ADMISSIONS POLICY 2026 – 2027

Religious Ethos Rimon Jewish Primary School (“Rimon”) Admissions Policy 2026-2027

Whilst Rimon welcomes children of all faiths or none, the school has a Jewish contemporary modern orthodox ethos, and the curriculum will reflect this. We look forward to working in partnership with parents to achieve this. Applicant parents are invited to consider the Religious Ethos Policy which is located on Rimon’s website (http://www.rimonschool.org.uk)

Arrangements

In September 2026 we will admit up to 30 children into our Reception class. Casual vacancies might also arise in other classes. If there are more applications than places, applications will be considered against the criteria set out below after the admission of students with a statement of Special Education Needs or an Education, Health and Care Plan that names the school in accordance with section 324 of the Education Act 1996. Places will be allocated to applicants in the following priority order:

1. Looked after or Previously Looked After Children. A 'looked after child' is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989) at the time of making an application to a school. Previously looked after children are children who were looked after but ceased to be so because they were adopted or became subject to a child arrangements or special guardianship order.

2. Children whose social or medical needs are such that they cannot be reasonably met at another school (parents must produce supporting evidence from a doctor, social worker, or educational welfare officer, and this is required no later than the closing date for applications).

3. Siblings of pupils at Rimon at the time of application. If a sibling is due to leave Rimon then they must have attended Rimon for three consecutive years or nine academic terms. Sibling means a brother or sister (including adoptive, half or stepbrothers and stepsisters and foster children) living permanently at the same address as the child.

4. Children of Rimon staff where the member of staff has been employed at Rimon for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made and will be in employment at Rimon when the child starts school.

5. Open places (up to 50%).

6. Applicants who meet the criteria for Faith Places (up to 50%).

Open Places

Up to 50% of places will be offered to children who have chosen Rimon for reasons other than religious – regardless of faith. Open Places will be allocated to children living nearest to the school as measured in a straight line from the address point for the child’s home, supplied by the Ordnance Survey, to the school’s main gate. This is measured using Barnet’s computerised geographical information system with those living closer to the school receiving higher priority.

Faith based places

Up to 50% of places will be offered to children of a parent/carer who practises Judaism. Documentary evidence must be provided at the time of applying. Specific types of evidence are listed below. All applicants for Faith Places will also be considered against the criteria for Open Places. The criteria against which Faith Places will be allocated is based on five levels/bands of synagogue attendance and engagement in Jewish communal service (with priority given to attendance at Golders Green Synagogue) or by obtaining 4 points via the United Synagogue Certificate of Religious Practice (level/band six). Applicants who qualify for Faith Places will be ranked according to distance from the school, within the relevant faith band, as measured in a straight line from the address point for the child’s home, supplied by the Ordnance Survey, to the school’s main gate. This is measured using Barnet’s computerised geographical information system with those living closer to the school receiving higher priority.

Criteria for applying for a faith place

A combination of 20 Shabbat services/ Jewish communal, charitable or welfare activities (volunteering) AND 8 weekday services (including Friday night services) at Golders Green Synagogue between 15 January 2025 and 14 January 2026
A combination of 15 Shabbat services/ Jewish communal, charitable or welfare activities (volunteering) AND 5 weekday services (including Friday night services) at Golders Green Synagogue between 15 January 2025 and 14 January 2026
A combination of 15 Shabbat services/ Jewish communal, charitable or welfare activities (volunteering) at Golders Green Synagogue between 15 January 2025 and 14 January 2026
A combination of 15 Shabbat services/ Jewish communal, charitable or welfare activities (volunteering) AND 5 weekday services (including Friday night services) at any one synagogue between 15 January 2025 and 14 January 2026
A combination of 15 Shabbat services/ Jewish communal, charitable or welfare activities (volunteering) at any one synagogue between 15 January 2025 and 14 January 2026
Submission of the United Synagogue four-point Certificate of Religious Practice (synagogue attendance is only counted between 20 April 2025 and 4 January 2026)

Please download and complete the Supplementary Information Form (SIF) and/or the Certificate of Religious Practice (CRP) at the bottom of this page and return it to the School Office by 15 January 2026 if you wish to apply for a faith-based place.

Tie Break

The tie break for all criteria is children living nearest to the school as measured in a straight line from the address point for the child’s home, supplied by the Ordnance Survey, to the school’s main gate. This is measured using Barnet’s computerised geographical information system with those living closer to the school receiving higher priority. In the event of a tie-break where two children have equal priority Rimon will use random allocation to determine admission. In these cases, children’s names will be randomly selected from the total list of tied applicants by someone unconnected to the school.

How our application procedure operates

1. Parents must apply on the Common Application Form for London Borough of Barnet maintained schools. In addition, parents who are applying for a place on faith-based criteria are requested to complete the Rimon Supplementary Information Form, which is available on the school website, from the school office or the local authority. Completion of this form enables the governing body to determine whether the application satisfies the oversubscription criteria.

2. The Supplementary Information Form/CRP requests information about activities pertaining to Jewish religious practice.

3. Parents are requested to complete the Supplementary Information Form/CRP in full and then submit it to the school office by the same date that the Common Application Form must be returned to the London Borough of Barnet. Late 5 applications will be considered after those received by the closing date.

4. Places will be offered in accordance with the co-ordinated arrangements.

5. Statemented children should apply through the Local Authority. Appeals Parents have the right to appeal against the refusal to admit a child to Rimon and they should do so by writing to the Governing Body care of the school office within 20 school days of refusal of the place. An independent Appeals panel will be convened according to the School Admissions Appeals Code. The Appeals Policy can be found on the website.

Waiting Lists and In-Year Admissions

Where the school receives more applications for places than there are places available, waiting lists will operate. Waiting lists for all year groups will be maintained until the end of each Admission Year (i.e. Admissions Year 2018/2019 runs for all Admissions between 1 September 2018 and 31 August 2019 and Admissions Year 2019/2020 runs for all Admissions between 1 September 2019 and 31 August 2020). Parents wishing their child to remain on a waiting list beyond the end of an Admissions Year will need to put their request in writing to the school during the Summer Term of an Admission Year. Faith based places - Parents wishing their child to remain on the Faith Place waiting list will be required to submit a new Supplementary Information Form – with the relevant Supplementary Information Form being that appropriate for the relevant Admissions Year (i.e. SIF 2108/2019 will apply for all admissions between 1 September 2018 and 31 August 2019 and SIF 2019/2020 will apply for all admissions between 1 September 2019 and 31 August 2020). New applications for places (including applications by parents for children who have previously been on the waiting list but who did not advise the school in time that they wished to remain on the waiting list) can also be made and will be added to the waiting list in the same way (with a Supplementary Information Form being required for the faith-based places waiting list). New applications must also apply via Common Application form for the London Borough of Barnet maintained schools. Parents can withdraw their child from the waiting list at any time. Children’s position on the waiting list will be determined solely in accordance with the oversubscription criteria set out above. Where places become vacant, they will be allocated to children on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria with their place on the waiting list being calculated at the date when the vacancy needs to be filled. Where a child is the subject of a direction by a local authority to admit to the school or is allocated to the school in accordance with the In-Year Fair Access Protocol, that child will take precedence over those children on the waiting list.

Admission of children below compulsory school age and deferred entry

Where the school has offered a child a place:

a) that child is entitled to a full-time place in the September following their fourth birthday;

b) the child’s parents can defer the date their child is admitted to the school until later in the School year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age and not beyond the beginning of the final term of the School year for which it was made; and

c) where the parents wish, children may attend part-time until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age.

Requesting admission outside the normal age group

Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group, for example, if the child is gifted and talented or has experienced problems such as ill health. In addition, the parents of a summer born child may choose not to send that child to school until the September following their fifth birthday and may request that they are admitted out of their normal age group – to reception rather than year 1. Parents are asked to write to the school using the Barnet deferral form (available from Barnet or from the school office) to make such a request setting out their reasons for doing so in advance of completing the Common Application Form. The school will make a decision in the best interests of the child concerned. This will include taking account of the parent’s views; information about the child’s academic, social and emotional development; where relevant, their medical history and the views of a medical professional and whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely. The head teacher will take a view before any decision is made. Parents will be informed of the decision on the year group the child should be admitted to and reasons for the decision will be given. If a request is agreed to and the child is to be admitted to Reception, the local authority and school will process the application as part of the main admissions round. Parents have a statutory right to appeal against the refusal of a place at a school for which they have applied. This right does not apply if they are offered a place at the school, but it is not in their preferred age group.

Admissions of twins and multiple births

Where applications are made on behalf of two or more children born on the same day to the same parents, and there is only space in the class for one child, then the twin or sibling from a multiple birth will be admitted otherwise than as an excepted pupil.

Reviewed and determined in January 2025