Secondary school admissions glossary

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

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.

Community College - a comprehensive school with a wider role within the local community.

Community School - a maintained school owned by the LA, which is also the admissions authority.

Comprehensive School - a maintained secondary school that admits pupils of all abilities without selection.

Co-ordinated admissions scheme - formal arrangements between 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.

Grammar School - a school which selects its pupils by academic ability and aptitude.

Home address - a child’s home address is defined as the address at which the child is normally resident or, where a child lives at more than one address, the address at which the child lives for the majority of the time. Where the home address is unclear, the home address will be the address to which the Child Benefit Allowance is payable.

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).

Looked after - 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.

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.

National allocation date - the date set down in law as 1 March each year for the allocation of secondary school places.

Oversubscription criteria - see admission criteria.

Parent - any person who has parental responsibility.

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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