Claremont is a Community Primary School and as such our Admissions Policy is determined by our Local Authority, Kent County Council. These are set out in the County Council’s 'Primary determined admissions arrangements for community and voluntary controlled schools 2023-24 (kent.gov.uk)' and are further explained here below. Please also see the KCC Primary Admissions Booklet.

In the first instance, admission to the school is determined by parental preference, provided there are places available. If more parents express a preference for the school than the published standard number of 60 places for new admissions, these places will be allocated by the County Council in accordance with the following criteria, which are in order of priority:

• Children in Local Authority Care or Previously in Local Authority Care
• Attendance at a linked infant school (not applicable to Claremont)
• Current family association (sibling)
• Health, Social and Special Access reasons
• Nearness of children’s homes to schools (distance)

As the Local Authority manages our admissions process, they also manage all appeals. Please contact Admissions, tel 03000 416111, at KCC to find out about our school’s admission and appeal arrangements.

Admission to Reception Year

If your child was born between 1.9.2019 and 31.8.2020 they will be due to start school in September 2024. Please scroll down for information about visiting the school.

Kent County Council (KCC) manage all primary admissions. KCC encourage parents to apply online at www.kent.gov.uk/ola. Online applications for 2024 intake open on 3 November 2023 and close on 15 January 2024. Parents are encouraged to express three preferences for a school place. Our DCSF number for your application is 886 2465. National Offer Day is on 16th April 2024, emails are sent after 4.00pm. Acceptances and refusals must be made by 30 April 2024 and offers from the waiting list are made on 23 May 2024. 

If your child is due to start Primary school in September 2024, you can appeal if you are refused a place at one of your preferred schools on National Offer Day (Tuesday, 16 April 2024). You needed to submit your appeal before Tuesday 14 May 2024 for it to be considered by Tuesday 16^th July 2024. Any appeals received after this time will be heard within 40 school days from the deadline, or where reasonably possible in line with updated guidance from the Department for Education.

For late applications, appeals should be heard within 40 school days from the deadline for lodging appeals where possible, or within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged where reasonably possible in line with updated guidance from the Department for Education.

Claremont is usually oversubscribed. Although our Published Admission Number is 60, places available for our new intake of Reception children, children in Local Authority Care or Previously in Local Authority Care, current family associations (a brother or sister in the school at the time of entry), or children with health, social or special access reasons have priority. This means that we don’t always have many places left to offer. The places remaining are offered according to the distance from your home to the school. The measurements are taken 'as the crow flies' using Kent County Council's measuring software. The nearer you live, the better your chances, although no address can guarantee you a place. Please see our Frequently Asked Questions for further information and for distances previously offered.

Although we are in contact with several local nurseries, there is no preference given to any single nursery as a feeder for Claremont.

For information on visiting the school, please see the Information for prospective parents page.

For more information on the welcome process once your child has been offered a place here, please see the Starting Reception class page.

Admission outside the normal point of entry (summer born children).
Advice from KCC is that parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group. In addition, parents of summer born children (1^st April to 31^st August) may choose not to send that child to school until the September following their fifth birthday and may choose to request that they are admitted out of their normal age group – to Reception year rather than Year 1. Please go to https://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/sch...for more information.

Parents who wish for their child to be admitted out of expected year group require a letter of agreement from the school detailing their consent to the request. They must then complete the Summer Born admission form and return it to KCC Admissions along with the letter(s) of consent from the school(s) they have named. The form should be completed when admissions are open for the year group they wish to apply to. Parents who have deferred the entry of their summer born child are unable to apply using the KCC online system. Please contact primaryadmissions@kent.gov.uk for information.

Requests for admission to Reception year outside of the normal age group should be made in accordance with the following procedure:

• Requests should be made to the Headteacher of the preferred school as early as possible in the admission round associated with that child’s date of birth. This will allow the school and admissions authority sufficient time to make a decision before the closing date.
• The school will consider that request taking into account any evidence provided to support the request. Parents are not expected to provide evidence to support their application, however, where it is provided it must be specific to the child in question. There is no legal requirement for medical or professional evidence to be secured from an appropriate professional however, failure to provide this may impede a school's ability to agree to a deferral. A decision will be made on the basis of the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child concerned and include the views of the Headteacher. The reasons for the decision made will be clearly set out.
• Parents are required to complete an application for the normal point of entry at the same time, in case their request is declined. The application can be cancelled if the school agrees to accept a deferred entry into Year R the following year.
• Deferred applications must be made by paper Reception Common Application Form (RCAF) to the LA with written confirmation from each named school accompanied by the Summer Born admissions form.
• It is important to note that deferred applications will be processed in the same way as all applications for the cohort in the following admissions round in accordance with the school’s oversubscription criteria.

In Year Admissions

Admissions in other year groups (In Year Admissions) are made directly to Claremont School. As we are oversubscribed, we do not usually have places available. We have waiting lists for all year groups. You will be ranked according to the oversubscription criteria detailed at the top of this page.

If you wish to apply for a school place, please complete and return an In Year Application Form and see the KCC website for information. Please see our Frequently Asked Questions for further details on how the process and waiting lists work. 

Visiting the school: If your child is an In Year admission, we are, unfortunately, unable to offer visits to everyone who requests one as we are oversubscribed and take so many enquiries and applications. A visit would be arranged if you are offered a place. Please see our Frequently Asked Questions if you would like further clarification on this.