Devon County Council

• Does Devon County Council look after all Admissions in Devon?
• Are there Different Admission Arrangements if I move into Devon outside of the ‘normal admission round’?
• How does the In Year Admissions Policy work?
• So do I need to have an address?
• What if I am not happy about the school place I am offered for my child?

Does Devon County Council look after all Admissions in Devon?

No - Devon is a large rural county, and it is split into three council areas. Addresses in Plymouth or Torbay are served by their own Unitary Authority, and so if you plan to move to these parts of Devon you will need to contact them about a school place at:

For school admissions purposes, Devon is divided into geographical areas which are served by a particular school – these are often called ‘designated’ or ‘catchment’ areas. All Secondary Schools have their own designated area; within these are smaller areas which are the designated areas for the Primary Schools in that area. The Primary Schools which fall into a Secondary School’s designated area are often linked with that Secondary school, and are sometimes called contributory Primary Schools. This means that the children who go there have a higher priority for a place at the Secondary school at the usual point of transfer.

If you require a Primary School place for your child, or if you are not sure about which school is designated to serve the address you plan to move to, you can contact the Education Helpline on 0845 155 1019 who will be able to help you.

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Are there Different Admission Arrangements if I move into Devon outside of the ‘normal admission round’?

Yes – The ‘normal admission round’ means the time when children would usually apply for and be admitted to a school place, e.g. Reception, Year 3 in a Junior School or Year 7 for Secondary Schools.

When children require a school place at a time other than when we would normally allocate school places we call this ‘out of the normal admission round’ and we have different admission arrangements which we use.

This is because the Government is concerned that people who move into an area outside the ‘normal admission round’ may have difficulty finding a school place as a lot of schools will already be full. For this reason they recommend that Local Authorities (LAs) have different admission arrangements for children seeking a school place during the year, and in Devon we have a separate admissions policy – called the “In Year Admissions Policy” which we use to allocate places.

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How does the In Year Admissions Policy work?

Schools have something called Planned Admission Numbers or PANs and this is the number of children who can be admitted to each year group in the school. The PAN is decided by looking at the number of children in a school’s local area who will need a place and the physical accommodation at the school.

In Devon we are committed to ensuring that children local to a school have priority for a place there. Often when parents move to a new area the local school is full. This has meant that children have in the past needed to travel long distances to the nearest school which has a place available. The ‘In Year Admissions’ policy attempts to prevent this and allows us to find a place for your child at a school near to where you live.  The policy works in the following way:-

For Secondary school-aged children:

• As a parent you have the right to express a preference for any school, and we will do our best to meet this preference.  We will identify whether your preferred school has a place for your child and if so we will offer you one.  
• If your preferred school does not have room we will look at the school which is designed to serve your home address - the ‘designated’ school – a place will be offered at the designated school if the relevant year group is not operating at more than 3% above its Planned Admission Number.  
• If your ‘designated’ school does not have a place available (ie has already admitted 3% above its Planned Admission Number), we will offer a place at the next nearest school to your home address, as long as that school has not reached or exceeded the “3% limit” in the relevant year group.
• If that is not possible, a place will be offered at the next next nearest school to your home address, as long as that school has not reached or exceeded the “3% limit” in the relevant year group, or the pupil would thereby be required to travel more than the 1 hour 15 minutes (as specified in the DCC Home to School transport policy).  
• If that is not possible a place will be offered at the designated school.
• In all circumstances you will have the right to Appeal for a place at your preferred school, and your child’s name can be added to any waiting list.
• We decide which the next or next next nearest school is by using a straight line measurement from your home address to the school.  We use an electronic mapping system called Geographical Information System (GIS) to make this measurement.  

For Primary school-aged children:

• As a parent, you have the right to express a preference for any school and we will do our best to meet this preference.  We will identify whether your preferred school has a place for your child and, if so, we will offer you one.
• If your preferred school does not have room, we will look at the school which is designed to serve your home address - the ‘designated’ school - to see if they have room for your child.  If they do we will offer a place. You will have the right to Appeal for a place at your preferred school and your child’s name can be added to any waiting list.
• If your ‘designated’ school does not have a place available, we will look at the other local schools to your new address.  We will then offer a place at the nearest school to the new address with a place available. This will be measured using our mapping system called Geographical Information System (GIS).  

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So do I need to have an address?

Yes – we need to know where you intend to live so we can identify which are the designated and next nearest schools. If you have an address we will need to see some evidence of your intention to move there. This evidence should confirm your intention to move to the address and the date you will move there – it could be a solicitors letter or rental agreement.

We will be able to allocate a school place for your child before you move into your new address, but cannot do this any earlier than eight weeks before your move. However you can telephone the Admissions Team at any time to discuss potential vacancies and designated area queries. When we have allocated a place for your child we will only hold it open until the date when your evidence tells us you will move in. After this date the school place will be withdrawn 8 weeks after the offer if you haven’t taken it up, or advised us that your move has been delayed for any reason.

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What if I am not happy about the school place I am offered for my child?

If we are unable to offer a place in your preferred school you have the right of appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel. When we write to you to tell you about the school place we can offer for your child, we will explain how the appeals process works and what you need to do if you want to submit an appeal.

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If you need any further help or advice regarding School Admissions please don’t hesitate to call the Education Helpline on 0845 155 1019.