What is an exceptional arrangement??

[ukkittykat]

Was just wondering under the school admission criteria what exactly is an exceptional arrangement? What kind of things are they looking for?

[titchy]

Parents are social workers with clients' children at local school. Child therefore needs to go to a different school.

Child is bereaved and needs to go to a school which has specific resources to deal with this.

Child's mother has restraining order on father who has two other children at this school so child needs to go to another school.

That sort of thing. Looked after children are a separate category, and I think speical needs are too when a specific school is named as being the only that is suitable.

[admission]

Can I assume that you are talking about excepted pupils, not exceptional?

In infants you are not allowed to go above 30 in a class with one school teacher. However there are some circumstances where it is allowed. These are
a) children with statements of special needs admitted outside the normal round of admissions
b) children moving into the area mid year for whom there is no other available school
c) children in care admitted outside the normal admission round
d) children admitted after the initial allocation of places because the admission authority recognise that an error was made.
e) children admitted by an independant appeal panel, where in effect an error is identified during the process or where the admission authority have behaved unreasonably

In each of the above situations the pupils is deemed an excepted pupil for the rest of that school year, but the school has to take appropriate action to be legal if there are still 31 in the class at the start of the new academic year.

There are also two situations relating to pupils with special needs that have dual registration between a special school and another school where they are termed excepted pupils but it is for all the time the pupil is in the school.

There are other situations which could be termed exceptional. So an example might be that there is a surplus of pupils to places and in "exceptional" circumstances the admission authority (local authority) will allow the admission number to be breached with the agreement of other local schools.

Does that answer the question or are your thinking of something else?

[ukkittykat]

Hi, I did mean an exceptional arrangement, I just wondered what circumstances you would have to have to be considered under this catergory, but I think titchy explained this?

[prh47bridge]

That is unusual wording. Can you tell us which council we are talking about?

[ukkittykat]

epsom and ewell

[prh47bridge]

Surrey, then.

If you look at their primary admissions booklet, exceptional arrangements is explained on page 24. Basically it covers serious or life threatening illnesses, sensitive family circumstances such as disability or Social Services involvement, and children who are the subject of an Education Supervision Order or who have been permanently excluded from school.

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Wasn't there a thread on this topic last year? As best I can remember, it concerned a grandmother who had taken over care of her grandchild in very difficult family circumstances. It might be worth looking for that, if OP wants to know more about exceptional arrangements.