Admissions
Bond's administrative staff will be able to answer any questions parents may have about admissions. Bond is a Community Primary School which means that all decisions about admissions are made by the Local Authority, following the agreed admissions policy for all Merton community schools.
Applications for entry in 2022 will be ranked against the following factors:
A looked after child is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see definition in section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989).
A previously looked after child is a child who, immediately following being looked after, was subject to an adoption or subject to a child arrangements, or special guardianship order including those who appear to Merton as the admission authority to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.
Applicants wishing to be considered under this criterion must supply professional evidence supporting their case at the time of application.
Providing evidence does not guarantee priority under this criterion; the School Admissions Team will consider if the evidence provided demonstrates that the child must attend a particular school and cannot reasonably attend an alternative school. Please note that your child's current (or most recently attended) school may be contacted for further information and may be sent a copy of your request. The information you provide may also be shared with an independent appeals panel should this be necessary. Applicants will not be individually advised if their application has been prioritised under this criterion.
Merton cannot seek information on your behalf and we cannot contact any health care professionals direct for further information – please ensure that you supply all available evidence to us.
Please note we cannot accept letters from yourself or from other members of your family, nor from your health visitor.
School staff are not allowed to provide letters supporting placement at their own school so please do not ask your school to write a letter supporting your application.
Based on previous decisions, it is unlikely that application will be prioritised for the following:
If you feel that one of these examples should be considered you can apply but you would be expected to demonstrate how this has a significant impact on your child, why a particular school can meet your child's need more than any other and why you should be placed above other children when making allocation.
If you believe that your child has a medical need for a place in a particular school, please complete the medical or social reasons form on the Merton Website.
Children of permanent teaching staff will be prioritised in the admission arrangements in either or both of the following circumstances:
Sibling refers to brother or sister, half brother or sister, adopted brother or sister, step brother or sister, or the child of the parent/carer’s partner, and in every case, who is living as part of the same family unit at the same address, Monday to Friday.
Where a parent applies for entry into the same year group for more than one child and the final offered place falls between these children, the school will consider if they have capacity to offer to the additional children.
If it is not possible to offer a place to all of them, rank order will be determined by random allocation
The names of the children who were unsuccessful will be added to the waiting list in accordance with the published admissions criteria, in the same way as for other children. The parent can then determine whether to accept or reject those places on an individual basis.
All distances will be measured by the computerised Geographical Information System maintained by Merton Admissions team. It should be noted that the computerised system measures from a start point plotted within the property at which the applicant lives to the main school reception entrance and calculates this measurement.
The child’s home address excludes any business, relative’s or childminder’s address and must be the applicant’s normal place of residence. If there is a genuine equal share custody arrangement between the two parents, the address that will be used will normally be the address of the parent who is claiming Child Benefit for the child, however all available evidence will be considered.
The address to be used for the initial allocation of places to Primary School (Reception) will be the child’s address at the closing date for application. Changes of address up to 10 February 2022 may be considered if there are exceptional reasons behind the change, such as if a family has just moved to the area, or has returned from abroad. Any offer is conditional upon the child living at the appropriate address on the relevant date. Parents have a responsibility to notify the Local Authority of any change of address.
Please note:
Where more than one applicant has the same straight line distance measurement and distance is the determining factor, rank order will be determined by random allocation.
Applicants wishing to query a distance from home to school should contact the School Admissions Team at admissions@merton.gov.uk. Please note that requests for distances from multiple addresses may delay your response.
In cases where a distance calculation is disputed applicants should write to the School Admissions Manager, London Borough of Merton,10th Floor, Civic Centre, Morden SM4 5DX.
All disputes will be investigated. Where it is agreed that the basis of the calculation was incorrect the measurement will be recalculated. The calculation will be re-run for both the applicant in question and any other applicant shown to be affected by the issue.
Children who are born in the summer months may, in some cases, delay their entry to Reception by one year. Please see our page about Delayed entry to reception for Summer born children for further information about when and how to apply and for a downloadable registration form.
Detailed information regarding the admissions arrangements can be found via the link below