RIPON GRAMMAR SCHOOL-  BOARDING ADMISSIONS POLICY

FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR 2026/27

All governing bodies are required by section 324 of the Education Act 1996 to admit to the school a child with an Educational Health and Care Plan (EHCP) that names the school. This is not an oversubscription criterion. This relates only to children who have undergone statutory assessment and for whom a final Educational Health and Care Plan has been issued. A child must have reached the prescribed academic standard and also be considered “suitable for boarding” before being offered a place.

Ripon Grammar School is a designated grammar school that has day and boarding places (boarding places are weekly or termly). As an academically selective school all students must reach the prescribed academic standard before being offered a place. The school does not have to fill all of its places if applicants have not reached the required standard.

The published admission number for the school is 117, this includes 14 boarding places. If the total number of boarding applications does not reach 14 the remaining places are allocated as day places, for any subsequent boarding applications priority would be given to these over a day application, until 14 boarding places have been allocated.

Where the number of boarding applications for pupils who have reached the prescribed academic standard exceeds the number of places available then a boarding waiting list will be created.

The admissions policy for boarding places is set out below:

Boarding places order of priority	Notes:
Priority Group 1: Looked after children, previously looked after children and children who appear to the Admissions Authority to have been in state care outside of England and cease to be in state care as a result of being adopted. For whom the school has been expressed as a preference. Previously looked after children are children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted^1 or became subject to a child arrangement order^2 or special guardianship order.	This applies to all looked-after children, including those who are in the care of another local authority or being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services function at the time of making an application. In the case of previously looked after children, a copy of the relevant documentation will be required in support of the application. A child is regarded as being in state care outside of England if they were accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation or any another provider of care whose sole purpose is to benefit society. ^1This includes children who were adopted under the Adoption Act 1976 and Children who were adopted under the Adopted & Childrens Act 2002. ^2Child Arrangement Orders replace residence orders and any residence order in force prior to 22 April 2014 is deemed to be a Child Arrangement Order.
Priority Group 2: Children of members of the UK Armed Forces who qualify for Ministry of Defence financial assistance with the cost of boarding school fees	.
Priority Group 3: a. Children with a ‘boarding need’, defined by Ripon Grammar School as follows: i. Children at risk or with an unstable home environment and children of service personnel who have died while serving or who have been discharged as a result of attributable injury; or ii. Children of key workers and Crown Servants working abroad, e.g. the children of charity workers, people working for voluntary service organisations, the diplomatic service or the European Union, teachers, law enforcement officers and medical staff working abroad whose work dictates that they spend much of the year overseas.
Priority Group 4: Termly Boarding applications	Refer to tie break
Priority Group 5: Weekly Boarding applications	Refer to tie break

Tie break:

If there are not enough places for all the children in one of these priority groups, we will give priority first to those with a sibling* at the school in September 2026, who live the furthest from the school.

*In all cases sibling refers to brother or sister and includes children who lives as brother or sister in the same house permanently including adopted brother or sister, where the child for whom the school place is sought is living in the same family unit at the same address as that sibling

Then to those living furthest from the school.

All distance measurements are based on the furthest route which is recognised by NY Councils electronic mapping system from a child’s home address to school. The measurement is made from a fixed point within the dwelling, as identified by Ordnance Survey, to the nearest school entrance using footpaths and roads. The routes measured to determine the allocation of school places will be those recognised by the electronic mapping system used by the school admissions team.

If the distance tie-break is not sufficient to distinguish between applicants in a particular priority group a random allocation will be used.

RANDOM ALLOCATION PROCEDURE

Random allocations are necessary where:

1. There is more than one applicant ranked equally according to the published admission rules and there are insufficient places available to allocate all of the equally ranked applicants

2. This occurs where applicants are equidistant from a school because the usual method of measuring distance to the school results in two unrelated applicants having the same distance measurement. Each random allocation event only holds for the allocation of the currently available school place. On any waiting list the remaining applicants remain equally ranked and any further place is offered as the result of a further random exercise. In making a random allocation it is important that there is scrutiny from a person who is not involved in the allocation process.

DEFINITION OF ROLES

Independent Scrutineer (IS) – this is a person who ensures the process is carried out in a correct and transparent way. The IS must be independent of the school for which the allocation is to be made and also must be independent of the Council’s Admissions and Transport team.

Admissions Officer (AO) – this is an officer from the Council’s Admissions and Transport team who is responsible for carrying out the administration of the random allocation procedure and recording the results, under the scrutiny of the IS.

Person who makes the draw (P) – this must be a person independent of the school for which the allocation is to be made and must be a person who is not part of the Council’s Admissions and Transport team.

PROCESS TO BE FOLLOWED – N.B. This entire process is to be carried out in sight of, and under the scrutiny of, the IS

1. The AO allocates each pupil to be included in the draw a number and records it on the ‘Random Allocation Cross Reference Sheet’. This is placed in a sealed envelope.

2. The AO prepares as many equal sized pieces of white paper as are necessary, which are numbered consecutively.

3. The AO folds each numbered sheet and seals them in identical envelopes, i.e. envelopes with no visibly identifiable differences.

4. The AO shuffles the envelopes and hands them to P who shuffles the envelopes again, picks one envelope and opens it.

5. The AO records the first number drawn on the ‘Random Allocation Record sheet’.

6. If more than one place can be offered they continue to draw envelopes and record numbers until all of the available places are allocated.

7. The AO then opens the previously sealed envelope containing the ‘Random Allocation cross reference sheet’ and records the numbers drawn on the ‘Random Allocation cross reference sheet’, marking clearly which child(ren) has(have) been allocated a place and which have not.

8. Once the process has been completed, the AO, IS and P should sign and date both the ‘Random Allocation Record sheet’ and the ‘Random Allocation cross reference sheet’ in order to certify that the procedure has been carried out correctly.

Suitability for boarding

As a maintained boarding school Ripon Grammar School can interview applicants to assess suitability for boarding, this interview will only consider whether a child presents a serious health and safety hazard to other boarders or whether they would be able to cope with and benefit from a boarding environment. 

Parents of all boarding applicants must complete a ‘suitability for boarding’ form, available from the school, when applying for a place. When assessing how suitable a child is for boarding, Ripon Grammar School considers the following:

1. whether a child is able to cope with, and benefit from, a boarding place

2. whether a child presents a serious health and safety hazard to other boarders

3. whether the school can match the needs of a student in a residential setting

Eligibility for boarding

As a state maintained boarding school, all boarders must have either a full British Citizen passport, or an Irish passport or, in the case of EEA (European Economic Area - EU together with Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein) and HK BN[O] passport holders, be dependant children of a parent who is either permanently resident in the UK or who is in the UK on a work or study visa.  

All boarding students whose home is outside the UK, or whose parents work abroad, must have a named guardian in the UK.

Admission of children outside their normal age group

Families may seek a place for their child outside of his/her normal age group under various circumstances such as ill health, if the child is gifted and talented, when the child has experienced problems or if the child is summer born (ie born April -August).

Where a child is being educated outside their normal age group and a parent wishes for their child to be considered for a place at Ripon Grammar School, parents should submit their request for their child to be admitted outside the normal age group (subject to them passing) before they sit the selection test.

Where a child is educated a year below their chronological age group, a parent should submit their request before their child reaches the end of year 4.  In the event that their request to be taught outside their normal age group is refused by tthe child could then sit the test at the beginning of year 5 (ie with the bulk testing for Year 6 pupils) and submit an application for year 7 (missing year 6).

Where a child does not reach the required standard in the selection test for entry into year 7 (Verbal and Non Verbal Reasoning) they are not able to sit the test again the following year.