multiple birth has failed to achieve a place in the usual way but their twin or at least one of their siblings of a multiple birth has achieved a place in the usual way, those children will be admitted to the School above the PAN for that year group. The children admitted over the PAN will be “excepted pupils” until the class size falls back to 30 pupils (see above).

Request to delay entry to school

Children reach compulsory school age at the beginning of the term following their fifth birthday. Parents of children below compulsory school age may defer their child’s entry to a Reception class school until the later in the school year. However, a Reception class place should be taken up by the start of the summer term. If parents want their child to take up a Year 1 place in the following academic year a fresh application must be made.

Requests for admission outside the normal age group

Children are educated in school with others of their age group, with the curriculum differentiated as necessary to meet the needs of individual children. However, parents may request that their child is exceptionally admitted outside their age group, for example if their child is gifted or talented or has experienced problems such as ill health. As the admissions authority for community primary schools, the local authority will decide whether or not the individual circumstances make this appropriate on educational grounds and in the best interests of the child. This will include taking account of the parent’s views; information about the child’s academic, social and emotional development; where relevant, their medical history and the views of a medical professional; whether they have previously been educated out of their normal age group; and whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely.

Parents seeking admission to an age group below the child’s actual age should submit their request in the September of the year before the year when children of the same age are due to start school and submit a written request to the Chair of Governors.

Summer-born children

Parents of a summer born children may choose not to send that child to school until the September following their fifth birthday and may request that their child is admitted out of their normal age group – to Reception rather than year 1.

If parents wish to apply for their summer-born child to join a Reception class, instead of Year 1, in September 2024, they must complete an application for Reception 2024 and submit a written request to the Chair of Governors. Summer-born children are those born between 1 April and 31 August.

Children of UK Service Personnel and Crown Servants

The School will accept applications and allocate a place for the admission of the children of UK Armed Forces Personnel with a confirmed posting in the area of the School, or the children of Crown Servants returning from overseas to live in the area of the School, in advance of them arriving. This effectively means that these children do not have to be living at the stated home address at the application deadline, as all other children do. The application for admission must be supported by an official letter declaring the relocation date. The school will use the address at which the child will live when applying our oversubscription criteria, as long as parents provide some evidence of their intended address. We will use a Unit or quartering address as the child’s home address when considering the application against the oversubscription criteria, where a parent requests this

Waiting List

The school will operate a waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria. Where the school receives more applications for places than there are places available, a waiting list will operate until the end of the academic year. This will be maintained by the London Borough of Barnet. Any places which subsequently become available will be offered by the London Borough of Barnet according to the criteria listed above.

In-year admissions

The Governing Body will consider all such applications and if the year group applied for has a place available, admit the child. If more applications are received than there are places available, places will be offered to those on the waiting list in line with the oversubscription criteria set out above. The waiting list will be operational until the end of the academic year. Children being allocated a place in accordance with the Fair Access Protocol from the local authority will take precedence over those on a waiting list. Parents/carers whose application is turned down are entitled to appeal.

Appeals

If your child has not been offered a place, you have the right to make an appeal to an independent panel for a place at Hollickwood School. The Board of Governors will establish an Independent Appeal Panel.

A request for an admission appeal must be accompanied by the grounds for making the appeal (i.e. why it is believed that the admission arrangements does not comply with the School Admissions Code 2021 or other legislation, or was not correctly applied in relation to the application for admission). Before setting out the grounds of appeal, parents are advised to consider the reason for the refusal stated within the notification letter. For more details, please click here.

Appeals timetable can be found here.