Pupil admission arrangements: September 2022 (Community and voluntary controlled schools)

Consultation with Governing Boards

The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (the Act) (as amended by the Education Act 2002), implementing Regulations and the School Admissions Code establishes the framework for consultation on admission arrangements.

The Act requires every admission authority (the Local Authority for community and voluntary controlled schools and Governing Boards for voluntary aided schools, trust schools and academies) to complete consultation, when undertaken*, by 31 January, and determine their arrangements by 28 February, in the determination year for the following school year (*admission authorities must consult unless the admissions arrangements were consulted on in any of the seven preceding determination years and they are the same arrangements since the last consultation).

The Local Authority (LA) has decided to consult on the proposed admission arrangements for 2022. Where consultation takes place, the Local Authority is obliged to consult, among others, the governing boards of the schools for which it is responsible, on the proposed pupil admission arrangements and to seek their views and comments.

The Department for Education (DfE) continues to remind admission authorities of the relevant requirements, especially the need to ensure that all the consultation and post consultation procedures are fully completed by 28 February in respect of admission arrangements for the next admission round. Therefore, for the Local Authority and other admission authorities to meet these requirements, we need to undertake this consultation process during the Autumn Term.

Governors are requested to consider all aspects of the LAs proposed admission arrangements, but specifically the following matters:

1. Admission Numbers
2. Oversubscription Criteria.

Code of practice: school admissions

The current School Admissions Code (referred to throughout this report as the Code) came into force on 19 December 2014 and applies to all maintained schools. Academies are required by their funding agreements to comply with the Code and the law relating to admissions, though the Secretary of State has the power to vary this requirement where there is demonstrable need. The primary aim of the Code is to ensure fair access to schools and to give parents and the wider community a say in the admission arrangements of their local schools.

Admission numbers

The net capacity of schools is calculated based on a nationally applied system. This calculates Pupil Admission Numbers (PANs) that reflect the overall net capacity for schools divided by the number of years in the age-range. Admission authorities must set admission numbers relative to the capacity assessment for the school. Attached to the report is a schedule showing the proposed PANs resulting from the most recent net capacity assessments (Appendix A).

A school must have an admission number for each “relevant age group”. A relevant age group is defined in law as “an age group in which pupils are or will normally be admitted to the school in question”. Admissions numbers must refer in each case to pupils to be admitted to the school for the first time, for example Reception, Year 3 or Year 7.

Admission authorities may fix an admission number for a relevant age group that is lower than the capacity assessment, but if they do so they must publish this information for parents who may object to the admission number. Admission Authorities can also set a higher admission number than that indicated by the capacity assessment. In relation to admission numbers applicable to infant classes, the admission number must be compatible with the duty to comply with the infant class size limit. Once an admission number has been set, the admission authority should respect that number.

Children with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) admitted during a normal admission round to a relevant age group must be considered when determining and applying a school’s admission number. Accordingly, pupils with an EHCP already admitted to a school must be counted towards the admission number when considering whether there is still a place available.

In a normal year of entry, a child must not be refused admission to a school on the grounds of prejudice to efficient education or prejudice to the efficient use of resources except where the number of applications for admission exceeds the admission number.

Governors are requested to consider the appropriateness of their school admission number in the light of operational issues, such as Infant class size limit, and provide the LA with comments by Friday 20 November 2020.

The Authority will consider making any adjustments that would appear necessary following consultation.

Criteria for determining applications for admissions in instances of oversubscription for all community and voluntary controlled schools

Legislation requires that admission authorities publish oversubscription criteria to cover those situations where the number of children whose parents have expressed a preference for a particular school exceeds the number of available places.

The oversubscription criteria must be fair, not complex, and comply fully with mandatory requirements in the School Admissions Code. It must be clear not only what the criteria are, but also the way in which they will be applied, including the order in which they will be applied. An admission authority is under a duty to apply fairly and reasonably the oversubscription criteria it has determined and published.

The Local Authority has drawn up a list of proposed criteria for primary and secondary schools which will be published and would be applied in priority order to parental applications in order to determine the offer of places at a school when there is oversubscription.

The proposed criteria, which are proposed without change, for pupil admissions in from September 2022 are as follows:

“In determining admissions where there is pressure on places, account will be taken of the following factors, in priority order:

1. A 'Looked After Child' or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangement, or special guardianship order. See Note 1.
2. Children who appear to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. See Note 2.
3. Parental home residence within the defined catchment area of the school.
4. Concurrent sibling link (an older brother or sister attending the school at the same time and residing at the same address, to include adoptive siblings, half siblings, step siblings and long term fostered children).
5. Shortest distance measured as a straight line, from the Ordnance Survey coordinates for the parental home residence (including flats) to the school main entrance, using South Tyneside Council’s Geographic Information System (GIS), with those living closer to the school receiving higher priority.

The above distance measurement will also be used as a ‘tie breaker’ within each criterion, if necessary.

Consultation on admission arrangements for 2021 included consideration to the removal of the criterion of catchment area for secondary schools. At the meeting of Cabinet in February 2020 the decision was to retain the catchment area criterion and continue to monitor the impact of the closure of South Shields School.

The proposal for 2022 admissions is to continue to monitor secondary admissions particularly considering the current pandemic.

Governors are requested to consider the proposed oversubscription criteria for primary and secondary schools.

Comments to be submitted to the LA by Friday 20 November 2020.

Co-ordinated admissions schemes

Co-ordinated admissions schemes exist to simplify the admission process for parents whilst reducing the likelihood of a child being left without a school place. The use of a common application form for all maintained schools will ensure that every parent who has applied for a place will receive only one offer.

Fraudulent address claims

Offered school places are withdrawn every year because parents have given a false or incorrect address on their application. Examples of this have included renting a property within a school’s catchment area solely to use the address to support the application, without any intention to take up permanent residence there, or naming a relative or family friends’ address within a catchment area as the parental home address.

The Admission Authority takes allegations of fraud seriously. Where there are allegations of fraud, the Admission Authority will always investigate.

The parent’s information booklet will emphasise that the use of fraudulent address information may lead to a school place being withdrawn.

Admission of children below compulsory school age and deferred entry to school and admission of children outside of the normal age group

The School Admissions Code states that parents have a right to defer the date their child is admitted to school but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age.

Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group, for example, if the child is gifted or talented or has experienced problems such as ill health. In addition, the parents of a summer born child may choose not to send their child to school until the term following their fifth birthday and may request that they are admitted out of their normal age group.

The LA has produced a guidance document for dealing with requests for admission outside of the normal age group and admission outside of the normal age group (available on the LA website and on request from the School Admissions Team). Requests are considered on a case by case basis.

In-year fair access protocol

The In –Year Fair Access Protocol exists to ensure that pupils without a school place can quickly access education and to ensure that all schools admit their fair share of children with challenging behaviour.

All secondary and primary schools have signed up to the protocol.

A full review of the protocol has commenced and will consider any changes to the school admissions and appeals codes and comments / recommendations of those participating in the protocol.

Equal preference

Since September 2008, South Tyneside has operated an equal preference system for the annual admissions round, which means that in the first instance, all first, second, and third preference applications are considered equally against the admission criteria. At this stage there is no distinction between the parental expressions of first, second and third preference on the application forms. For example, if the school has 210 places and there are 300 first, second and third preference applications, all applications are considered equally against the admission criteria.

If a pupil qualifies for a place at more than one school, the parents’ highest ranked preference will be offered, and any lower ranking offers will be disregarded. For example, parent’s first and third preferences might both qualify for a place, in which case the parent would be offered their first preference, leaving the place at the third preference school available for another pupil. If it becomes necessary to decide between applicants within the same criterion, the home to school distance tiebreak described above would be used.

It must be emphasised that we do not operate a feeder school system for community and voluntary controlled schools, and that attendance at a particular nursery, children’s centre or school does not mean that a child will automatically transfer to an adjacent or neighbouring school. This is particularly relevant where parents have children in nursery units or children’s centres attached to schools, and where infant and junior schools are located on the same site or near to each other or close to secondary schools. In all cases, the parents must submit an application form, and admission will be based upon the above criteria.

Timetable for pupil admissions

For pupil admissions in September 2022 the Local Authority intends to operate and strictly apply deadline dates for receipt of parental preferences on the appropriate common application forms for both primary and secondary schools in line with the Co-ordinated Admission Schemes.

National Offer Dates are in place; Monday 1 March 2022 for secondary schools and Monday 18 April 2022 (16 April 2022 – National Offer Day) for primary schools. Attached are copies of the timetable (Appendix B) for the management of primary and secondary pupil admissions in September 2022 drawn up to reflect the requirements of the agreed Co-ordinated Admission Schemes.

Publication of admission arrangements

During the Spring Term 2021, the Council’s Cabinet will give formal consideration to the priority admission criteria and related arrangements affecting pupil admissions for September 2022, in the light of any comments from governing boards and other consultees.

The Admission Authority intends to publish its pupil admission arrangements early in the Autumn Term 2021 for the school year starting in September 2022 in the composite prospectus “Information for Parents: School Education in September 2022”.

Information and application forms will be available from the Authority’s website at southtyneside.gov.uk/schooladmissions.

School travel provisions

The Education & Inspections Act 2006 extended the right to free transport to school, from September 2007 for primary and September 2008 for secondary pupils. The main points relating to transport can be summarised as follows:

• Overarching duty on Local Authorities to assess travel needs and promote sustainable travel
• Extended rights to free transport for low income groups

Catchment areas

Catchment areas remain unchanged.

Waiting list

Parents may ask for their child to be kept on a waiting list of children to be reallocated places, if they become available after National Offer Day at any school that they have ranked higher on their Common Application Form than the school they were offered.

Where a parent has been offered a place at a school, which they did not nominate on their Common Application Form they may be placed on the waiting list of all the schools they did nominate and can then be considered for places that become available at those schools.

If pupil numbers fall below the published admission number then children will be admitted from the waiting list according to the school’s admission criteria regardless of when their application form was received. The Local Authority holds waiting lists for all Community and Controlled Schools and where requested for VA, Trust and Academy Schools.

Waiting lists for schools are only kept open until 31 December in the normal year of entry by the Local Authority. VA schools and Academies may choose to retain waiting lists for a longer period.

Recommendations

That, in responding to the Local Authority on this report, governors are asked to:

1. Affirm the school’s admission number or recommend to the Local Authority the setting of an alternative admission number.
2. Comment on the criteria for determining applications for admissions in instances of oversubscription.
3. Determine whether they wish to comment on any other matter relating to the LA’s proposed admission arrangements for September 2022.

Comments to be received by no later than Friday 20 November 2020.

That governors ensure that there is a current Net Capacity Assessment Form for their school.

Primary schools

Secondary schools