Admissions process

Applying for a September 2024 place

The deadline for applying for a September 2024 place has now passed. Information on making a late application for a September 2024 secondary school place, including to Archer Academy is available on Barnet’s website.

If you have any questions, please contact our Admissions Officer Sharon Walsh on [email protected] or phone 020 8365 4110.

 

Late applications for the current academic year

Places in Years 7 – 11 for the current academic year (2023-24) have all been allocated. However, if you wish to be added to our waiting list, please contact Barnet directly.

 

Appeal Dates and Information 2023/2024

 

If you have not been offered a place at Archer Academy, the law entitles you to appeal against that decision to an Independent Appeal Panel. This panel is completely independent of the school and the Local Authority. All appeals will be heard online which has the advantage that your appeal can be heard from your home or place of work.

 

If you wish to appeal, please use this link to complete your appeal online. Please do NOT use ANY other appeal form or send your form to your local authority. It is suggested that you download the explanatory booklet about appeals which you should read before you complete the appeal form. Booklet Link

 

You should include any evidence or supporting material with your appeal form and you MUST give the grounds for your appeal at the time you lodge your appeal form. Your appeal form will not be accepted unless you state the grounds for your appeal. You may appeal for more than one school, but on different forms.

 

Any letters or reports that you wish the panel to see should be uploaded at this time. You are asked to bear in mind that if you later send additional information, the closing date is 5 working days before the STAGE 1 hearing. All appointed panels have agreed NOT to take any late letters or reports after the 5 working day deadline. This will be strictly enforced. For secondary/primary transfer appeals, the hearing will take place at least TWO months after the refusal letter. This gives you plenty of time to get your evidence together if you act early and take account of school holidays.

 

Please note that the online form will ask you to download two utility bills dated in the last THREE months. If you do not have access to a scanner, please take two photographs with a mobile phone and upload the photographic files.

 

Full details about the hearing will be sent to you with your invitation to the hearing.

 

If you wish to contact the clerk – email :  [email protected]

 

The timetable for appeals is as follows: –

 

Last day for lodging appeal forms for a place in year 7 to start in September 2024 4pm on Tuesday 2 April 2024 to guarantee that your appeal will be heard in the first tranche of appeals.  Appeals lodged later may not be heard until the second tranche which could be in September 2024.  You MUST state the reasons for your appeal and supply any documentary evidence at this stage.
The stage 1 part of the hearing (with other parents present) will take place on 13 June 5pm
Part 2, the individual private hearings will take place on 17 – 18 June 2024 (depending on the number of appeals)
Invitation letter giving details about your hearing will be sent by the Clerk to the Independent Appeal Panel At least 10 school days before the stage 1 hearing.
Any additional  supporting evidence Closing date is 6 June 2024. You are advised that additional paperwork received on the day of the appeal hearing will not be taken into account. Please provide the Clerk with FIVE copies of any new additional evidence BY POST ONLY. All such evidence to be submitted in A4 format and NOT bound, but may be stapled on the top left hand corner.  Paperwork submitted with your appeal form does not need to include 5 copies.  These must be sent to EdAp, Sopers House, Sopers Road, Cuffley, Herts, EN6 4RY.
Letter from the Clerk informing you of the decision of the independent appeal panel Due to the high number of appeals held at this time, this may not be sent until up to 10 working days after the last hearing for the school.

 

Timetable for appeals for mid-term applications is as follows:

 

Last day for lodging appeal forms following a refusal for a place ‘in year’ or ‘mid-term’. You must lodge the appeal form within 20 school days upon receipt of your letter of refusal. You MUST state the reasons for your appeal and supply documentary evidence at this stage. Appeals are held within 30 school days of receipt of the appeal form.

 

Appeals process

You are entitled to appeal if you are not satisfied with the place you have been offered. Appeals submitted will be heard by a panel independent of the governing body.

Please note that no places are reserved for successful appeals, this means that any appeals allowed will increase the intake above the admission limit.

Although each appeal is decided on individual merit, only exceptional circumstances are likely to lead to a successful appeal. The fact that a school is coeducational or that the school is a child’s or parents’ particular choice, or that other schools with vacancies involve a long journey, is unlikely to lead to a successful appeal.

In particular, with regard to the Archer Academy, if you are living outside our priority postcodes, the fact that you live nearer to the school than people who are within the priority postcodes and who have been offered a place will not be considered grounds for an appeal. Our admissions policy clearly states that people living within N2, N3 and NW11 have priority over people living outside those postcodes, and so an appeal on these grounds may not be successful.

For all appeals, panels will consider the following grounds:

  • Whether any mistakes were made in applying the admission arrangements and if the school could take extra students.
  • Whether the admissions arrangements are lawful. (The panel must refer to the Local Authority and the Admissions Authority for the school, any admission arrangements that do not comply with the law.)
  • Whether the problems faced by a child if they do not go to the school, outweigh the problems the school will face if they have to take the extra child.
  • What the Archer Academy can offer that the allocated school cannot.