• Home
• About The School
  • Message From Head Teacher
  • Awards and Achievements
  • Results
  • Specialist Status
  • School Redevelopment
  • Ofsted
  • PTFA
• School Information
  • Admissions
  • School Prospectus
  • Curriculum
  • Pastoral Care
  • Information for Students & Parents
  • Extra Curricular activities
  • Gifted and Talented
  • Every Child Matters
  • School Policies
  • FAQ
• Cleeve Sixth Form
  • About The Sixth Form
  • Prospectus
  • Information For Sixth Form Students
  • International Baccalaureate
  • Laptop Scheme
  • Apply
    • General Application Form
    • IB Application Form
• frog Learning Portal
• Extended Services

• NEWS
• CALENDAR
• FAQ
• CONTACT US
• VACANCIES

Admissions

From September 2010, the Local Authority becomes responsible for co-ordinating all admissions into maintained schools. This includes any application for a school place made 'in-year' for children who move into the area during their education and need to find a school place or those who wish to change school.
Those applying to transfer to secondary schools in the normal cycle at the end of Year 6 will receive a letter about the process from the Local Authority. These letters are normally distributed to parents and carers of children entering Year 6 at the start of the autumn term and will give details of how to apply for any school. For further information please consult the Gloucestershire County Council website for guidance on transferring to secondary school by clicking here or for information on the secondary co-ordinated admission scheme for September 2010 by clicking here. Please see information below on the Cleeve School policy and application forms for testing.

For those applying for a place ‘in year’ or those wanting to change schools please contact the Access to Education Scheme (contact details below) who will coordinate the admissions process. You may also wish to refer to their frequently asked questions by clicking here or their guidance information on the secondary co-ordinated admission scheme for September 2010 by clicking here
Contact details for the Access to Education Team:

Registration for Fair Banding and Language Aptitude Tests at Cleeve School for entry 2011

Example of Fair Banding test questions

Prospectus 2009-2010

Cleeve School Admissions Policy for entry 2011

The admissions criteria for Cleeve School were approved by the office of the schools adjudicator on 10th July 2008 and protected up to and including entry for September 2011. Guidance notes have been added below the criteria to provide additional information.

Entry to Year 7
Children who have a statement of special educational needs that names the school and children in public care will be admitted to the school irrespective of whether they sit the banding tests (see notes below).
Cleeve School operates a fair banding system to allocate places. The places within each band are allocated according to catchment area and distance, as follows. The test that will be used is the NFER’s Cognitive Abilities Test Level C. Children will be placed in one of 7 bands and each band will have an equal number of places allocated to it. Where a band is oversubscribed, places will be allocated in the following priority order:

1. Children in public care.
2. Children in the school’s catchment areas according to their geographical distance from the school, with priority to those living closest to the school.
3. Up to 10% of places according to aptitude for languages, as demonstrated by the school’s Language Aptitude Test, allocated in test score order.
4. Other applicants according to their geographical distance from the school, with priority to those living closest to the school.

Where there are still places available in a band they will be filled evenly by children falling into the next nearest bands.
Applications from children who do not sit school’s chosen Fair Banding Test will not be considered for places until after applications from children who have sat the banding test. It is therefore unlikely that applications in the initial admissions round from children who do not sit the banding test will be successful, although children being considered for vacancies that subsequently occur will not be required to sit the banding test. Children in public care will always have priority for admission, whether or not they have sat the banding test.
Additional Notes:

1. The admission number for Cleeve School for 2011 is 245.
2. Geographical distance is measured in a straight line from the centre of the child’s home address (including flats) to the main entrance gate of the school using the Local Authority’s computerised measuring system.
3. The school’s catchment area consists of a first priority catchment area including the parishes of Bishops Cleeve, Elmstone Hardwicke, Gotherington, Oxenton, Southam, Stoke Orchard, Uckington and Woodmancote, and a second priority catchment area of Prestbury and Swindon Village.
4. Application forms and guidance notes for our admission tests are available for download from our website or to collect from main reception and are also available from the Local Authority. The closing date for application forms is Friday 15th October 2010. Tests will be held in school over two consecutive Saturdays, November 13th and November 20th 2010 and you will be asked to attend on both days if you are choosing to sit the Fair Banding Test and Language Aptitude Test; guidance notes are also available from our website.
5. Priority for admission in to Year 7 is given to those students sitting the Fair Banding Test and assigned a band. Applications from children who do not sit the Fair Banding Test will not be considered for places until after applications from children who have sat the banding test. In practice this means there is little chance of gaining a place if a pupil does not sit the Fair Banding Test. Special arrangements are made for children with a Statement of Special Educational Needs and those in public care (see below).
6. The Fair banding test is a multiple choice style test based on non-verbal reasoning. The test takes about an hour which includes 30 minutes of testing, plus explanations. The Fair Banding Test is not a pass or fail test. Scores are used to place students in bands and are not used beyond the banding process or for setting upon entry to the school.
7. Children with a Statement of Special Educational Needs and those in public care do not need to sit the Fair Banding Test to be allocated a place at Cleeve School. However it is important that the school knows the position of that child within the bands and we work closely with parents to enable the child to sit the Fair Banding Test for this purpose.
8. In addition to the Fair Banding Test you can also choose for your child to sit the Language Aptitude Test. Please note that a child living in the catchment has higher priority than a child living outside the catchment regardless of language aptitude score. Therefore, if you live in the catchment area there is no advantage to your child sitting the Language Aptitude Test.
9. After allocation of places to students in catchment, up to 10% of spaces in each of the 7 bands will be allocated to those outside the catchment area in order of test score in the Language Aptitude Test. This means that there will be up to 3 spaces in each and every band for applicants with the highest language aptitude scores in that band. These will be the first applicants outside catchment to be admitted. The remaining places will go to those outside catchment in order of increasing distance. This means that up to 21 Language Aptitude places are available which are not dependent on home address or how far the child’s home is from Cleeve School.
10. The Language Aptitude Test consists of two separate tests that will take place over two consecutive Saturdays (For 2010 these will be November 13th and November 20th). The written and listening elements of the Language Aptitude Test take 40 minutes, with an additional 20 minutes needed for explanations. The oral test will take approximately 20 minutes, 5 minutes for the test and 15 minutes for the students to remain in a waiting area.
11. If a child is not able to attend on the dates of the tests, the school will hold a further opportunity to complete the test in December.
12. If two or more children in the same band have the same home to school distance, places will be allocated by a process of random allocation. If two or more children in the same band reach the same score in the Language Aptitude Test, the oral test score will take priority. If two or more children in the same band have the same scores in both sections of the Language Aptitude Test, places will be allocated by a process of random allocation.
13. Where places remain available in a band after all criteria have been applied, they will be filled evenly by children falling into the band above and below starting with the higher band first. Gaps in Band 1 will be filled from Band 2; those in Band 7 will be filled from Band 6.
14. If the school is still oversubscribed after the reallocation process, a waiting list will be held until October half-term. The waiting list will be prioritised by:   1. children in public care; 2. children in the school’s catchment areas according to their geographical distance from the school, with priority to those living closest to the school; 3. other applicants according to their geographical distance from the school, with priority to those living closest to the school. Banding will cease to operate for the waiting list at this point and no new applicants will be asked to sit the Fair Banding Test or Language Aptitude Test.
15. Parents wishing to appeal for a place at Cleeve School after the reallocation process should write to Chair of Governors, Cleeve School, Two Hedges Road, Bishops Cleeve, Cheltenham, GL52 8AE. Appeals should be received by May 31st to ensure that the appeal can be heard in June. Further information on the appeals procedure can be found in the Local Authority admissions prospectus.

Fair Access Protocols:
In accordance with the requirements of the School Admission Code, the school has signed up to the In-Year Fair Access Protocols held by the Local Authority. Should a vulnerable child within these Protocols require a place at the school, they will take precedent over any child on the waiting list.

In-Year Admissions:
Any applications for a place at Cleeve School in the academic year 2010 must be made directly to the Local Authority.  In accordance with their statutory duty, the Local Authority will be responsible for offering school places to children on behalf of the Governing Body within their In-Year Co-ordinated Admission Scheme for the school year 2010-2011.

Entry to Sixth Form

The application process for the sixth form begins in December of the school year prior to sixth form entrance.  From this point on the sixth form prospectus and application form for the following year of entrance will be available on the school website. 

Cleeve School holds a sixth form open evening in the spring term each year and this is an opportunity to talk to the school leadership team, sixth form leadership team and subject teachers.

Applications for the sixth form should be completed by the spring term half term break (February).  Following submission of an application form, applicants will be invited to an advisory discussion with the sixth form leadership team.  In April applicants will receive notification as to whether their application has been successful and subject choices will be confirmed.

Places in the sixth form will be confirmed following the GCSE results day in August each year.

Capacity

The number of places available is flexible. We expect to be able to respond to need for those students who follow the application process. A sufficient number of places are available to provide for all Year 11 pupils already at the school plus an extra 50 places for new entrants.

Oversubscription Criteria
In the unlikely event of the sixth form being oversubscribed for external applicants, we will give priority to applicants as follows:

• Children in public care
• Other applicants according to their geographical distance from the school, with priority to those living closest to the school. Geographical distance will be measured in a straight line from the centre of the child’s home address (including flats) to the main entrance gate of the school using Ordnance Survey maps.

Entry Criteria
The entry criteria for the sixth form is dependent upon the type of course programme being followed. For all courses you must achieve a minimum grade C for both GCSE Mathematics and English Language.

• AS and Applied AS courses: You must achieve a minimum of 4 B grades and 1 grade C at GCSE. For all subjects you wish to study at AS level a minimum grade B must be achieved in that, or an associated subject.
• BTEC courses: You must achieve a minimum of 4 C grades in 4 different subjects at GCSE. For all subjects you wish to study at BTEC a minimum grade C must be achieved in that, or an associated subject.
• Combined AS and BTEC courses: You must achieve a minimum of 4 C grades in 4 different subjects at GCSE. For all subjects you wish to study at AS level a minimum grade B must be achieved in that, or an associated subject. For all subjects you wish to study at BTEC a minimum grade C must be achieved in that, or an associated subject.
• International Baccalaureate: You must achieve a minimum of 4 B grades and 1 grade C at GCSE including English and Mathematics. For all subjects you wish to study at IB level a minimum grade B must be achieved in that, or an associated subject.

Appeals
Applicants who are refused admission to our sixth form are entitled to appeal to an independent appeals panel. Applicants should contact the school office for an appeals form and forms should be returned by September 6th to Chair of Governors, Cleeve School, Two Hedges Road, Bishops Cleeve, Cheltenham, GL52 8AE.

Updated 29/04/10