Seaford Head School

Achieving Excellence Together

Admission to Seaford Head School

Academic Year 2021 -22

Appeal Statement by the Admissions Governors of Seaford Head School

Applicant name and Name of Student(s) Date of Birth Year Group

address
Mr Petru Minciuna Rebecca Minciuna 30.01.2010 Year 7
4a Balcombe Road September 2021
Peacehaven
BN10 7QZ

Preferred School: Seaford Head School

In Community Area: No

Distance from child’s address to Seaford Head School: 8417.73 metres

Allocated school: Longhill High School

Supporting Documentation
Appendix A – Application
Appendix B – Seaford Head School Admissions Policy 2021 – 22
Appendix C – Seaford Head School – Governors’ statement
Appendix D – Headteacher’s statement
Appendix E – School details from Register of Educational Establishments, source Edubase, DfE
Appendix F – EFA Funding Agreement – Pupil section
Appendix G – Seaford Head School Net Capacity Assessment April 2012
Copy of application from School Access Module
 Seaford Head School (SHS) Admissions Policy
2021/22 School Year

Introduction
The governing body of Seaford Head School have determined the following for the 2021/22
academic year:

1. Admission Number
The Governors agreed the Published Admission Number (PAN) would remain at 240 for Year 7.

2. Application process
Applications are made using the County Council’s application procedure. Parents can apply
online at www.eastsussex.gov.uk/educationandlearning/schools/findingaschool or a paper
form is available upon request from the ESCC Admissions and Transport Team at the address
below. Completed paper applications are to be returned to:

The Admissions and Transport Team,

PO Box 4,
County Hall,
St Anne’s Crescent,
Lewes, East Sussex,
BN7 1SG.

The closing date for Year 7 applications is 31st October 2020.

All applications for all year groups will be subject to the County Council’s co-ordinated schemes.
All children whose Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) names the school will be
admitted.
 3. Oversubscription Criteria.

If there are more applications than places available at the school, the criteria below will be used
to determine which children are offered the available spaces, and will be applied in the
following order of priority.

i. Children in the care of, or provided with accommodation by, a local authority and children
who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted.

ii. Children of UK service personnel (UK Armed Forces) - For families of service personnel
with a confirmed posting to the area, or crown servants returning from overseas to live in
that area. The school must:
a. Allocate a place in advance of the family arriving in the area provided the
application is accompanied by an official letter that declares a relocation date
and a Unit postal address or quartering area address when considering the
application against their oversubscription criteria. This must include accepting a
Unit postal address or quartering area address for a service child. The school
must not refuse a service child a place because the family does not currently live
in the area, or reserve blocks of places for these children

b. Ensure that arrangements in their area support the Government’s commitment

to removing disadvantage for service children. Arrangements must be
appropriate for the area and be described in the school’s composite prospectus.

iii. Siblings of children on roll at Seaford Head School at the time of admission who live at the
same address within the community area*.
*Children are ‘siblings’ if they are full, half, adoptive, foster or step brother or sister living
in the same household. This criterion includes siblings attending the school’s sixth form.
iv. Children of staff. Once the above criteria i to iii have been applied to other applicants and
offers have been made subsequent to the offer date for secondary admissions, the school
may offer places to the children of staff where the member of staff has been employed at
the school for 2 or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the
school is made, and/or where the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for
which there is a demonstrable skills shortage for the vacant post in question. This is
accordance with paragraph 1.39 of the School Admissions code
v. Children living within the community area.
vi. Siblings of children on roll at Seaford Head School at the time of the applicant’s admission
who are on roll at one of the feeder schools at the time of application**. The community
feeder schools are: Alfriston Primary School, Annecy Roman Catholic School, Chyngton
School, Cradle Hill School and Seaford Primary School.
vii. Children living outside our community area who are on roll at one of the feeder schools
at the time of application. The details of the feeder schools are provided in criterion (vi)
viii. Siblings of children on roll at Seaford Head School at the time of admission who live
outside the community area**
ix. Children living outside the community area
** Children who have a sibling who joined Seaford Head School prior to 1 September 2017
who is still on roll at the time of the admission of the applicant will be admitted under the
previous criteria which gave priority to siblings regardless of whether they live in the pre-
defined community area or not. In such cases these applicants will be considered under
criterion 3(iii).

Tiebreaker

If there are more applicants who qualify under an oversubscription criterion than places available,
allocation of places will be determined by prioritising applications within that criterion. This will
be on the basis of the shortest route from home to the main gate of the school (please see the
definition of this below) using the method adopted by East Sussex County Council.
If applicants cannot be prioritised by distance; ie the distance from home to the school is
absolutely equal for such applicants, this will be resolved by random allocation. This process will
be independently verified.

Definition of the distance to an applicant’s home

The distance from the home address to the school will be measured using the method adopted
by East Sussex County Council. Distances will be measured on behalf of the Governing Body,
using the County Council’s Geographical Information System (GIS) from the child’s home to the
main gate of the school’s site used by its students.

As a split site school, the distance will be measured to the main gate of the site where the child
receives the majority of his/her teaching:
Years 7 & 8 – the main gate for the Steyne Road Site
Years 9, 10 & 11 – the main gate for the Arundel Road Site
The Community Area.

Seaford Head School serves the town of Seaford and the neighbouring areas which extend
north to include Alfriston and Lullington, east to the eastern boundary of East Dean, including
Birling Gap and west to the western boundary of Bishopstone.
Seaford Head School community area
5. Waiting lists

Seaford Head School will operate a waiting list.

Where in any year the school receives more applications for places than there are places
available, a waiting list will operate for unsuccessful applicants to Year 7. Waiting lists will also
be maintained for other year groups when these year groups are full. Waiting lists will be
maintained by Seaford Head School and it will be open to any parent to ask for his or her child’s
name to be placed on a waiting list for the relevant year group following an unsuccessful
application. Names will be held in the order as dictated by the over subscription criteria.
Governors will consider other applications above the set PAN in terms of parental demand and
capacity. The governors will work with ESCC to ensure the co-ordination of admissions is
effective.

6. Admission to a Year Group without a published admissions number

Admission to other year groups (Years 8-11) will be based upon the size of teaching groups
already existing in that year in Seaford Head School and the efficient use of resources.
Admission will be mindful of the timetabled provision.

The school will require parents/carers to complete an East Sussex County Council application
form. This will be available on line via the county’s website:
https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/educationandlearning/schools/admissions
Paper applications will be forwarded to parents/carers upon request.

7. Right of appeal

There will be a right of appeal to an Independent Appeals Panel for any unsuccessful applicants.

The deadline for the receipt of appeals:

For applications for Year 7 in September 2021 – To be confirmed

Appeals received after the deadlines detailed above will still be heard, but may take place after
appeals received by the deadline have been heard by an Independent Appeals Panel.
 Seaford Head School
Achieving Excellence Together

For In-year applications, parent/carers must submit their appeal within 25 school days of being
informed that the application was unsuccessful.

Timeline

The admission arrangements for Seaford Head School were determined for children joining year 7
in September 2021. These arrangements will be circulated after 28th February 2021 and will
appear on the school and East Sussex County Council website by 15 th March 2021.
Objections to the arrangements must be referred to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator at the
following address:
Office of the Schools Adjudicator,
Mowden Hall,
Staindrop Road
Darlington
DL3 9BG
Tel: 01325 735303
Email: osa.team@osa.gsi.gov.uk

Objections must be made by 15th May 2021.

 Governors’ statement
Allocation of places to Seaford Head School at 1 March 2021

Total number of applications received 450

First preference 306
Late first preference 3

The priorities adopted to decide which children should be allocated places were stated in the Determination
SHS Admissions Year 7 Sept 2020 policy which can be found by clicking on the “About Us” tab on the School’s
website and selecting Policies/Admissions Determination for Year 7.

All applications received by the deadline of 31st October 2019, whether a first, second or third preference are
ranked against the admissions criteria. 3 late applications were received, all of these applications were
unsuccessful.

Those children meeting the criteria for more than one school were offered the school that featured highest on
the application form. The number of children allocated places according to their preference are detailed as
follows:

Published Admission Number 240

Number of places allocated 240
First Preference 239
Second Preference 1

As the number of applications exceeded the number of available places it was necessary to apply the School’s
admission criteria. Having done so places could only be offered to those children in priority categories 1 to 6 and
those in priority 7 who lived nearer than 4816 metres from the School.

The criteria are listed in the table below with the number of children allocated places in each category of
priority.

Places
Priority Description of admissions criteria
allocated
Children with an Educational, Health and Care plan 6
1 Looked after children and previously looked after children 8
2 Children of UK service personnel (UK Armed Forces) or crown servants 0
Siblings of children on roll at Seaford Head School at the time of admission who live
3 71
in the community area
4 Children of staff 1
5 Children living within the pre-defined community area 146
Siblings of children on roll at Seaford Head School at the time of admission who are
6 5
on roll at one of our feeder schools
Children living outside our community area who are on roll at one of our feeder
7 3
schools
Siblings of children on roll at Seaford Head School at the time of admission who live
8 0
outside the community area
9 Children living outside the pre-defined community area 0
Total number of places allocated 240

Tie breaker: The tiebreaker is applied if there are more children within an oversubscription criterion than places
available. Applications within that criterion are prioritised on the basis of the shortest route from home to
school site where year 7 is based. The distance from the child’s home address to the main gate of the school’s
Steyne Road site is measured on behalf of the Governing Body using the method adopted by East Sussex County
Council. The distance is measured using the County Council’s Geographical Information System (GIS).
Mr Minciuna’s application for a place for Rebecca Minciuna at Seaford Head School was considered in
accordance with the school’s determination for admissions to year 7 in September 2021.

The information provided with this application did not indicate that a higher ranking category should be
allocated, therefore the Outside Community Area criterion was applied. Rebeccas’s permanent place of
residence of 4a Balcome Road, Peacehaven is 8417.73 metres from Seaford Head School’s Steyne Site entrance.
The application for the place was unsuccessful as there were other applicants ranked above Rebecca in
accordance with the school’s oversubscription criteria.

The sibling connection noted in the appeal paperwork cannot be considered as the sibilng is not yet on roll at
Seaford Head School and is still attending primary school. This therefore does not meeting the criteria as noted
in our Admissions Policy :

“Children who have a sibling who joined Seaford Head School prior to 1 September 2017 who is still on roll at the
time of the admission of the applicant will be admitted under the previous criteria which gave priority to siblings
regardless of whether they live in the pre- defined community area or not. In such cases these applicants will be
considered under criterion 3(iii).”
The situation at the school
Published Admission Number (PAN)/Building capacity
Organisation and teaching
Accommodation shortfalls*
Specific difficulties and its impact on education*
* These sections have been completed by Mr Robert Ellis, Head Teacher

Published Admission Number (PAN)

The PAN agreed with the governing body = 240

Number of age groups = 5
Normal year of admission = Y7
Net capacity based on the Educational Funding Agreement for the provision of 11 – 16 education = 1200
Educational Funding Agreement dated 20th February 2012

The net capacity is designed to allow some flexibility to Admissions Authorities to set an admission number
that suits the needs of the school. The complexities of timetabling and the varying accommodation available
allows the Head Teacher and governing body to decide how the curriculum should be delivered, as they are
responsible for the day to day management and efficient running of the school.

Organisation and teaching for September 2020

The projected number on roll for years 7 to 11 for September 2020 are accurate as at 20th April 2020 this being
the date the school’s case was submitted.

Registration Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11

PAN 240 240 240 240 240
Single 240 237 230 231 237

The Published Admission Number for years 7 - 11 totals: 1200

Projected number of students on roll in years 7 - 11 for 1st September 2020: 1179

Breakdown of children on the Special Educational Needs register

Level of need Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11

EHCP 8 5 3 3 1
SEN Support 17 20 19 22 10
Total SEN 25 25 22 25 11

The table below shows how the school organises an intake of 240. It needs to be recognised that this is a
notional organisation and class sizes will vary depending on physical limitations of classrooms, the subject
itself and whether the subject is taught by pupil ability.
Type of class Number of classes Number of children (average)
Registration 8 30
General teaching 8 30
Specialist subjects 8 30
Design and Technology (KS3) 12 20
Technology option groups (KS4) Dependent on year 20
 Accommodation shortfalls – issues pertaining to both sites are mentioned as Seaford Head School has been
identified as a preferred option for extra primary provision in the town from September 2016.

Room Classification Comments

General Seaford Head School is a split site school, Steyne Site accommodates years 7 and 8, Arundel
Site accommodates years 9 to 11. There is also a separate centre for the 6th form, however, it
is necessary for some 6th form lessons to be taught on either Arundel or Steyne Site.
Accommodation issues on both sites need to be considered as the years 7 and 8 groups will
eventually move to Arundel Site. Trends have shown that the numbers in the year groups do
not reduce significantly as the cohort moves through the school.
The split site nature of the school presents specific issues; planning the curriculum and
timetable to avoid split classes and minimal site moves for staff. Students often have to move
sites in order to benefit from subject specific facilities, this causes disruption to teaching as it
is a 10 minute walk between sites.
Whilst the main corridor at Steyne Site is wide enough to accommodate reasonably large
numbers of students moving in opposite directions, the overall construction of the building
means it is not feasible to operate a one way system. In order to alleviate the lack of dining
space for students, wall tables and benches have been placed in this area hence narrowing
the space. Even though the 2 storey extension to the original building was built in 1999 the
stairwells and corridors in this area are extremely narrow presenting potential crush and
danger points in this part of the building at lesson changeover. On occasions there are as
many as 240 students having to move in these areas through one entrance or exit. Likewise
the side corridors in the original part of the building are extremely narrow. These access the
science and technology areas where technicians also have to move equipment for lessons at
changeover creating potential hazards. The hall at Steyne Site can barely accommodate the
existing year groups for assemblies or any other whole year activities. There are going to be
serious issues managing a year group with 240 students.
Due to the 1936 construction of the main part of the Arundel site the corridors are very
narrow with several crush and potential danger areas such as right-angle corners, doorways
and stairways. The entrance to the main building is of particular concern, this is 1.8 metres
wide and is also one of the main access points to the dining room. At lesson changeover,
break and lunchtimes, there can be in excess of 500 students trying to move in this area.
Another hazardous area is the stairwell leading to the maths rooms. These are only 1 metre
wide, there are often up to 150 students trying to go up whilst another 150 attempt to come
down. The construction of this part of the building means it is impossible to operate a one
way system. The physical challenges of ensuring the safe movement of over 700 students in
these confined spaces are extremely demanding. The current facilities on this site were
originally intended to accommodate 2 full year groups with a smaller 6th form totaling
approximately 550 pupils. Following the suspension of the 6th form in July 2009 in order to
prevent serious overcrowding at the Steyne site, year 9 moved to the Arundel site. If the
number of students on roll in years 7 and 8 remain at the current level eventually there could
be 720 students on the Arundel Site. In an attempt to alleviate the demand on classroom
accommodation at Arundel Site, in 2013, a Design Technology room was converted into 2
standard classrooms. The current work to create another science lab to enable the majority of
science lessons to be taught in appropriate rooms has reduced the number of regular
classrooms on the Arundel Road site.
The 2 exam room venues can legally accommodate only 240 students. If the year group
exceeds PAN classrooms will need to be used to ensure exam regulations are met. Students
will be disadvantaged as these rooms are more difficult to isolate, this impacts on the
accommodation of the displaced lessons.
English Steyne Site – Only 3 out of 4 classrooms designated for English can accommodate 30 children. This
places constraints on timetabling when attempting to ensure that all students are taught in rooms
that can accommodate the size of the groups.

Arundel Site - English classrooms do not have sufficient spaces to accommodate half a year group
with 2 of these rooms only suitable for 21 students. However in order to teach in groups
appropriate to ability it is often necessary to squeeze larger groups than appropriate into these
spaces.

Mathematics Steyne Site – Work carried out during the summer of 2018 converted an art room taking the
number of designated maths classrooms to 3. It is necessary for maths to share a classroom with
other subjects to give the option for setting children according to ability. There is only the capacity
in the maths timetable to teach 4 classes at the same time in rooms that seat a maximum of 30
students.

Arundel Site - The situation with maths classrooms is the same as English with only 2 rooms
suitable for 30 students. Again in order to teach students according to ability students are often
squeezed into rooms that are not appropriate for the size of the group.

Science Steyne Site - The 4 science labs on this site provide adequate accommodation for an 8 form entry
but this would mean all classes will have 30 students. There is no capacity in the science timetable
to add a further class to create smaller groups and increasing class sizes to over 30 students, this
presents a health and safety issue when conducting practical lessons.

Arundel Site –To be able to timetable Science lessons, it is often necessary to schedule more than
one year group at the same time. There are often 9 or 10 science classes being taught at once. In
2014 a large classroom was converted to provide an additional lab, work has started to convert
another large classroom to provide 8 science labs, nevertheless, this will mean that on occasions
science lessons are not taught in a lab. In order to ensure that students are taught in groups
according to their ability the top science sets often have as many as 33 students in the class. Whilst
the school has been fortunate enough to be able to have all labs refurbished in recent years, the
optimum seating allows for 30 students per class. In science larger numbers present health and
safety implications when conducting practical lessons placing an extra burden on staff to ensure
that these lessons are taught in a safe environment.

ICT Steyne Site – There are 2 dedicated IT rooms, with some additional facilities in the Learning
Resource Centre. These can only accommodate 30 students. Students at KS3 are placed in 8
teaching groups, there is not the capacity in the IT timetable to create a 9th class to reduce the size
of these groups.

Arundel Site - there are 5 dedicated ICT classrooms, one of which can accommodate 31 students, 3
accommodate 30, the remaining room only having workstations for 29. The curriculum requires
non exam assessments to be conducted in most subjects placing an additional demand on ICT
resources which is almost unmanageable. Some classes in other subjects exceed 30 students
creating issues when trying to run assessments under the correct controlled conditions, there is
insufficient space in these rooms to accommodate extra computers.
The deadline for these assessments to be submitted means that teachers are put under extra
pressure to ensure that they have secured the use of ICT facilities for the assessments to be
conducted in the appropriate manner. Often teachers have to manage this by offering students
extra time at break times, lunchtimes and after school – beyond the timetabled provision.
Design Steyne Site – there are 2 dedicated design technology rooms along with another room which is
Technology shared with other departments. DT classes are taught in groups of 3, in 4 separate blocks,
therefore 12 classes in each year. Students rotate through the disciplines throughout the year to
ensure they experience all subjects. In order to teach DT in line with health and safety legislation
no class should have more than 20 students. The rooms only have workstations for this number of
students. There is not the capacity in the DT timetable to create another block of 3 classes.

Arundel Site – there are 2 DT rooms, a food technology room and a workshop. To be able to
schedule DT option classes it is often necessary to use an art room to facilitate this. As with KS3, no
class should exceed 20 students in order to comply with health and safety legislation and again
there are only 20 workstations in these rooms. This was compounded by the loss of another DT
room to classrooms. As a result the school is obliged to restrict the number of students studying
these practical subjects at GCSE.

Dining Steyne Site –In order to cope with the number of students on this site extra seating has been
facilities added to the side of the main corridor which reduces the movement space in this area. This
provides seating for 250 when there could be as many as 480 students on this site.

Arundel Site - the dining facilities are inadequate. There is only seating for 160 to accommodate
students at break and lunchtimes where there are almost 700 students on this site. The school has
added another catering unit on the main playground to relieve the pressure on the queues for
food from the indoor facilities. As a result students have to eat food purchased from the new
facility outside on the playground where seating is restricted. This often leads to issues with
seagulls as they are attracted by the food and have on occasions attacked students.

On both sites the severe lack of seating and indoor space at break and lunch times has an obvious
impact during bad weather where students have to be accommodated inside, putting extra
pressure on staff to manage behaviour.

Toilet facilities Steyne Site - There are only 15 toilets for girls and 14 for boys, plus 3 disabled toilets not for
general use, with no capacity to add more in the existing building. This will mean an average of
16.1 students per toilet

Arundel Site - There are only 12 toilets for girls and 14 for boys, plus 3 disabled toilets that are not
for general use, with no capacity to add more in the existing buildings. This will mean an average
of 26.4 students per toilet.
Specific difficulties and its impact on education

The school is an academy and responsible for managing its own admissions but it must abide by the School
Admissions Code. If new applications are received where the applicant has an Educational, Health Care Plan
(EHCP) naming Seaford Head School as their preference and the school can meet their needs, that child must
be offered a place.

In addition if an application is received for a child who moves to Seaford who does not have a place at a local
school or has been permanently excluded from another school the local authority will instruct the school to
admit over PAN under Fair Access Protocol (FAP), again in such circumstances the school must admit. The
governors are concerned that if the school is instructed to take year 7 over its PAN as a result of an appeal
being upheld this will make this year group even more vulnerable to overcrowding if EHCP or FAP applications
are received once the academic year has started.

Following the school’s outstanding Ofsted rating in September 2017 the number of applications for children
with EHCPs has increased significantly. This places extra demand on the school to ensure that the appropriate
teaching and learning provision is offered to these students.

The current year 7 cohort (year 8 in September) is also at capacity. Only 4 children have left this year group
since the start of the academic year. There have been 16 applications for this year group since September
2020, 10 of which have had to be declined all of which were declined. If the school was asked to admit over
PAN the number of students being accommodated on the Steyne Road site would exceed 480 which causes
issues with the management of students as previously mentioned.

The most recent Net Capacity Assessment of the school was carried out in April 2012 prior to re-instating the
6th form. The assessment reported on 2 scenarios; without the 6th form the recommended PAN was 240
students per year group, with the 6th form a PAN of 210 was recommended. The 6th form reopened in
September 2014, whilst there is a designated 6th form site this does not have the capacity to accommodate all
6th form classes. As a result 6th form lessons are scheduled in rooms across both sites with the majority taking
place at Steyne Site due to its proximity to the 6th form centre. Copies of the Net Capacity Assessments are
included.

In the past 5 years the school has been oversubscribed for all except the September 2018 intake. The number
in this year group (current year 9) has started to increase with 16 new admissions for this academic year. If this
trend continues this year group could eventually reach its PAN. As the oversubscribed years move through the
school there is likelihood that both sites will reach the accommodation limits.

Admissions for the September 2021 year 7 intake at Seaford Head School have already reached the intake
level on which the school has been staffed. Further admissions would require additional staffing resources
when constraints have been placed on the overall funding in education. This is something the school cannot
afford. As Seaford Head School has reached the capacity of accommodation available there are other schools
in the coastal area in all directions that may be in a better position to offer places.

If Seaford Head School were put in a position where further children were admitted to year 7 exceeding the
planned intake level, the education of all the students at the school, including those additional children, could
be adversely affected.
 SEAFORD HEAD ACADEMY TRUST

FUNDING AGREEMENT

CONTENTS:

SECTION CLAUSE NO

INTRODUCTION 1–8

LEGAL AGREEMENT 9

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ACADEMY 10

ACADEMY OPENING DATE 11

CONDITIONS OF GRANT

General 12

Governance 13 – 14

Conduct 15

Criminal Records Bureau Checks 16

Pupils 17

Designated Teacher for Looked After Children 17A

Teachers and other staff 18 – 21

Curriculum, curriculum development and delivery

and RE and collective worship 22-28A

Assessment 29

Exclusions 30

School meals 31 – 32

Charging 33
The paragraph relates to section 17 of the Funding Agreement for Seaford Head School. This details
the funded planned capacity for the school.