Admissions Policy and Procedures
Under the Parents Charter schools are required to consider admitting a pupil irrespective of whether he/she is resident within the defined school catchment area. Whilst admission is not automatic, it is anticipated that in most cases enrolment will follow in due course.
Under certain circumstances, outlined below, the decision whether to admit or not will be delayed, pending clarification.
1) The pupil is currently under suspension or exclusion from another establishment.
2) The pupil has a Co-ordinated Support Plan in which case Scottish Borders Council must be contacted
3) The pupil has a specific medical condition.
4) The school is not in a position to provide the curriculum requested.
5) There is serious concern that to admit the pupil would have serious implications for the well-being of other pupils.
6) The pupil is the subject of a placing request.
There are three types of admission:
(i) Progression directly from Primary School
(ii) Casual enrolment
(iii) Adult Learners
(If English is the second language, SBC must be informed)
PROGRESSION DIRECT FROM PRIMARY SCHOOL
This follows an agreed set of procedures involving Primary and Secondary Schools. This is documented in ‘Transition in the Berwickshire High School’.
CASUAL ENROLMENT
- Stage Head (Mr Christie for S1/S2/S3 etc) meets with new students and parent(s) completing admission form, allocating PGT, arranging classes etc
- Stage Head then takes new student on a short tour around the school, introducing him/her to staff as appropriate. The Stage Head will be wary of interrupting teachers when they are addressing classes but experience has shown that the initial friendly contact with staff goes a long way towards allaying the fears of the new student
- Stage Head then arranges with his/her link person in the office for a memo to go to staff involved. This may include additional information is this was available at the time. Examples for each stage are attached
- Stage Head telephones previous school for a verbal report on the new student
- Office staff enter details into Phoenix and create a timetable. They also contact the previous school by letter to request that records be sent to us
- PGT meets new student on day of admission, goes with student to Form Teacher, arranges for helpers to take the new student to each class, meets with him/her later that day etc
- Learning Support Department administers assessments in reading comprehension, spelling and numeracy where this is deemed necessary.
ON ADMISSION DAY
1) Introduce pupil to their Personal Guidance Teacher
2) Introduce pupil to teachers and class pupils
3) Arrange for pupil(s) to help new admit to settle in
After the application form is completed it should be passed on to Office Staff who will enter details into the school database and request records from the previous school.
The records on arrival in school will be passed to the Depute Rector Lower School who will alert Head of House/Guidance staff if there is any cause for immediate concern. The House Depute Rector will then discuss with the Personal Guidance Teacher what action to take.
Parents should be made aware of problems caused by changing schools at particularly critical times.
The Stage Depute Rector should never make comparisons with other Border Schools with parents nor should they respond to comments made by parents in this respect.
The appropriate Personal Guidance Teacher should phone the parent within 10 days to enquire as to how the pupil is settling in.
