School admissions wording help please?

[Kattykit]

If a school said in its admissions criteria;

Preference given to children with a sibling still in attendance at the school in September 2019

A different school said;

Preference given to children with a sibling in attendance at the time of admission

Would you take that to mean two different things?

If the time if admission is the autumn term 2019, no, it’s the same.

If it is for a waiting list place for an in year admission, I.e before the end if summer term 2019, then the second knee means just that: ‘at the time’,

No, because time of admission is September 19.

They mean the same thing. The time of admission for the current round is Sept 19.

Unless the second school sets its own term dates and occasionally starts during the very last days of August? But they've probably adopted wording that can fit future years Admissions with minimal editing.

It's different. Say the sibling is in y11 in academic year 2018/19 and there's no Sixth Form

School 1 wouldn't admit because sibling will have left in Sept 19

School 2 would admit because sibling attends the school on Offer Day.

I disagree with goldengummybear. Time of admission is September, not offer day.

Offer day is NOT the same as time of admission.

Time of admission is the day they start year 7.

They both have the same intention, but the first one, I suppose, could technically be argued to apply by someone who wants sibling preference in, say May 2020, whose sibling was on roll in September 2019, but moved to a different Secondary School in February 2020. I don't think it would wash in reality, because the spirit of the clause is the same as the second one.

They both essentially mean "Must have another child in years 7-11 still registered at the school at the point that the child applying, who has benefited from sibling priority, registers at the school.

School 2 would admit because sibling attends the school on Offer Day

Why would admission date mean offer day though?

Goldengummybear that's what I thought it meant, only because of the different wording.

My husband is a teacher and yr 7 children and not officially on role until sept 1st so that is date of admission - not offers day.

On reflection I think everyone else is right and admission is 1 September 2019 and not the day you get the letter saying that you're admitted.

A child is not officially in admission until they start school on day 1.

They both mean the same thing.

I agree with others that they both mean the same thing.