Admission rules
Admission rules for Hertfordshire community mixed-sex secondary schools
Community mixed-sex schools
Mixed-sex schools are also known as 'co-educational'. Community schools are state-maintained, run by the local authority (Hertfordshire County Council, in this case). The schools receive funding from the local authority, follow the National Curriculum and are regularly inspected by Ofsted. The local authority employs the staff, owns the land and buildings, and decides on the admission criteria to apply if the school is oversubscribed. These schools all follow Hertfordshire County Council's admission rules, described below.
SchoolGuru’s Admission Calculator can predict whether you’re likely to get into any of these schools.
Admission rules
Go through the rules below, in turn. The first rule that applies for your child is the rule you should put into the Admission Calculator. If the school is oversubscribed, the admission rules are applied in the order shown below, from 1 through to 7. Applicants qualifying under Rule 1 are allocated places first, then it's applicants under Rule 2, then Rule 3 etc. Some popular schools ‘run out’ of places by Rule 4, 5 or 6. For the final rule applied, if more children qualify for a place, than there are places available, a tiebreak is used (see individual rules for more information).
RULE 1: Children in public care.
You’ll need to send a supporting professional letter from the child's social worker and/or the advisory teacher. Include the child's full name, date of birth and your parent ID.
RULE 2: Medical or social needs.
A panel will determine whether there’s enough evidence to admit your child under this rule. You must provide supporting evidence from a doctor, psychologist or other professional involved with your child. You will need to show that only one particular school can meet your child’s needs.
RULE 3: Sibling.
Children with a sibling at the school at the time of application (unless the sibling is in their final year). A ‘sibling’ means a sister, brother, half brother or sister, adopted brother or sister, or child of the parent/carer or partner. The children must live in the same house from Monday to Friday.
RULE 4: You live in the priority area and this is your closest school or academy that’s mixed-sex, non-faith and non-selective.
To find out which is your closest mixed-sex, non-faith and non-selective school, call Hertfordshire County Council on 0300 123 4043. If you want to guess at this yourself, by using the maps on SchoolGuru, just ignore any single-sex, faith schools or selective schools that are closer to your house – they're irrelevant under this Rule. Note: selective schools offer places based on academic ability.
Tiebreaker: distance to the school (closest applicants take priority)
Find out if you live in the school's priority area here
RULE 5: You live in the priority area and live nearest to the school.If you live in the priority area, but don’t qualify under Rule 4, you’ll qualify under Rule 5. There will be another school closer to your home that’s mixed-sex, non-faith and non-selective.
Tiebreaker: distance to the school (closest applicants take priority)
RULE 6: You live outside the priority area and this is your closest mixed-sex, non-faith and non-selective school.
To find out which is your closest mixed-sex, non-faith and non-selective school, call Hertfordshire County Council on 0300 123 4043. If you want to guess at this yourself, by using the maps on SchoolGuru, just ignore any single-sex, faith schools or selective schools that are closer to your house – they're irrelevant under this Rule.
Tiebreaker: distance to the school (closest applicants take priority)
RULE 7: You live outside the priority area and nearest to the school.
If you live outside the priority area, but don’t qualify under Rule 6, you’ll qualify under Rule 7. There will be another school closer to your home that’s mixed-sex, non-faith and non-selective.
Tiebreaker: distance to the school (closest applicants take priority).
Special note: Any child with a statement of special educational needs, that names the school, will be offered a place (because that’s the law!).
Hertfordshire toolkit:
Guidance & support:
