In-Year Admissions
If you would like your child to join Hamstreet Primary Academy during the school year, or transfer from another school, please contact our academy office to discuss availability and arrange a visit.
Telephone: 01233 732577
Email: enquiries@ham-street.org.uk
How to apply
Please visit Kent County Council’s in-year admissions page and complete the online “Apply for an In Year Admission” form, selecting Hamstreet Primary Academy.
Your application will be sent automatically to the academy, with a copy sent to KCC’s In Year Admissions Team for monitoring.
The academy will consider your application under the admission arrangements applicable to the year of entry. We will notify you of the outcome within 15 school days of receiving your application, aiming to respond within 10 school days.
If a place cannot be offered, we will explain the reasons and provide information about the waiting list and your right to appeal.
Please keep your child at their current school until a new place and starting date have been confirmed.
Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan
If your child has an Education, Health and Care Plan, or is awaiting one, please follow the SEND instructions on KCC’s in-year admissions page before applying.
Admissions in 2027 – 2028
Choosing your child’s school is an important decision. We warmly welcome families considering Hamstreet Primary Academy and would love to show you our school.
To arrange a visit or ask a question about joining us, please contact the academy office on 01233 732577.
Starting Reception in September 2027
Children born between 1 September 2022 and 31 August 2023 would normally start Reception in September 2027.
Our published admission number for children starting Reception in September 2027 is 45 places.
Applications for Reception places are coordinated by Kent County Council. If you live in Kent, apply through Kent County Council’s primary admissions service. If you live outside Kent, apply through your home local authority.
| Key event | Date |
|---|---|
| Applications open | Friday 6 November 2026 |
| Applications close | Friday 15 January 2027 |
| National Offer Day | Friday 16 April 2027 |
| Deadline to accept or decline your offered place | Friday 30 April 2027 |
You can name up to three schools in order of preference on your Kent application. Visiting the school or attending an on-site nursery does not replace making an application or guarantee a place.
Our admission arrangements
ACE Learning is the admission authority for Hamstreet Primary Academy.
Our Hamstreet Primary Academy Admissions Policy 2027/28 explains how applications are considered, how places are allocated and the arrangements for waiting lists, appeals and admission outside the normal age group.
Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan naming the academy will be admitted. Where there are more applications than remaining places, the following priorities apply in order:
- Looked-after and previously looked-after children, as defined in the policy.
- Children with a brother or sister attending the academy when they start, subject to the policy’s sibling and address conditions.
- Children of staff who meet the criteria in the policy.
- Children with exceptional medical or social reasons, supported by appropriate professional evidence.
- Children living nearest to the academy, using the straight-line measurement described in the policy.
This is a summary. Please read the full policy for the definitions, evidence requirements and tie-break arrangements.
Waiting lists
Waiting lists are ranked using the oversubscription criteria in the admissions policy, rather than the date an application was received. A child’s position may change when another child joins the list.
Please contact the academy office for information about your child’s waiting-list position and arrangements for remaining on the list.
Appealing an admission decision
If your child is refused a place at Hamstreet Primary Academy, you have the right to appeal to an independent appeal panel. Kent County Council organises admission appeals on behalf of the academy.
Visit Kent County Council’s primary school appeals page for the published timetable, guidance and online appeal form. Please check which admission year the information covers.
For September 2027 Reception entry, Kent’s published admissions scheme gives Monday 17 May 2027 as the deadline for lodging an appeal.
For appeals relating to a place during the school year, visit Kent County Council’s in-year appeals page.
You can contact KCC’s appeals team at appeals@kent.gov.uk for assistance.
For Reception applications, Kent County Council provides guidance on what to do after receiving your school offer.
Deferred entry, part-time attendance and admission outside the normal age group
Children offered a Reception place are entitled to start full-time in the September following their fourth birthday.
Parents may request a later start within the same academic year or part-time attendance before their child reaches compulsory school age, subject to the limits explained in our admissions policy.
Parents may also request admission outside their child’s normal age group, including Reception entry in the September following a summer-born child’s fifth birthday. Requests are considered individually, taking account of the child’s circumstances and best interests.
Please contact the academy office to discuss these options before making your application. Agreement to admission outside the normal age group does not guarantee a place.
Equality
In all aspects of our academy life we are committed to actively promote equality of opportunity in our daily practice for every person regardless of age, culture, race, religion, gender, disability or family background has, in all dealings with others, the right to be recognised and treated on their individual merits without prejudice.
Equal Opportunities
For additional information specific to race, incidents and disability policies please visit the ACE Learning Documents & Policies website:
Ethos
We aim to ensure that every child and adult in the academy is given an equal opportunity to achieve their full potential. In addition, each individual is entitled to learn, teach or work in a supportive environment and benefit from the diversity of our academy community.
To meet these aims we are committed to:
- Ensuring that positive attitudes to equality, diversity and special needs are actively promoted.
- The display of children’s work, the use of books and artefacts should all present positive images.
- Ensuring attitudes towards equality are proactive rather than reactive.
- Care being taken in the use of language in order to encourage respect and the use of correct terminology.
- Dealing with unacceptable attitudes and behaviour immediately (Behaviour policy).
- Equal opportunity being addressed when whole academy issues are decided.
- Ensuring children feeling confident in the knowledge they can express their concerns if they feel discriminated against.
The academy values diversity amongst the staff. In all staff appointments, the most suitable candidate will be appointed on professional criteria and recruitment carried out in a manner consistent with equal opportunity practice.
Disability Act
At ACE Academy, we believe that diversity is a strength, which should be respected and celebrated by all those who learn, teach and visit here. We are committed to ensuring equality of education and opportunity for disabled pupils, staff and all those receiving services from the academy.
Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act 2010 aims to protect disabled people and prevent disability discrimination. It provides legal rights for disabled people in the areas of:
- Employment
- Education
- Access to goods, services and facilities including larger private clubs and land based transport services
- Buying and renting of land or property
- Functions of public bodies, for example the issuing of licences
The Equality Act also provides rights for people not to be directly discriminated against or harassed because they have an association with a disabled person. This can apply to a carer or parent of a disabled person. In addition, people must not be directly discriminated against or harassed because they are wrongly perceived to be disabled. More information about the Equality Act and how you can obtain copies of the Act, can be found on the Government Equalities Office website.
In the Act a person has a disability if:
- They have a physical or mental impairment.
- The impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to perform normal day to day activities
Monitoring
At ACE Academy we are aware that to meet the Disability Equality Duty, it is essential that aspects of academy life are monitored to identify whether there is an adverse impact on children and young people with disabilities. The following should be monitored:
- Achievement of pupils by disability
- Disabled staff (including numbers, type of disability and satisfaction rates in staff surveys etc.)
Making things happen
In order to ensure that action is taken to meet the Disability Equality Duty, ACE Academy has drawn up an action plan to make things happen, which outlines how the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 will be met.
Behaviour
The latest Behaviour Policy can be found on the ACE Learning Documents & Policies website:
Good, sensible, quiet and well mannered behaviour is to be encouraged and expected at all times.
In keeping with our stated aims we expect every member of the Academy community to show courtesy, care and consideration for each other. Discipline will be firm but fair with expectations for conduct based on the safety and well being of all members of the Academy. Our intention is to provide an environment that will help children develop a sense of value, self-discipline and mutual respect. Strong emphasis is based on good behaviour and the development of responsibility – responsibility to themselves, to each other, to their family and to the academy. Discipline is enforced in such a manner as to encourage an acceptable level of behaviour and attitude at all ages.
Principles:
Every child has the right to learn but no child has the right to disrupt the learning of others. The establishment of a sound, positive and caring ethos is an essential prerequisite for learning. It depends upon trusting relationships and a process of co-operative team work and the academy welcomes and encourages the involvement of the directors, governors, parents and carers and others in the community.
Adults on Academy Site:
The Academy expects high standards of pupil behaviour and respect towards others. In order that this is modelled for children we expect all adults, including staff, parents and visitors to behave as positive role models. To achieve this we ask all people on site to behave respectfully and politely towards others. Adults demonstrating physical or verbal aggression will be asked to leave the premises. The Academy reserve the right to ban entry to the premises any person who persistently behaves in this way.
Liaison with Parents:
Parents will be kept informed about their child’s behaviour. If it appears that this has to be monitored on a regular basis a ‘home/school contact’ book may be started. The book is written in by the teacher or teaching assistant at the end of each day and sent home. The parent writes in it each evening and returns the book to school. This can be an onerous task for the class teacher and it may be that when the behaviour improves the contact book can be reduced to a weekly contribution. A ‘good behaviour’ book is also effective. The teacher only records the good things that the child has done or achieved that day and makes no comments about the bad things. Parents are encouraged to talk to their child’s class teacher if they have any worries.
Upon discussion and with parental/carer agreement teachers can call on a strong support network of in-school Learning Mentors and SENCO to reinforce pupils wellbeing, which may include advice of outside agencies where appropriate.
Children with identifiable behavioural problems, and therefore acknowledged special needs, will be supported by additional staff. Support staff members will work closely with the Class Teacher, SENCO, and parents in encouraging acceptable behaviour using all the appropriate strategies. They are therefore beyond the traffic light system and discipline will be handled appropriate to the child’s needs, IEP and Behaviour Plan.
Children who experience behavioural or other problems and who are not subject to additional support may well benefit from the use of a home school book so that all involved are able to work together in an attempt to modify the child’s behaviour. Extreme behaviour will be dealt with appropriately outside of the traffic light system.
Exclusion:
Parents will be notified of the reason for the exclusion. Before the child is re-admitted to the academy, a meeting between the parents and the academy will be arranged. The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss strategies and a way forward to ensure that the risk of a repetition of the offending behaviour patterns is not repeated. A written record of the discussion, and commitments to the agreed plan, by both the parents and the academy, will be made. One copy will be kept in the academy’s record and one sent to the parent.
Monitoring:
Every 12 months the effects of the Behaviour Policy is evaluated through consultation with all the parties involved, i.e. children, parents, staff and governors. Agreed changes to this policy will then be incorporated as necessary.
Anti-Bullying Policy
Bullying both verbal and physical will not be tolerated. It is everyone’s responsibility to prevent it happening and this policy contains guidelines for all members of the Hamstreet community; you can download the policy from the ACE Learning Documents & Policies website. At Hamstreet children have a right to feel welcome, safe and happy. We will not tolerate any unkind actions or remarks even if these were not intended to hurt. Bullying is deliberately hurtful behaviour that is repeated often over a period of time, making it difficult for the person concerned to defend themselves. Bullying can take many forms.
The 3 main types are:-
- physical – hitting, kicking, taking belongings
- verbal – name calling, insulting or racist remarks
- indirect – spreading unpleasant stories about someone, excluding someone from social groups
Resolving conflict by resorting to fighting is not acceptable, it is not bullying if two pupils of equal power and strength fight or quarrel. We do not condone bullying at Hamstreet but we must be sure it is deliberate upset or hurt. Children need to be made aware of the consequences of their words and actions. Friendships do break up; children do have arguments and disagreements from time to time. Children do make up.
If you are concerned about bullying it is important you inform your child’s class teacher at the earliest possible opportunity. If this does not solve the issue please speak to your child’s Key Stage Leader. If your concerns continue further please make an appointment with the Principal or Vice Principal.