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Notre Dame High School

Notre Dame
High School

Admissions & Open Events

YEAR 7 ADMISSIONS (September 2024 entry)

Open Events Key Dates

Thurs. 21st Sept 2023 Open Evening: The school is open for viewing 5pm - 8pm.  A welcome talk will be held in the Sports Hall at 5:30pm and repeated at 6:30pm

October 2023 Open Days: Every October, Notre Dame High School opens its doors to families considering a place for their children at our school.  This allows parents and their children to see what a day at Notre Dame High School is really like. 

In order to ensure our visitors are spread over the days we have the following timetable. 

Monday 2nd October AM - St Francis of Assisi
PM - St Edmund’s & St Benet’s and All other schools
Tuesday 3rd October AM - St Augustines and St Mary’s Lowestoft and All other schools
PM - St Mary and St Peter Gorleston and All other schools 

Morning tours start each day from 9.30 a.m. from Main Reception with the last tour starting at 11.00 a.m.   

Afternoon tours start at 1.30 p.m. with the last tour starting at 3.00 p.m. 

If you have any questions about our Open Days, please contact our Pastoral Team on 01603 611431.   

For enquiries regarding Admissions to the lower school please e-mail John Eady jeady@ndhs.org.uk 

Notre Dame's Admissions Policy can be found on the school's Policies and Documents webpage.

Admissions Key Dates

31st October 2023Deadline for applications. Please apply both via your local County Council AND return the school’s Supplementary Information Form to the school.

1st March 2024: National Offer Day - Letters confirming allocated places are sent by the Local Authority, or are posted online if you have made an online application.

YEAR 12 ADMISSIONS (September 2024 entry)

For information about applying to our 6th Form including our prospectus and the courses we offer visit our Six Form Prospective Students page.

Main School Prospectus 

Click on the image below to view our Main School Prospectus.  If you would like us to send you a paper copy of our prospectus, email office@ndhs.org.uk.

IN-YEAR ADMISSIONS for application to current Years 7-11 

All 'in-year' applications, i.e. those for pupils currently at high school, for places in Years 7 to 11 must be made via Norfolk County Council, using the form 'Moving Schools during the School Year'. Please be aware that Notre Dame is always very heavily oversubscribed at the Common Entry point at Year 7, with the consequence that places in older year groups are rarely available. The admission policy for our current year is available on the school's Policy page.

If your child is Catholic, then in order for us to recognise them as being Catholic, parents should send a copy of their Baptismal (or First Holy Communion) certificate to the Compliance Manager, John Eady (jeady@ndhs.org.uk). Once we have received a formal application via Norfolk County Council, the school will consider the application and let you know the outcome via Norfolk County Council as soon as possible.

Y7 Admissions Procedures 

Parents of Year 6 pupils in September 2023 who wish to apply for a High School place for September 2024 at Notre Dame are advised that they should apply both to the Council (via their own Local Authority) AND to Notre Dame (using the school's Supplementary Information Form).

Important deadline dates

  • 11th September 2023: County Admissions Round opens.

  • 31st October 2023: Deadline for Applications to be received.

  • 1st March 2024: National Offer Day - Letters confirming allocated places are sent by the Local Authority, or are sent by e-mail if you have applied online.

Please note that no child can be guaranteed a place at the school. Parents should apply both to the Local Authority AND to the school to ensure your child is placed in the appropriate category for admissions purposes. The school is likely to be heavily oversubscribed so regretfully some parents and their children may be disappointed.

You are advised to use your three preferences on the Local Authority Form to put down schools in order of your preference, but make sure you put down your catchment school (if that is one of your preferences). It will not affect your likelihood of being offered a place at your first preference school if you put down other preferences. If you put Notre Dame as your only preference, and we are not able to offer a place, then the Local Authority will attempt to match all first, second and third preferences before reconsidering those who only put down one (unsuccessful) preference. In that instance you would be offered a place at the nearest school to where you live that still has places available, which by definition may not be one of the more popular schools.

Please note that our named Catholic schools supported by the Diocese of East Anglia are St Benet's Catholic Primary School, (Beccles, Suffolk); St Edmund's Catholic Primary School, (Bungay, Suffolk); St Augustine's Catholic Primary School (Costessey, Norfolk); St Francis of Assisi Catholic Primary School (Norwich, Norfolk); St Mary and St Peter Catholic Primary School (Gorleston, Norfolk); St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School (Lowestoft, Suffolk); and Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School (Swaffham).

Admissions to other Year Groups

All applications MUST go through your local County Council School Admissions team. For most applicants that will be Norfolk County Council or Suffolk County Council. Councils then approach the school to determine availability of places. Please note that Notre Dame is one of the most oversubscribed High Schools in Norfolk, so we rarely have such 'in year' places available.

Admissions Policy and Supplementary Information Form

The school admissions policy (and supplementary Information Form) for our current year is available on the school's Policy page.

6th Form Admissions Procedures 

Applications for entry into the Sixth Form in September 2024 are now open. The deadline for receipt of your application is Monday 18th December 2023.

Provisional Offers will be sent out at the end of January 2024.

Information about entry requirements, frequently asked questions and the application process can be found on our Sixth Form pages.

The school admissions policy is available on the school's Policy page.

Appeals timetables and procedures 

Admissions Appeals

Parents/Sixth Form applicants whose applications for places are unsuccessful may appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel set up in accordance with sections 84 and 94 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.

How to appeal

Contact the Compliance Manager (John Eady jeady@ndhs.org.uk) at the school, indicating your intention to appeal. At this point you do not need to explain your reasons for appealing. You will be sent a 'Notice of Appeal' to complete, where you can explain your reasons for your appeal. You may also include any supporting information you wish to be considered.

Appeals should be sent to the Compliance Manager at the address above. Appellants have the right to speak with the Appeal Panel at the hearing.

 

Appeals Timetables

In-year or immediate entry appeals for places in Years 7 to 11 (appeals outside the main Year 7 Common Application Process)

If you made a formal application (through the Local Authority) for your child to change high school during the school year and the application was refused, the appeal hearing will take place within 30 school days of the date you lodged your appeal (i.e. the date the completed Notice of Appeal form was returned).

 

September 2024 Year 7 Entry appeals

If your child is due to start secondary school in September 2024 and your application to Notre Dame has been unsuccessful, you can appeal against this decision. You can submit your intention to appeal between 1st March and 22nd March 2024 to guarantee that your appeal will be heard by the end of June 2024.

For applications made in the normal admissions round, appeals must be heard within 40 school days of the deadline for lodging appeals.

For late applications, appeals should be heard within 40 school days from the deadline for lodging appeals where possible, or within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged.

 

September 2024 Year 12 entry (Sixth Form) appeals

For applications to the Sixth Form:

i. where the offer of a place would have been conditional upon exam results, appeals must be heard within 30 school days of confirmation of those results;

ii. where the offer of a place would not have been conditional upon exam results, appeals must be heard within 40 school days of the deadline for lodging appeals.

Appellants will be sent notification of their appeal hearing together with a copy of the school’s case at least 10 clear school days in advance of the hearing.

 

If you wish to submit further evidence which was not included with your initial Notice of Appeal, you must make sure that it is received at least 5 clear school days prior to the hearing date. Any information or evidence not submitted by the deadline might not be considered at the appeal. Parents may waive their right to 10 school days’ notice of the hearing.

 

Before the appeal hearing

You will receive a written summary of the school's case for refusing your child a place.

The Local Authority will tell you when and where the appeal will be heard 14 days before the hearing, and will send links to the hearing if it is conducted remotely.

Your individual appeal will be heard in private, when you may discuss the reasons why you are appealing for a place for your child. You can bring a friend, relative or representative to support you if you wish. You can also decide whether to bring your child to the hearing or not.

It is best to attend the hearing in person, so that the panel can ask questions and get a fuller picture of your child and the reasons for your appeal. However, if you cannot or do not wish to attend the hearing, the panel will consider a written appeal case.

The appeal hearing

At present, appeal hearings may take place by video conferencing (using MicroSoft Teams), by telephone or in writing.

At the hearing the panel consists of three people who decide whether your appeal is successful or not. The panel members are volunteers and are independent of the school and the local authority.

There will also be a clerk who will record the proceedings, and advise on law and procedure.

The school will be represented by a presenting officer who will give the reasons for refusing your child a place.

The panel will firstly decide whether the admission authority (Notre Dame High School) has shown why it cannot admit more children (Stage 1 of the appeals process). If they agree that the case has been made, they will then consider all the points you have made (Stage 2 of the process, which is held in private). You will be given the opportunity to explain to the panel why you want your child to be admitted to the school.

The panel’s decision is based on balancing the needs of your child against the effect of admitting another child to the school.

After the hearing

Wherever possible you will be informed of the decision by the next working day after the hearing. This will be a straight 'yes, your appeal has been successful' or 'no, your appeal has not been successful'.

Within seven days you will also be sent a formal letter from the panel, explaining their decision and giving reasons for it.

Decisions of the appeal panel are binding on both the parents and the school.

You have no further right of appeal in the same academic year unless there is a significant change in circumstances. This may include for instance, a new medical problem, or a house move, where this was not known about and considered at the original appeal hearing.

If you wish to complain about how your appeal was conducted you can complain to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).

Guidance about how to complain is contained within the ESFA appeals complaints factsheet.

Further Information 

DfE School admissions appeal code  

NCC admission appeals 

SCC admission appeals 

Admission Arrangements 2024/25 entry - consultation concluded on 27th January 2023 

The Governing Body undertook a formal consultation on the school's proposed admission arrangements for 2024/25 entry, from 9th December 2022 until 27th January 2023. 

No changes were proposed to the main school admissions policy from last year's policy.

The only proposed change was to the general criteria for entry to the Sixth Form, where the academic threshold for entry would be a combined minimum GCSE points score of 42 points over 8 subjects (with minimum grade 4 in Maths and English, and individual subject requirements unchanged).

The 2024/25 admissions policy can be found on the policies page of the website.

Y7 Transition Advice 

Transition Information for September 2024 Year 7 pupils

For information about transition events and communications for new students joining our Y7 in September 2024 click on New Students Transition.

If you did not manage to visit the school on our Prospective Parents Evening, or have any questions following this event, please feel free to contact: