Admissions Authority

Admissions into our Reception class are managed by Dorset Education Authority. You will need to contact the School Admissions Team if you wish to apply for your child to attend Southill.

All details about school admissions – including the online application form – can be found on the Dorset Council website here.

School Admissions Team:

Children’s Services
County Hall
Colliton Park
Dorchester
DT1 1XJ

Tel: 01305 221060

Email: admissions@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk

Admissions Policy

Below is the current school’s admissions policy:

Dorset Admissions Policy 23/24

Dorset Admissions Policy 24-25

Applications for our Reception class

The closing date for Reception is in the January preceding the school year (September–August) in which your child becomes 5. Applications must be made online, using the link at the top of this page.

In-year applications

Please contact The School Admissions Team to check our school has spaces in the classes relevant to you. Then phone Karen Sharpe in our office to organise a visit to school. Your child is also welcome to visit with you.

We encourage all prospective parents to come and visit the school before making any admissions decision, our Headteacher will be happy to give you a full tour.

Admissions Enquiries

Dealing with enquiries at Southill is Karen Sharpe. Please email her on k.sharpe@southill.dorset.sch.uk

Appeals

The Local Authority will act on behalf of the school for all appeals regarding admissions.

For more information, including an online appeals form and an appeals timetables of dates, please see Dorset School Admission Appeals page on Dorset for You.

https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/appeal-a-school-admission-decision-1

School Catchment Area

You can find an interactive map of the school catchment area on the Dorset Council website:

https://mapping.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/map?version=mylocal&lyrs=11926,2445

Admissions criteria if we are over-subscribed

Southill is a very popular and over-subscribed school. We have many more applications than places so the local authority applications are ranked (ordered) according to the criteria they meet and a place offered to the child meeting the highest criteria in the oversubscription policy (see page 20 of the Parents/Carers Guide)

1. Children who are or have been in care or are looked after by the local authority.
2. Children who the authority accepts have an exceptional medical or social needs and where there is a need for a place at one specific school.
3. Children who live within the school’s catchment area and will have a sibling attending the school at the time they would be due to start.
4. Children living in the school’s catchment area who are attending the preferred school’s recognised maintained feeder school during the previous year and are on that school’s roll at the time of application.
5. Children living within the school catchment area.
6. Children living outside the school’s catchment area who will have a sibling attending the school at the time of admission.
7. Children living outside the catchment area who attend the preferred school’s recognised feeder school during the previous year at the time of the application.
8. Children of staff who have at least two years continuous service at the school or have been recruited to meet a demonstrable skills shortage at the closing date of the application and intend to still be employed at the school at the time their child would be due to start.
9. All other children living outside the catchment area (known as distance criteria)
10. Children for whom the school has been named on an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP)
11. Children who are in public care
12. Brothers and sisters of children already at the school
13. Children who have an exceptional medical or social need, which would be helped by attending our particular school. This must be substantiated by appropriate professionals and is considered by a local authority panel.
14. Children who live closest to the school, measured as the crow flies from the centre of the school site.