We'd be delighted to welcome you and your child as a new pupil at Ark Ayrton Primary Academy, a happy, friendly school where children love to learn. We put mathematics and literacy at the heart of our primary curriculum and we aim to provide outstanding teaching and support so that every child does as well as they possibly can. We place a high value on behaviour and courtesy and we work closely with families to help them help their children to do well.

Applying for a place at Ark Ayrton Primary Academy

Ark Ayrton Primary Academy is a two-form entry primary school which offers 60 reception places each year. It is a non-denominational, non-selective school for local children. If you would like to find out more about the academy please contact the school on 023 9282 4828. We are always pleased to meet prospective pupils and welcome an opportunity to show you and your children around the school. We do not hold open days, but prefer to meet parents/carers on a one to one basis or in small groups. Opportunities to view the school are available throughout the year. Please contact the school office for updated information.

Children born between 1 September 2018 and 31 August 2019 are due to start Reception Class, the first year of primary school, in September 2023.

You can find details of how to apply on the Portsmouth City Council primary admissions site.

Recpetion applications can be completed here.

If you have particular difficulties with completing the applications forms, we may be able to help at the school office. Please ask.

Applications for reception places in September 2023 can be made between 1^st November 2022 and 15 January 2023.

Admissions policy

When we admit pupils, we prioritise children with statements of special educational needs where the academy is named on the statement. Then, if our academy is oversubscribed, we offer places to children in the following order of priority:

a) Looked After Children and Children who have been previously Looked After.

b) Children of staff at the school where there is a demonstrable skill shortage - children of members of staff will have priority in the oversubscription criteria if the staff member is filling a post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.

c) Children who at the time of the admission have a sibling who attends the academy.

d) Children of staff in the school - where there is no demonstrable skill shortage, priority may be given where the academy is oversubscribed to a child of a person who will have been employed in the academy for two or more years at the time of the application for admission is made.

e) Children living in the schools designated catchment area.

f) Children living outside the catchment area.

This policy was amended with the authorisation of the Education Funding Agency to clarify that applicants within the catchment area would be prioritised by straight line distance from the school

Ark Ayrton Admissions Policy 2024-25

Ark Ayrton Admissions Policy 2023-24

Ark Ayrton Admissions Policy 2022-23

Arrangements for admitting pupils in-year

In-Year Admissions

Portsmouth local authority will co-ordinate admissions for in-year applications and for applications for year groups other than the normal point(s) of entry. This will not affect the Academy’s right to determine which applicants have priority for admission.

Should Ark Ayrton Primary Academy have more than a 10% space availability within a year group then we are able to co-ordinate the admission.

Subject to any provisions in the LA’s co-ordinated admission arrangements relating to applications submitted for years other than the normal year of entry, Ark Ayrton Primary Academy will consider all such applications and if the year group applied for has a place then they will be admitted.

Parents/carers will be informed of the outcome of their application within 15 school days. If a place is refused the child will be added to the waiting list, the position on the waiting list will be determined according to the oversubscription criteria in the School’s Admissions Policy.

If you wish to apply for a place, please contact Portsmouth City Council School Admissions on 0239 9268 8008.

In-Year Appeals

If refused a place, the parent/carer has the right to appeal the decision. If you wish to appeal –

Reception, Year 1 & 2 Appeals

Year 3-6 Appeals

For primary appeals, please first read this:

Infant class size appeals

The law states infant classes of 5, 6 and 7 year olds may not normally contain more than 30 pupils with a single teacher. As such, there are limited grounds in which an appeal for an infant class will be successful. There are only three grounds on which infant class size appeals can be upheld.

1. If the panel finds that the admission of additional children would not breach the infant class size limit.

2. The panel finds that the admission arrangements for the school did not comply with admissions law or were not correctly and impartially applied and the child would have been offered a place if the arrangements had complied or had been correctly and impartially applied. Here, the panel must be satisfied not only did the arrangements not comply with admissions law or were not correctly and impartially applied but also the child would have been offered a place if the arrangements had complied or had been correctly and impartially applied.

3. The panel decides that the decision to refuse admission was not one which a reasonable admission authority would make in the circumstances of the case. Please note that the law defines ‟unreasonable‟ very narrowly in these cases and it means a decision which was “perverse in the light of the admission arrangements”, i.e. it was “beyond the range of responses open to a reasonable decision maker” or a decision which is “so outrageous in its defiance of logic or of accepted moral standards that no sensible person who had applied his mind could have arrived at it.”. The panel must use the legal definition of „unreasonable‟, and not their own personal definitions.

If the panel decides that the answer to any of the above categories is yes then your appeal may be allowed. Otherwise your appeal will be refused. Please note that the panel may also take into account the practical consequences for the school and the children in relevant infant classes if any or all the appeals were to be successful.

Appeal panel hearings will take place within 30 school days of receipt of the appeal. Parents/carers will be notified of their appeal hearing date by the independent appeal panel clerk

Appeals process

Ark Network Appeals Timetable

Appeals for children refused a place at a preferred school for admission to Reception in September 2023 will be heard in line with the School Admissions Code.

Primary

Offer Date 17th April 2023

Deadline for lodging an appeal 17th May 2023

On-time appeals will be heard within 40 school days of the deadline for submitting appeals. Appeals submitted after this date will be heard within 40 school days of the appeal deadline or 30 school days of being submitted, whichever is the later date.

Parents/carers will be notified of their appeal date by an external agency engaged by the Ark network.

If you wish to appeal for a place in Reception, please first read this Ark Ayrton Admissions Policy 2022-23.