Admission rules
Admission rules for Hertfordshire community single-sex secondary schools
Community single-sex schools
Single-sex means that the school will only accept either boys or girls. 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 6. 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 should send a supporting professional letter from the child's social worker and/or the child's advisory teacher to your local Admissions and Transport team. If you apply online, please ensure that the letter includes the child's full name, date of birth and Unique Application Code (UAC).
RULE 2: Children with a demonstrable medical or social need to go to the school.
A panel of officers will determine whether the evidence provided is sufficiently compelling to meet the requirements for this rule. If you think your child qualifies, you must provide supporting evidence from a doctor, psychologist or other professional involved with your child. The supporting evidence must relate specifically to the school that you are applying to under Rule 2 and must clearly demonstrate why it is the only school that can meet your child's needs. If you are applying online, please send your supporting evidence, which should include your child's name, date of birth and Unique Application Code (UAC), to your local Admissions and Transport team.
‘Medical priority’ is given to children who have an exceptional illness or disability, which means that they can only go to one school. ‘Social priority’ is given to children whose education would be seriously affected if they did not go to a particular school.
RULE 3: Children who have a sibling at the school at the time of application.
A sibling means the sister, brother, half brother or sister, adopted brother or sister, or child of the parent/carer or partner. The child must live in the same house as the sibling from Monday to Friday.
It doesn’t count if the sibling is in their final year at the school. Note: this is normally Year 11 for secondary schools catering for ages 11-16; or Year 13 for schools catering for ages 11-18.
RULE 4: You live in the priority area, and this is your closest non-faith school catering for your child’s gender. In other words, if you have a girl, it’s your closest non-faith girls’ school – and it must be closer to your house than any non-faith mixed school.
If you have a boy, it’s your closest non-faith boys’ school – and it must be closer to your house than any non-faith mixed school.
Tiebreaker: distance to the school (closest applicants take priority)
Find out if you live in the school's priority area here
RULE 5: A lottery for children who live within the priority area.
Any remaining places to your town/parish/unparished area will be allocated on a random basis. Whether you’ve ranked this school first, second or third won’t affect your chances.
RULE 6: A lottery for children who live outside the priority area.
Any remaining places are allocated on a random basis. Whether you’ve ranked this school first, second or third won’t affect your chances.
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:
