St Clement Danes 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 and previously looked after children — Looked after children will be prioritised under criterion 1, including previously looked after children (including from abroad) who ceased to be looked after by adoption, child arrangements order or special guardianship order.
2. 2Siblings — Children whose brother or sister is in attendance at the school at the time of application (as defined in Section 2), with priority to closest distance where more than one sibling applies.
3. 3Children of staff — Children of staff employed by the Trustees of Danes Educational Trust at St Clement Danes School (excluding Central Services Staff) who have been employed for a continuous period of two or more years, or recruited to fill a demonstrable skills-shortage vacancy, provided the child lives at the same permanent address as the staff member.
4. 4Musical aptitude — Up to 10% of places for students demonstrating musical aptitude as determined by a test during the autumn term (aural test round one; performance round two for highest scorers).
5. 5Academic ability — Up to 10% of places for students demonstrating academic ability, determined by tests in verbal reasoning and mathematics during the autumn term, places awarded in merit (descending score) order.
6. 6Distance (WD3 postcodes priority) — Distance places allocated on the basis of proximity to the school, with priority given to WD3 postcodes only, using AddressBase Premium straight-line distance.
7. 7Distance (outside WD3) — Any remaining places allocated on the basis of proximity to the school outside the WD3 postcode area, using AddressBase Premium straight-line distance.

If two applications tie: For distance criteria (6 and 7), if distances (measured to two decimal places) are identical, a random selection will be made using a unique reference number assigned by Hertfordshire County Council's admissions database, lowest number given priority. For selective criteria (4 and 5), if scores are identical, the place goes to the applicant living closest to the school; if scores and distance are identical, random selection is used.

Document also contains a separate 'IN-YEAR ADMISSIONS POLICY' for Year 7-11 in-year applications (same PAN 240 but with only 4 criteria: looked after/previously looked after, siblings, staff children, then distance with WD3 priority, no selective testing) and a separate Sixth Form (Year 12) admissions arrangements with GCSE-based entry requirements and its own oversubscription criteria for external applicants (looked after children, staff children, then distance) with a minimum of 25 external places; these are not reflected in the main criteria list above, which relates to the Secondary Transfer (Year 7) normal round of entry.

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.