Applying on Faith Grounds
Parents who wish to make an application on faith grounds must complete a Supplementary Information Form which must also be signed by a designated church official. The form should be returned to us to accompany the application for your child's place at our school. There is no facility to complete the Supplementary Information form online. In the case of applications to start school in Reception Year, the form must be with the school before the deadline for primary school admissions set by Hampshire Local Authority.
The link to the form is here /files/FORMSupplementaryinformationformSIFformforfaithapplicants.pdf
The purpose of this Supplementary Information Form is to verify the active membership of the Church of England of one or both parents. Active membership is defined as attending worship at a Church of England church at least twice a month for the previous two years. The fact that a child has been baptised at the church in question would not normally be sufficient to verify active membership.
**SEPTEMBER 2020 UPDATE - SEE BELOW**
VARIATION TO APPLICATION ON FAITH GROUNDS 2021-2022
Hampshire County Council has written to notify us of a proposed in-year variation to our admissions arrangements for the year 2021-22, which will affect admissions to Reception in September 2021.
The closure of churches as a result of Covid-19, has raised the difficult issue of clergy verifying an applicant's level of church attendance when a faith supplementary form is completed. Clearly it will not be possible for clergy to do so in line with schools' admissions policies for the admissions application round for the academic year 2021/22.
As a result there is an in-year variation to church over-subscription criteria in order to remedy this and clarify the position for prospective parents. This proposal is based on advice received from the DfE, the Church of England Education Office and the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) . Please note that this is not a formal consultation, which is not required under these circumstances.
The proposed wording for the variation, as agreed with the OSA, is as follows:
“In the event that during the period specified for attendance at worship, the church has been closed for public worship and has not provided alternative premises for that worship, the requirements of these [admissions] arrangements in relation to attendance, will only apply to the period when the church or alternative premises have been available for public worship”.
All other aspects of the above schools’ admissions arrangements remain unchanged.
