Schools are not allowed to interview parents/carers and/or children, (face-to face interviews or by telephone).

When you meet members of the school staff at open evenings or other occasions, the school must not use information gathered from such meetings in the admission decision-making process.

• The school must not insist that parents or carers attend an open evening or other meeting at the school and state that this is a condition for your child to be offered a place.

• Boarding schools are allowed to interview but only for the purpose of assessing a child’s suitability for a boarding place, or measure a child’s aptitude in a particular subject.
  
  
• Boarding schools must not use supplementary information forms or interviews when looking at applications for ‘day places’.

• Non-selective schools must not use tests to allocate places, (unless this is part of approved aptitude selection or banding).
  
  
• Banding only comes into effect when the number of applications is more than the number of places available.
  
  It is used to make sure that the school intake of pupils includes a good balance of pupils of different abilities.
  
  
• If your child has a special educational need they can still be included in banding and they will be given the appropriate band to suit their ability.
  
  A school must not refuse to offer a place to a child with a special educational need if they have a statement that names the school.
  
  
• Schools which use banding must not ask a child to sit another test to measure their ability once that child has been allocated a band.
  
  
• Schools which use banding must not give priority to children in specific bands according to their performance in the test.
  
  
• If there are vacant places in some bands, and there are no applicants in those bands to fill them, the school should be offered those places to children falling into the next nearest bands.
  
  
• Schools must not select pupils based on their ability, (they can only do this for banding) or if they are a sixth form.
  
  
• Grammar schools are allowed to select children according to academic ability and they can also leave places unfilled if they don’t have enough high academic standard applicants.
  
  Your child will not be guaranteed a place at a Grammar school simply for meeting the academic requirements for. Methods for offering places vary and some Grammar schools may allocate places according to performance in the entrance test.