The following applies for schools and academies using Bromley Council's admission criteria.
Child looked after, and children previously looked after
All schools must adhere to the School Admissions Code when consulting and determining their admission arrangements.
A child looked after is a child who is:
- in the care of a local authority or being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions. These children must still be “CLA” when the child starts school unless (2) applies.
- or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order (90) including those who appear to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.
Definition
Applications from children in public care (children looked after) must confirm which local authority is responsible for the child and be accompanied by a letter from the child’s social worker confirming their legal status and that he/she will still be looked after when the child is admitted to the school. Reasons for preferences can be included in the supporting letter.
Applications from children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were immediately adopted (or became subject to a residence order or a special guardianship order) must be accompanied by a letter and/or documentary evidence from the child’s social worker, advisory teacher or other relevant professional.
In addition to an application being made through the appropriate local authority co‑ordinated process, Faith schools require completion of their supplementary form. Proof of church membership and/or church attendance by the family and the looked after (or previously looked after) child must be provided.
Home to school proximity measurements
Proximity is measured in a straight line from the front door of the child’s home address to the main entrance to the school building. Distances are calculated using the local authority’s electronic measuring system based on Ordnance Survey GIS references.
After all reasonable efforts have been made through the measuring process to qualify which address is the nearest from a school, a tiebreak will be used whenever two different addresses measure precisely the same distance. In the case of a block of flats, the lower door number will be deemed nearest as logically this will be on the lower floor and therefore closer. If there are two identical distance measurements for different addresses of separate applicants, the tiebreak will be alphabetical by child’s surname.