Admissions

Main School Brochure

ADMISSIONS TO THE SCHOOL

General help and advice on the admission to school in Southwark is available at: School Admissions

The London Borough of Southwark, Education Department is responsible for allocating your child a reception place.

If you have moved into the area once the academic year has already started, and wish to apply for a Southwark school place, you must complete a form called Southwark in year application form. This is available in school and from the Southwark Admissions Team.

Southwark in year application form – PDF

You can also download this form at: In Year Admissions

COMMUNITY PRIMARY SCHOOL ADMISSIONS CRITERIA

John Ruskin is a Community Primary School.

The admissions criteria are applied in cases of over-subscription and places will be allocated to applicants in the following priority order:

• Children in public care (looked after children) and children who were previously looked after but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or special guardianship order) immediately following having been looked after;
• Children with siblings who are already on roll at the school and will still be on roll at their date of entry;
• Children with exceptional medical, social or psychological needs, where it is agreed by the Local Authority (“LA”) and the headteacher that these can best be addressed at a particular school;
• Children of permanent staff employed at the school;
• Children living nearest to the school as measured by a straight line from the child’s home to the main school gate/entrance.

Click here to view Southwark Council’s oversubscription criteria for community school.

NURSERY

There is always a long waiting list for a nursery place but we do give priority to children who have older brothers or sisters in school. To put your child’s name onto the waiting list, please collect a form from the School Office.

Your child must be 2+ years before you can put them onto our waiting list. Depending on the availability of places, your child would be 3+ years when they join the nursery. Parents are notified when a place becomes available and invited to attend a meeting to discuss the curriculum and complete all of the relevant paperwork. The school offers nursery places but does NOT offer school places. Admission to our nursery unfortunately does not guarantee a place in our Reception classes as this is administered by Southwark Council’s Education Department.

The nurseries offer both part-time and full-time places. Please enquire at the school office for more information and availability.

RECEPTION CLASS

At John Ruskin the preferred pattern of entry to Reception classes is the September immediately following your child’s fourth birthday.

The parents of children who are admitted for nursery provision must apply to Southwark Council if they wish their child to transfer to the Reception class at John Ruskin School. Please make sure that you check the deadlines for this or you may be disappointed, as the school is heavily over-subscribed.

Attendance at the nursery does not guarantee admission to the school.

Parents can request that the date their child is admitted to the school is deferred until later in the school year or until the child reaches compulsory school age in that school year. Parents can request that their child attends part-time until the child reaches compulsory school age. Where entry is deferred, the admission authority (Southwark Council) must hold the place and not offer it to another child. The parent is not able to defer entry beyond the beginning of the term after the child’s fifth birthday, nor beyond the academic year for which the original application was accepted.