Introduction

The Admissions Body is the Governing Body of Maharishi Free School. The published admission number for Year R is 20.

The Maharishi Free School is a Reception to Year 11 (all-through) School. A child already enrolled at the school in Year 6 will automatically have a place in Year 7 and there will be no need to reapply. Maharishi School is not included in Lancashire County Council’s in-year coordination beyond reception year. Where places do become available, in-year admissions are managed by Maharishi School according to the over- subscription policy below.

Any pupil will be admitted without reference to academic ability or aptitude, race, colour, gender, religion, socio-economic status, ethnicity or national origins.

Making an application

Applications for reception class places must be made through your own local authority by January of the year that your child is due to start school. Applications for all other year groups must be made by contacting the school directly on 01695 729912 or via email: enquiries@maharishischool.com

Open Days

In order to appreciate the unique practical and philosophical differences inherent in Consciousness-based Education, it is expected that parents/carers attend one of the Maharishi Free School open days held in September and January prior to choosing Maharishi Free School for their child; during this open day, parents will be briefed on these differences including both the School’s and the parent’s responsibilities. Should schedule conflicts not permit attendance at an open day we would be happy to schedule a time that is mutually convenient.

Reception

Reception places are available on a full or part-time basis and parents should feel free to approach the School if they have a query regarding reception admissions. Please contact the Business Manager, Paul Magee on 01695 729912 who can answer any questions you might have and assist with your application.

Deferred Entry

If your child is offered a full time place before s/he reaches compulsory school age, you have the option of deferring the child’s entry until later in the school year or of having the child attend on a part-time basis, but not beyond the start of the next term after the child’s fifth birthday. A place will be held and will not be offered to another child.

Please be aware that staff are very skilled at adapting the learning to suit the needs of pupils of all ages and abilities.

Special Educational Needs (SEN)

Applications for children with an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP), where the school is named, are considered separately in liaison with the Local Authority. Where places are allocated within this category they are admitted before the application of the over-subscription criteria.

Permanent Address

The child’s permanent address is the one where he or she usually wakes up. Where a child lives with one parent for part of the week and another for the rest of the week, only the permanent address, as defined above, will be accepted for a school admission application. Parents may be asked for evidence of residence where this is required to apply the admission policy (ie for straight line measures).

Late Applications

Any applications received after the closing date will be accepted but considered only after those received by the closing date. You are therefore encouraged to ensure that your application is received on time.

Oversubscription Policy

If the allocation of a place has been made on the basis of fraudulent or intentionally misleading information, the governors reserve the right to withdraw the place. In certain circumstances places may be withdrawn after a child has started at the school.

Oversubscription Policy

Where applications for admission exceed the number of places available, the School Governing Body will apply the following criteria in the order set out below, to decide which children to admit:

1. A ‘looked after child’ or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, residence, or special guardianship order.
2. Where the applicant is considered a sibling of a child enrolled at the School at the time of application (sibling, half-sibling, adopted sibling or foster sibling, as long as they are living with the same family at the same permanent address).
3. Children of any staff permanently employed in either or both of the following circumstances:
   1. where the member of staff has been employed at the School for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made, and/or
   2. the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post in the School for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage for the requirements of the post
4.  Where having applied the above criteria, and allocated places to the children satisfying those criteria, there remain places available, 50% (rounded up) of the places remaining will be allocated in order of proximity of the child’s permanent address to the School’s address, with the most proximate first. The measurement used will be the same as the Local Authority (Lancashire) uses for its Community Schools, viz a straight line (radial) measure from the centre of the pupil’s home to the centre of the school building where the relevant year group to which the child is being admitted is usually taught. The remaining 50% of places (rounded down) will be allocated by a random draw.

Note:

1. The distance and random draw allocation measures in d) will be used as a tie-breaker for earlier criteria should any of those criteria be oversubscribed.
2. Tied distances (eg. twins or the same block of flats) are decided by random draw.

Waiting List

Disappointed reception applicants will be placed on a waiting list ranked according to the over subscription criteria. As a new child is added, the list will be ranked again in line with the over-subscription criteria. The waiting list will remain in operation from the day the original places are awarded and will be used to allocate places which become available before the start of the school year. A separate waiting list will be maintained for each year group.

Parents can be notified on request of where their child has been placed on a waiting list but indication of the likelihood of being offered a place will not be given as their position may change if families having a higher priority, who apply for places for their children, move into the neighbourhood of the school. The Local Authority will retain the reception waiting list until 31st August each year and the Governing Body will retain the list from 1st September until 31st December.

A PDF version of this document can be found here.