Responses to consultation on proposed admission arrangements for 2027/2028

Consultation took place between 17 November 2025 and 15 January 2026 which satisfied the duty to consult for at least six weeks. We asked for views on the following:-

1. Proposed admission criteria for local authority controlled schools and Priory School

The proposed admission criteria (below) remain unchanged from 2026-27:

1. Looked after children and children who were looked after but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or subject to residence orders or special guardianship orders) immediately following being looked after. 

An explanation of who falls into this criterion can be found in the ‘Explanation of words and phrases’ on the Council’s website.

2. Children who will have a brother or sister (sibling) at the school (or linked infant or junior school-see definitions below) at the time of admission and who live at the same address, within the predefined community area*

The definition of ‘sibling’ can also be found in ‘Explanation of words and phrases’

Details of the pre-defined community areas for each school can be found here:

Find my community area (secondary) | East Sussex County Council

Find my community area (primary and junior) | East Sussex County Council

3. Children of staff members contracted to work at the school in question where:

a) The member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made, and/or

b) The member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.

An explanation of who falls into this priority can be found below in the definitions section.

4. Other children living within a pre-defined community area

Each home address within the county falls within a community area although living within the community area does not guarantee a place. Details of the pre-defined community area for each school can be found here:

Find my community area (secondary) | East Sussex County Council

Find my community area (primary and junior) | East Sussex County Council

5. Children who will have a brother or sister (sibling) at the school (or linked infant or junior school-see definitions below) at the time of admission who live at the same address, outside the predefined community area.*

The definition of ‘sibling’ can also be found in ‘Explanation of words and phrases’

6. Other children living outside the pre-defined community area.

Tiebreaker

• In the event of oversubscription within any category, place allocation will be decided by prioritising applications on the basis of home to school distance measured in a straight line (as the crow flies) from the address point of the family home to that of the school. For split site schools, we will measure to the site where the child will attend for the majority of lessons at the point of entry.
• In the event that applicants cannot be prioritised using the tie-breaker above because the distance measurements are the same, the Authority will use random allocation to decide which children will be offered the remaining places. This will be done electronically using the Authority’s admissions software.

*Children living in the priority areas for Denton Primary School and for Harbour Primary School, whose sibling joined one of these schools before 1 September 2022 will continue to be considered under priority 2 for the school their sibling attends.

*Children living in the Brodricklands and Hamlands Farm estates whose siblings joined Polegate School, Willingdon Primary School or Willingdon Community School prior to 1 September 2024 will continue to be considered under priority 2 for the school their sibling attends.

Definitions

Twins and children from multiple births (all community and voluntary controlled schools).

Where the admission of both twins or all siblings from a multiple birth would cause the school to rise above its Planned Admission Number, both twins or all of the siblings will be admitted.

Where the admission of the additional child or children from multiple births to an infant class would result in the class size rising above 30, the additional child/children would be exceptions to the Infant Class Size legislation throughout the infant phase or until the number in the class reduced to 30.

Children of staff definition:

A member of staff will be considered to be a child’s parent for the purpose of this criterion if they are living in the same family unit as the child at the same address and are:

• their mother or father;

• any other person who has parental responsibility, such as an adoptive parent, a special guardian or person named in a child arrangement order;

• any other person who does not have parental responsibility but otherwise has the care of the child, such as a foster carer.

For applications made as part of a normal intake, the length of employment will be considered as at the closing date for applications. For in year applications and for the purpose of maintaining a waiting list, the length of employment will be considered as at the date the application is received.

To be considered under this category, applicants must indicate this in the reasons section of the application and supply an official letter/email from the headteacher/Chair of Governors of the school in question verifying that the parent with care qualifies under a) or b).

Linked junior school

East Sussex County Council is the admission authority for two infant schools, Motcombe Community School and Pashley Down Infant School in Eastbourne. The linked junior school for these is Ocklynge Junior Academy.

Applications for admission out of year group

Arrangements for requesting a delayed reception start can be found here: Admissions for summer-born children | East Sussex County Council

Arrangements for requesting admission out of year group at other points in a child’s education can be found in this section of our website Apply for a school place | East Sussex County Council Please read the section called “Requests to be educated out of age group”.

3 people completed the survey online. All responded to the question about the admissions criteria. The results are as follows:

Are the proposed admissions criteria acceptable?

Yes       – 2 (66.6%)

No        – 1 (33.3%)

Comments received (1)

1) 30 pupils in Early Years including quite a few SEN children is unmanageable! Also have to calculate the extra arrivals during school year due to the massive explosion of new houses in rural areas. Children do not get support they need to reach acceptable levels, children cannot excel because there is no space for them to grow as teachers are tied down. We need more schools, more teachers. Not more crowded classrooms!

2. Proposed admissions numbers - If the admission numbers are not acceptable, please tell us what you think the admission numbers should be and why?

Comments received (1)

1) The Governors of Heathfield Community College would propose increasing the PAN to 248 for the foreseeable future based on the demographic projections in the ESCC School Organisation Plan and the consistent surplus of 1st choices received for Year 6 to 7 transition. This could be revisited should either of these factors change in the future.

3. Proposed co-ordinated schemes - Do you have any comments to make on the co-ordinated schemes?

Comments received (0)

4. Any other comments about the County Councils admission arrangements for 2027-28?

Comments received (1)

1) It is acknowledged that the surplus for Heathfield has been in the 6th Form. This is in part due to transport links to other areas no longer served by a school sixth from. the College would look positively upon any support for students to reach rural locations such as Heathfield to ensure high quality school based provisions remain sustainable.