Admissions
If you are interested in applying for a place at Sir Robert Hitcham CEVAP School please do not hesitate to contact us to arrange a visit to have a look around the school. Alternatively, please telephone or email us if you have any questions or queries about applying for a place at the school.
Suffolk County Council Funded School Travel
What do I need to think about before making my application?
You must consider how your child will travel to and from school before you apply for a school place.
- Suffolk County Council (SCC) will provide funded school travel to the Nearest Suitable School that would have had a place available for your child when they are: a) aged under 8 and live more than two miles from the school; or b) aged 8 or older and live more than three miles from the school. This would be whether or not an application was made for a place at that school. The distance in a) and b) above is called the statutory walking distance.
- SCC will only provide funded school travel to your child’s catchment area school when it is the nearest suitable school to their home that would have had a place available for them and they meet the distance criteria.
- It is important that you check which school is your child’s nearest suitable school on our Nearest School Checker for the 2024/2025 school year. You can find out which are the three nearest Suffolk schools (based on the statutory walking distance including Public Rights of Way) by putting your child’s postcode into the Checker which can be found at nearestschool.suffolk.gov.uk. We update this each year to include new roads and developments.
- Your School Preferences and the order in which you put them on your admissions application could affect your child’s eligibility for SCC funded school travel. SCC's School Travel Scenarios can help you work out when your child might be eligible for SCC funded school travel to their school when the age and distance criteria are met. These can be found in Step 4 of the ‘Apply for a secondary school place’ page online at www.suffolk.gov.uk/admissions.
- Full details about SCC funded school travel, including the School Travel Policy, additional arrangements for low income families and those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), can be found at www.suffolkonboard.com/schooltravel.
Do I have to apply for my nearest school?
No, you can decide which schools to apply for. However, if SCC funded school travel is important to you, you should apply for your child's three nearest schools in the order they appear on the Nearest School Checker.
If you dcide to apply for a school(s) that is not your child's nearest school, this could affect their eligibility for SCC funded school travel to any school including their catchment area school if they have one.
The school that your child currently attends does not guarantee them a place at another school at a later stage of transfer, even if that school traditionally feeds into another school.
If the school your child currently attends is named as a feeder school in a secondary school's admissions oversubscription criteria, this does not mean they will get SCC funded school travel to that school, as this is based on them attending the nearest suitable school to their home address.
Nursery Class
Our Nursery has 12 places for each morning and afternoon session and runs every day during term time from 9.00am to 3.00pm and you can apply for as many or as few sessions as suits you and your child.
Please note that the allocation of a place in the Nursery does not guarantee a place in the Reception Class.
Early Education Funding
All three and four year olds are entitled to fifteen hours of free education a week with a registered provider. In addition to your child's government funded 15 hours. You may also be eligible to 30 hours of funding. Please check www.childcarechoices.gov.uk for the eligibility criteria.
On 27 October 2023 the eligibility checker on Childcare Choices | 30 Hours Childcare, Tax-Free Childcare and More | Help with Costs | GOV.UK was updated enabling parents to access personalised information on the support available to them, including which of the new transformational childcare offers they will be eligible for depending on the age of their child and earnings.
Ad additional feature added to the website is a subscribe for updates function, which will give parents the opportunity to sign up for regular newsletters letting them know when they should take action to make sure they are getting the support they are entitled to - including information about wraparound for primary school children and when the new 15 hours for two-year-olds becomes available for sign-ups, with the offer beginning in April 2024.All parent/carers and providers need to complete a PAF for all 3 and 4-year-old children claiming Early Education Funding (EEF), which can be downloaded here.
Please find below the Pupil Authorisation Form (PAF) for Early Years Funding. Guidance for parents on completing the PAF is available at Suffolk InfoLink.
Admission to Nursery 2023/2024
Applications for Nursery for September 2023 are welcome. If your child was born between 1 September 2019 and 31 August 2020 he/she is eligible to join our Nursery from September 2023.
If you would like to have a chat about your child joining the Nursery, please don't hesitate to phone the school and speak to Mrs Valentine or Mrs Seccombe on 01728 860201.
Application Form for Nursery 2023/2024
Reception Class
Applying for a Place in Reception Class for 2024/2025
If your child was born between 1 September 2019 and 31 August 2020, it is very important that you make an application for a full-time school place for your child for the 2024/2025 school year by the closing date of 15 January 2024.
All of the information parents/carers need to help them make their decision is available on at www.suffolk.gov.uk/admissions, including information about the School Travel Policy and some School Travel Scenarios. You will also find on the website:
- information on how to apply for a school place, including the steps to follow and what to do if you have any queries. This information can also be found in the Admissions to Schools in Suffolk 2024/2025 guide on the website which can also be downloaded; and
- details of all primary (including infant and junior) schools and how places are offered when a school gets too many applications.
Further information is available in the Admissions to Schools in Suffolk 2024/2025 guide, which is available on Suffolk County Council’s website.
If there are more applications than there are places available, the relevant oversubscription criteria will be applied and the applicants will be ranked. The applicant(s) at the top of the list will be offered a place(s). The oversubscription criteria is published in the school's 2024/2025 Admissions policy.
Parents/carers should apply for a school place online at www.suffolk.gov.uk/admissions. Only those who are unable to apply online should complete and return a paper CAF1 application form, which is available to download from www.suffolk.gov.uk/admissions or by contacting us on 0345 600 0981.
Pupils will not be allocated a school place automatically. All parents/carers must make an application for a full-time school place even if their child is already attending a nursery class in an infant or primary school, a pre-school or a family hub next to a school site. This is because a place in a nursery class, pre-school or family hub does not guarantee their child a full-time place at that school.
Any applications made after the closing date may not be dealt with until after places have been offered to those who applied on time. This means that all available places at a parent/carer’s preferred school(s) may have been filled and it could be some time before the outcome of the application is known.
Parents/carers can keep up-to-date on school admissions by:
Liking SCC Admissions on Facebook: www.facebook.com/SuffolkCountyCouncil/
Following SCC Admissions on Twitter: twitter.com/suffolkcc
If parents/carers have any questions, they can email admissions@suffolk.gov.uk or by telephone on 0345 600 0981 (local rate).
Supplementary Information Forms
If you are applying to Sir Robert Hitcham CEVAP School because it is a church school and you attend church regularly, please complete a supplementary information form, which is available below. The SIF needs to be returned direct to the school by 15 January 2024.
Sir Robert Hitcham CEVAP School SIF 2023/2024
Offer of a School Place
Primary Offer Day is 16 April 2024 (on-time applications only).
Admissions to All Classes (excluding Nursery)
In-Year Applications
As Sir Robert Hitcham CEVAP School is run by governors, the school's governing body is the admissions authority. They are responsible for setting the admissions arrangements and allocating places in accordance with the published oversubscription criteria, which are available in the school's current Admissions policy.
To apply for a place at the school, please complete the school's in-year application form, which is available below or a paper copy can be obtained from the School Office. Alternatively, you can complete Suffolk County Council's in-year application form, ADM1, which is available on their website or you can request a paper copy by contacting 0345 600 0981.
You should return the completed form directly to Sir Robert Hitcham CEVAP School.
ADM1 Form for In-Year Admissions to Sir Robert Hitcham CEVAP School
Contacting the Admissions Team at Suffolk County Council
- Web chat is the quickest and easiest way to contact School Admissions; Monday to Friday 9am to 4.30pm. The chat with us button will appear in the right hand corner when someone is available to talk to.
- Email: admissions@suffolk.gov.uk
- Call: 0345 600 0981
Appeals
If your application is unsuccessful and you wish to appeal the decision to refuse your child a place at this school, information of the procedure and forms are available here.
Please find details of the admission appeals timetable here.
Please click here for further information on admission to Suffolk schools.