Enrolment and School Growth

Growth — by Beckie Duffy

A message from Lesley on future changes to our enrolment policy as the school grows.

Dear parents and caregivers, 

As you will be aware, even when our school had plenty of space, we have consistently enrolled only students from our zone, except in the case of some priority enrolments which are listed and prioritized by legislation and contained in our Enrolment Policy. Currently, the Board of Trustees’ policy is that out-of-zone students are able to enrol in the following circumstances:


● First priority must be given to any applicant who is the sibling of a current student of the school

● Second priority must be given to any student who is the sibling of a former student of the school

● Third priority must be given to any applicant who is a child of a former student of the school

● Fourth priority must be given to any applicant who is either a child of an employee of the board of the school or a child of a member of the board of the school

We currently have several out-of-zone enrolments as a result of these priorities. However, the Board is able to pass a resolution at any time to close the roll to all out-of-zone enrolments. This is likely to happen when the Board feels that the school is at risk of running out of room for the students who do live within the zone. Legally, this has to be their priority.

We are not at this point yet. However, with the continued growth there may well come a time when the Board has to make this decision. Of course, we will do our best not to have to turn away the siblings of past or current students who were enrolled while the family lived in zone but are no longer in zone. But it might possibly come to that.

Just to clarify the situation:

i. All children who live in zone with the right visas are entitled to enrol at Amesbury School.

ii. If a family moves out-of-zone, any child enrolled while living in zone is entitled to remain at Amesbury School for the duration of his/her year 1 – 6 education.

iii. Out-of-zone siblings are only entitled to enrol at the school if the Board is accepting out-of-zone enrolments.

iv. If the Board specifies a particular number of out-of-zone enrolments it is able to take, and the number of expressions of interest exceeds this number, then a ballot must be held.

v. By law, no family has a greater right than another to be given an out-of-zone placement other than the priorities listed above. Having pre-enrolled earlier, for example, or having a longer association with the school, will not put a student at the top of the list.

Given the fact that the school is now officially more than full with more growth to come, the Board of Trustees felt it was important to clarify this situation. As an open learning environments, we do have more flexibility with space. However, there may come a time before the new building is built, when we no longer have space for any out-of-zone enrolments.

Families need to be aware of this before moving out of zone.

Please do not hesitate to speak with me

Kind regards,

Lesley

By Beckie Duffy