Admissions

Oak Lodge School Admissions Process
 
Oak Lodge School welcomes enquiries from parents across the UK. Depending on your circumstances and individual needs, you will be invited to one of our open days and/or invited to book a bespoke student and parent/guardian visit.

The local Authority will write to parents/ carers in September of Year 6, seek your preference(s) and consult with schools on your behalf. You do not need to complete the request form for a secondary place.

A request to the Local Authority for a place at Oak Lodge School can be made following the annual review in Year 5 or 6 or from the student’s local authority at any time.

If you feel the school can meet the needs of your child you should consult with your Local Authority who should then make an application to Wandsworth Council. The cost of a placement at Oak Lodge is very competitive and is paid to the school by your child’s Local Authority. The Local Authority will send us the papers to consider. Following this, an appointment will be sent you and your child to attend for an assessment. Assessment visits are useful as they not only allow us to find out how we can support your child in school but it also gives your child experience of life at Oak Lodge to help decide if they would like to be a student here in the future. Once assessed, a report is prepared on the prospective pupil and an admissions decision is taken by the Senior Leadership Team based on the information provided by the Assessment Team. We may also consult with your child’s current school.

Oak Lodge School then responds directly to the Local Authority who will continue to liaise with you to let you know whether a place is available.

If a pupil is accepted, information from the assessment, home visit and consultation pack is shared with the wider staff team in the form of a pupil profile sheet prior to their start date.

Each Authority has its own views on the need for pupils to attend a school such as ours.

You are entitled to express a preference for a Local Authority maintained school, for example: Oak Lodge, to be named on your child’s Education Health and Care Plan and Local Authorities will give due consideration to such requests within the framework of the SEN Code of Practice.

If you would like your child to become a pupil at Oak Lodge School but your Local Authority does not agree, you have a right to appeal through the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST).

Oversubscription criteria
Where an application is made for a place, and there is a place available within the school as a whole, the following criteria will be applied in order of priority in deciding whether a place is able to be offered:

The child is D/deaf or has clearly identifiable speech, language and communication needs, lives in Wandsworth and Oak Lodge is the nearest school that will meet these needs.
There is room within the class/year group that the child is in and adding another child to this group will not adversely affect the provision of efficient education for the children with whom he/she would be educated or the efficient use of resources;
Offering this child a place will maintain a positive balance between the types of SEN within the year group and school;
If a residential place is requested, the pupil will need to be assessed within the residential provision also and this will be negotiated with the Referring Authority.

Please refer to our admissions policy for further details and Wandsworth’s guide to secondary school admissions: Choose a Wandsworth Secondary School (wandsworth.gov.uk)
Future Open Days
 
Spring term
31 January 2024
Admissions Contact
 
Karen Duggan-Stevens - Assistant Head/SENCo/Admissions
admissions@oaklodge.wandsworth.sch.uk
0208 673 3453