Primary glossary

Admission criteria - the categories - in priority order - into which each application falls if the school is over-subscribed.

Catchment area - a school’s designated admissions area in which applicants have high priority for places at the school.

Church school - (see Voluntary Aided school).

Co-ordinated admissions scheme - formal arrangements between the all admission authorities in each area designed to ensure that each applicant receives a single offer of a school place.

Foundation school - a maintained school owned by a foundation, where the governing body is the admissions authority.

Home address - the address at which a child is normally resident or, where a child lives at more than one address, the address at which he or she lives for most of the time. The home address would normally be the address to which the Child Benefit Allowance is paid.

In the care of a local  authority - a child in the care of the Local Authority (see Local Authority). This term does not include those children under residence orders or those who have been adopted or with a special guardianship order.

Linked primary school - a school with close working links to a designated comprehensive school.

Local Authority - (LA for short) the local council responsible for the provision of statutory education in each area (previously known as the Local Education Authority or LEA for short).

Maintained schools - the collective term for Community, Voluntary and Foundation schools.

Multiple applications - where parents may apply for a number of schools and rank them in order of preference.

Over-subscription criteria - (see admission criteria).

School Appeals Panel - an independent body that decides the outcome of statutory appeals against the refusal of a place at a school nominated by the parent.

SEN statement - a formal document describing a child’s special educational needs (SEN) and how they will be provided for in school.

Siblings - a child’s brothers and sisters (including half, step, or adoptive) living in the same family unit and household.

Statutory appeal - an appeal, to which every parent is entitled by law, against the refusal of a school place.

Voluntary Aided (VA) school - a maintained school owned by a trust, usually denominational, where the governing body is the admissions authority.

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