Ratton School

When there are more applications than places for 2027-28 (Year 7), places are offered in this order of priority. Meeting a higher criterion beats meeting a lower one.

1. 1Looked After Children and Previously Looked After Children A 'looked after child' is one who is (a) in the care of a Local Authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a Local Authority in the exercise of their social services functions, in England. A 'previously looked after child' is one who was looked after in England, but ceased to be so because they were adopted, or became subject to a child arrangements or special guardianship order, as well as a child who appears to the Admission Committee (on behalf of the Trust) to have been in state care outside of England (i.e. in the care of or accommodated by a public authority, religious organisation or any other provider whose sole/main purpose is to benefit society), but ceased to be so as a result of being adopted. Applications for looked after or previously looked after children may need to be supported by documentary evidence confirming their status, such as a signed letter from their social worker or former social worker confirming their current or previous status, an adoption, child arrangements or special guardianship order. In the case of children adopted from state care outside England (as defined above), evidence of having been in state care outside England and of being adopted may be required. Ideally, this should be received by the application deadline in the normal admission round. When assessing the evidence provided, the DfE's current guidance will be followed. Where the Virtual School Head at the child's Local Authority has already verified the child's status and the school is able to confirm this with them, there will be no need for parents to provide the school with any documentary evidence.
2. 2Children with a Sibling at Ratton School Children with a sibling at the school at the time of application, who will still be at the school at the time of their admission, will be allocated places in this category. For the purpose of this policy, a ‘sibling’ is a full brother or sister (sharing both parents), a half brother or sister (sharing one parent), an adoptive full or half brother or sister (sharing one or both parents), a step-brother or step-sister (where one child’s parent is married to the other child’s parent), a child of the applicant’s parent’s cohabiting partner, and a long term foster brother or sister. In all cases, the sibling must live at the same address as the applicant child as part of the same core family unit. For the avoidance of doubt, the children of friends or extended family members will not meet the definition of a ‘sibling’ for the purpose of this policy, even if they live at the same address as the applicant child.
3. 3Children of Staff at Ratton School Children of a full or part-time staff member employed by the Trust on a permanent employment contract who works for more than 50% of their normal working week during term time at Ratton School will be allocated places in this category where one or both of the following criteria are met: a) The staff member has been employed by the Trust working at the school for at least 2 years as at the date the application for admission weas submitted; and/or b) where the staff member was recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage. 77744349v1 For the purpose of this policy, a ‘child of a staff member’ will include their natural or adoptive children wherever they live (including with another parent), as well as the children of their cohabiting spouse or partner, whether married or not, where they live with the staff member. Where this priority applies, the staff member must be the parent whose details are provided in the application form. This is because schools are prohibited from obtaining the details of more than one parent during the application process. Applications must also be accompanied by a signed and dated letter on headed notepaper from the staff member’s HR Manager confirming they meet the criteria, so that the child can be identified as eligible during the application process.
4. 4Children attending Ocklynge Junior School Children attending Ocklynge Junior School at the time of application will be allocated places in this category. Where the oversubscription criteria is to be applied outside the normal admission round to in-year applications, or to the waiting list, the applicant child will be taken to be in attendance at Ocklynge Junior School at the time of application if they attended that school to the end of Year 6.
5. 5Children living in the Catchment Area for the School Children whose home address (as defined in this policy) is located within the defined catchment area for the school, as per the Catchment Area Map published alongside this policy. Parents can find out whether their child’s home address is within the defined catchment area for the school by accessing ESCC’s Secondary Community Areas Searchable Map via its catchment web page - The importance of where you live | East Sussex County Council. Parents should search for their postcode in the search bar. More than one area may come up in the results – the side arrow should be used to scroll through these. The school is in the Cavendish & Ratton area.
6. 6All Other Children All children not falling into any of the categories above will be allocated a place in this category.

Published by the admission authority. Meeting a criterion never guarantees a place — it sets the order places are offered in. Full detail, other entry points and previous years are on the Admissions tab.