Laurance Haines School

1. Children looked after and children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or a special guardianship order).

2. Medical or Social. Children for whom it can be demonstrated that they have a particular 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. The evidence must relate specifically to the school applied for under Rule 2 and must clearly demonstrate why it is the only school that can meet the child’s needs.

3. Sibling. Children who have a sibling on the roll of the school or linked school at the time of application. This applies to reception through to Year 5.

4. Applicants who are children of a parent who is a permanent member of the school staff. A member of staff must either have been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made; and/or have been recruited to fill a post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage. In all cases, the member of staff must have parental responsibility (sole or shared) for the applicant.

5. Nearest School. Children for whom it is their nearest community or voluntary-controlled school or an own admitting school or academy using Hertfordshire County Council’s admission rules.

6. Distance. Children who live nearest to the school. Children not considered under rule 5 will be considered under rule 6.

These rules are applied in the order they are printed above. If more children qualify under a particular rule than there are places available, a tie break will be used by applying the next rule to those children.

Tie Break

When there is a need for a tie break where two different addresses are the same distance from a school, in the case of a block of flats for example, the lower door number will be deemed nearest as logically this will be on the ground floor and therefore closer. If there are two identical addresses of separate applicants, the tie break will be random. Every child entered onto the HCC admissions database has an individual random number assigned, between 1 and 1 million, against each preference school. When there is a need for a final tie break the random number is used to allocate the place, with the lowest number given priority.