• The information below was published before our consultation commenced in September 2019.

Public consultation on changes to admissions arrangements for 2021-22

Walker Riverside Academy (WRA) is consulting on a proposal to change the admissions arrangements for students entering the school in Year 7 in 2021-22.

WRA is required to consult on the Admissions Policy, having not consulted for the previous seven academic years. As a result, trustees are proposing to consult on amendments to the WRA Admissions Policy. The consultation period with regard to changes to the Admissions Policy will commence on 13.09.19 and will conclude at Midnight on 31.01.20.

The local trustees of Walker Riverside Academy are consulting only on admission arrangements for entry into Year 7 at Walker Riverside Academy from September of 2021 for 2021/22 Academic Year and each year thereafter. There will be no change to the Pupil Admission Number (PAN) which will remain at 220 places.

A note of consultation has also been shared with Newcastle City Council for wider consultation through their community communications and notification has also been posted in local press.

We would welcome your views on the proposed changes.

There are four proposed changes to the ‘How Places Are Allocated Section’ within the Oversubscription Criteria in the Admissions Policy, which will be considered by governors. These changes are as follows.

1. A request was made to all schools by the Secretary of State in June 2018, to include Looked After Children (other than England) as a category in school admissions policies. As a result the following category is proposed in category 2 -

• • • Children adopted from outside England Children who appear to the local authority to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. (A child is regarded as having been in a state of care in a place outside of England if they were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation or any other provider of care whose sole purpose is to benefit society. Parents / carers of children adopted from outside of England will need to provide a photocopy of the relevant order or proof of the child’s adoption from care direct to the local authority with the application form).

2. Currently the school is drawing students from over 30 primary schools. There have been instances where, due to the large number of students attending WRA from schools other than named feeder schools, siblings have been on a waiting list and unable to access a place at WRA resulting in families sending siblings to different schools. Having siblings at different secondary schools results in unnecessary stress for parents and carers. Sibling link will apply to students from any primary school. Therefore a proposed change is to move ‘sibling link’ to category 3 in the new policy.

• • • Students who have an older brother or sister (a sibling) who will be attending the school on the date that the younger child will be admitted in September 2021. ‘Sibling’ can be a brother or sister, half brother or sister, adopted brother or sister, step brother or sister, or the child of the parent or carer’s partner, as long as the children live at the same address. Sixth form students are not eligible as sibling links. For applicants in year, the sibling link may be an older or younger child that will be attending the school when the applicant would be admitted, with the exception of sixth formers.

3. Students who live closest to the school should be allocated a place in their local school regardless of the primary school they have attended. Therefore a proposed change to move ‘distance from school in a straight line’ to category 4 in the new policy.

• • • Students whose home address is closest to Walker Riverside Academy. Students living nearest to the school as measured in a straight line distance from a single fixed central point at the school to a point in the centre of the home address of the child, using the Local Land and Property Gazetteer or a suitable alternative geographical information system.

4. Tie Break - In the event of any tie break with criteria, a simpler method of distance from school will be used. Therefore a proposed change to the tiebreaker criteria

• • • Distance from home to the Academy will be the deciding factor for the remaining children. In the event that more than one child has an equal right to an available place the place will be offered by random allocation.

The Process of the Consultation

The consultation is being communicated by WRA as follows -

► Notification to Newcastle City Council.

► Notification to all parents, carers and guardians of students at the Academy by letter and through the Academy website.

► Headteachers and Principals of all schools in the authority and local area.

► Parents, carers and guardians of all students in Primary schools in the local area.

Recipients are welcomed to respond by emailing comments relating to the admissions changes to consultation@walker.academy.

On conclusion of the consultation on 31.01.20, all responses will be collated from Midnight and presented to the Local Trust Board Meeting for full consideration. The outcome of the consultation will be notified to all parents by the end of February 2020 with a full report posted on the Academy website. Consultation outcome, and a final revised policy, will also be presented to Newcastle City Council Admissions by 28th February 2020 ahead of application process for applications for 2021/22 entry.