Welcome to the Hamilton Primary School website, we hope that you will find your visit informative and enjoyable and that it will give you a flavour of the essence of our school community. The web address is only temporary.

“The school lives its motto that Children are the Future”

Ofsted Inspection Report June 2004 

Hamilton Primary School is a foundation school with three form entry based on two sites half a mile apart. The contrast between the magnificent Victorian building situated in the centre of High Wycombe and the 1970’s Hampden Road site, with a splendid field, is only one small example of the variety of experiences which are available to Hamilton children.

 Our school community is a microcosm of the High Wycombe society in which it exists and celebrates the opportunity for children to rejoice in their diversity in a positive, happy and secure learning environment.  Our children gain respect for themselves, each other and the world in a community in which high standards of work and behaviour are expected.

 We are acknowledged as a school that achieves consistently high academic results. The academic performance of our children thrives on the opportunity provided by a large school to band the older children by ability and provide them with specialist teaching. However, equally as important to us is the nurturing of the creative, social, physical and spiritual resources within each child. Thus our children are well prepared for their secondary education when they move on at 11 years of age.

 Hamilton has achieved Healthy School status and is recognised as an Investor in People. We are very proud of these awards along with the opening statement of our recent Ofsted report:

 “Hamilton is a good, effective school with many outstanding features.”

Ofsted Inspection Report June 2004 

As you meander through the site, I hope you will find all the information you seek whether it be in the aforementioned Ofsted report, the Governors Annual Report to Parents, the Prospectus, my Hmail letters to parents, information regarding our curriculum enhancement activities or the community and fund raising events organised by our loyal and hardworking Friends of Hamilton.

Should you wish to find out more, please email us at: office@hamilton-school.co.uk.

Mrs Sue Woolgar

ADMISSIONS POLICY FOR RECEPTION CHILDREN

Hamilton Primary School (HPS) is a Foundation School and the Governing Body is the Admissions Authority.

Subject to the criteria set out below, children will be admitted at the beginning of the academic year during which they become five, without reference to gender, ability or aptitude. The number of children admitted per year is 90.

Places will be allocated by the Governing Body on the basis of applications received through the Buckinghamshire Co-ordinated Scheme for Primary Admission. This allows parents */ guardians to apply for entry to any Buckinghamshire primary school by means of the Buckinghamshire Primary School Common Admission Application Form (BCAF) available in the Guide for Parents on Admissions and on-line via the County Council’s website. Parents may express up to three preferences, in ranked order. In addition parents wishing to apply for a place under criterion 4, must complete a supplementary information form available from the school office. The closing date for return of applications is set by the County Council and applications must be received by their deadline prior to the start of the academic year (September) in which the child becomes five. Applications, together with a copy of the child’s birth certificate and proof of residence, will be required in accordance with the guidance given by Buckinghamshire County Council. Letters offering a place at the school will be sent by the County Council.

Once children with statements of special educational need have been admitted to the school then places are allocated in accordance with the following oversubscription rules:

1. Children in care (any child looked after by a local authority in accordance with section 22 of the Children Act 1989)

2. Children whose normal home address^# is within the area normally served by the school, i.e. the area delineated by the proposed postcode map in the County Council consultation

3. Children who will have a sibling (brothers or sisters of whole or half blood, or any other child - including an adopted child - who resides at the same address and for whom the parent/guardian also has legal responsibility) in attendance at the school at the time of entry.

4. Children with exceptional medical, social or educational needs, supported by written evidence from a doctor, social worker, education welfare officer or other appropriate person

5. Other children according to the proximity of the child's house to the school by the shortest appropriate route. The distance will be measured in accordance with Buckinghamshire County Council’s Geographical Information System from the front door of the child's home to the entrance to the Administration block of the Priory Road site.

If the school can take some but not all applicants in any category, the next criterion, or criteria, in the numbered list will be used to decide between all applicants in that category. For example if all children in categories 1 – 3 can be offered places but there are too many children in category 4 criterion 5, will be used to rank all the children in category 4 to decide who can be offered a place.

Late applications will not be processed until all timely applications have been allocated.

In the case of twins, triplets, etc, if the school is unable to offer places to all the siblings, the following would apply: the first born will be offered the available place, or if time of birth is not known, the places will be offered in first name alphabetical order.

Parents may exercise the right to defer the entry of their child into school during the Reception year until the beginning of the term after the child’s fifth birthday but may not seek deferment until the beginning of Year 1. The child’s place must be taken up during the Reception year. In the majority of cases the school finds that children benefit from starting before their fifth birthday

Once all places are allocated, children will be placed on a waiting list in priority order in accordance with the criteria above and as set out on the school’s Waiting List Policy, a copy of which is appended. Priorities are likely to change, subject to the stated criteria, as new applications are made or individual circumstances change.

Admissions to Hamilton Primary School at times other than Reception Entry

There are occasions when parents ask for admission to other year groups. In these instances the governors have agreed that the child may be admitted provided that the addition of another child to the year group does not exceed the standard number for each year group. Admission is governed by the criteria above. Where a transfer application and subsequent appeal are unsuccessful and a child has been offered a place on the waiting list, the Admissions Committee will not consider a repeat application within the same academic year unless there has been a relevant change of circumstances relating to the application, or a place has become available in school and the child is at the top of the waiting list.

* Definition of “Parent” this is defined in law (the Education Act 1996) as either:

• Any person who has parental responsibility for the child or young person or

• Any person who has care of the child or young person

Application forms should be filled in by a person who is the child’s “parent”. If two parents live at different addresses, the parent the child lives with for most of the week should fill in the form.

^# Definition of “normal home address”:

The address should be where the parent and the child live and evidence of this is required in the form of a utility bill, rent book or mortgage statement showing the address concerned. A child’s home address is where he or she spends most of the school’s week.

NURSERY ADMISSIONS POLICY

Subject to the criteria set out below, children will be admitted to the Nursery at the beginning of the term after their fourth birthday, without reference to gender, ability or aptitude. The number of children in the Nursery will normally be up to 39 in the morning and up to 39 in the afternoon.

Applications must be received by the end of the term prior to the term in which the child becomes four. Places will be allocated by the Governing Body according to the following criteria, applied in the following order:-

a) Children who have a Statement of Special Educational Needs naming the school.

b) Looked after children for whom there is an agreement between a designated officer acting on behalf of the County Council as Corporate Parent and a designated officer of the LEA that the school will more appropriately meet the child’s needs.

c) Children living permanently within the area normally served by the school, i.e. the area delineated by the proposed postcode map in the County Council consultation.

d) Children who will have a sibling (brothers or sisters of whole or half blood, or any other child - including an adopted child - who permanently resides at the same address and for whom the parent/guardian also has legal responsibility) in attendance at the school at the time of entry.

e) Children with exceptional medical, social or educational needs, supported by written evidence from a doctor, social worker, education welfare officer or other appropriate person.

f) Children whose parents express a preference for a school which by its size and diversity can offer education beyond statutory requirements.

g) Other children according to the proximity of the child's house to the school by the shortest appropriate route. The distance will be measured in accordance with Buckinghamshire County Council’s Geographical Information System from the front door of the child's home to the entrance to the Administration block of the Priory Road site.

Late applications will not be processed until all timely applications have been allocated. Parents who are offered a Nursery place will be given the opportunity to express a preference for morning or afternoon sessions which the school will endeavour to meet so far as possible but reserves the right to allocate places according to numbers where desirable.

Once all places are allocated, children will be placed on a waiting list in priority order. Priorities are likely to change, subject to the criteria above, as new applications are made or individual circumstances change.

It should be noted that a place in Hamilton Nursery does not automatically guarantee a place at Hamilton Primary School. Applications for school places should be made in line with the Admissions Policy for places at Hamilton Primary School.

April 2005