If you would like your child to attend our school then please contact the school to have a chance to see the school in action and to meet the headteacher, Noel Fadden.
The school day starts at 8:45am for all children and finishes at 3:15pm. This means we provide the full 32.5 hours each week. Gates open at 8:35am and our wrap-around childcare is expertly provided by Pioneer childcare from 7:45am in the morning and until 6:00pm after school.
Reception Admissions
Children will be admitted to the two reception classes (max 45 children in total) either on part–time or a full-time basis. Autumn-born children, who will be five before 1 January 2024, will be of legal school age as from January 2024. Spring and summer born children, whose 5th birthday falls after 31 December 2024 may also start full-time as from September 2020, although they are not legally required to start school until the term after their 5th birthday.
Visiting Arrangements (for parents of prospective YR children)
Parents are encouraged to visit Southover before their child begins school. Meetings for prospective parents will be held in October, November and January, but visits are welcome at other times by arrangement. Parents are invited to telephone to make a convenient appointment to see the school at work and play, and to meet the Headteacher.
Admissions information for Y1 - 6 (including 'in year' admissions) and 'in year' YR admissions
Parents and carers who are considering applying for a place at Southover are welcome to make an appointment to visit the school at any time via the school office (01273 473015 or office@southover.e-sussex.sch.uk ).
If you decide that Southover is the right choice then you can apply for a place online via the link below. If the year group you are applying for is full, you can chose for your child to be placed on the waiting list subject to the admissions criteria below.
https://new.eastsussex.gov.uk/education-learning/schools/admissions
We follow the agreed East Sussex admissions process. If it is the case that two or more children are applying and there is only on place available, the agreed admissions criteria are applied:
Community and Voluntary Controlled (LA) schools
The priorities below will be used to decide who gets a place at community and voluntary controlled infant, primary and secondary schools.
1. Looked after children and children who were looked after, but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or subject to residence orders or special guardianship orders) immediately following being looked after.
2. Children who will have a brother or sister* at the school (or linked junior school) at the time of admission and who live at the same address, within the pre-defined community area**.
3. Other children living within a pre-defined community area**.
4. Children who will have a brother or sister* at the school (or linked junior school) at the time of admission who live at the same address, outside the pre-defined community area**.
5. Other children.
*Children are ‘siblings’ if they are full, half, adoptive or foster brother or sister living in the same household including siblings attending sixth forms.
Children who have a brother or sister who joined the school prior to 1 September 2017 and who is still on roll, will be assigned to priority 2 under the previous arrangement which gave priority to brothers and sisters regardless of whether they live in the pre-defined community area or not.
**Each home address in the county falls within a community area although living in a community area does not guarantee a place. (See our booklet for details of these)
Where a child has been unable to secure a place at a school in his/her community area and has been directed to attend a school outside the community area as an alternative, any applications for younger siblings to attend the school will be treated as if the family were resident in the community area, as long as the sibling will still be attending the school when the younger child starts.
Tiebreaker
In the event of oversubscription within any priority, place allocation will be decided by prioritising applications on the basis of home to school distance measured in a straight line. This will be measured from the address point in the school (supplied by Ordnance Survey) to the address point in the family home. For split site schools, we will measure to the site where the child will attend for the majority of lessons at the point of entry.
In the event that applicants cannot be prioritised using the tiebreaker because the distance measurements are the same, the Authority will use random allocation to decide which children will be offered the remaining places. This will be done electronically using the Authority’s admissions software.
Out of area siblings
Since September 2017, the admissions criteria give priority to children living in a community area (priority 3) above siblings who live outside of the area served by the school (priority 4). You can still apply for and get schools outside of your community area. However, there is no guarantee that younger children in your family will be able to follow their brother or sister. You will therefore need to consider the possibility that your children may end up at different schools if you send your child to a non-local school.
For further information, please visit the East Sussex web-site:
https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/educationandlearning/schools/admissions/admissions_rules/decisions/