HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
EDUCATION PANEL
THURSDAY15 MARCH 2007 AT 10.00 AM
CABINET
MONDAY 19 MARCH 2007 AT 2.00 P.M.
COUNTY COUNCIL
TUESDAY 27 MARCH 2007 AT 10.30 A.M. / Agenda item
Education Panel
4
Cabinet
6
County Council
6

CONSULTATION ON ADMISSION ARRANGEMENTS FOR 2008-2009

Report of the Director of Children, Schools and Families

Author:Sarah Vize, Senior Manager, Admissions and Transport 01992 555933

Executive Member:David Lloyd

1.Purpose of the Report

1.1To enable the Education Panel to make recommendations to Cabinet on:

(a)the statutory consultation proposals relating to community and voluntary-controlled schools;

(b)the responses received to the consultation proposals for

  • community and voluntary-controlled schools
  • the schemes of co-ordination for all schools in Hertfordshire and
  • the Published Admission Numbers for Community and Voluntary Controlled schools;

(c)the recommendations proposed for determining the admissions arrangements for 2008, which are based upon the proposals consulted upon, subject to changes as a result of the evaluation of the consultation and issues arising fromthe new DfES Code of Practice on Admissions which became effective 28 February 2007 for 2008 admissions;

(d)the next steps relating to the proposed admission arrangements of other admitting authorities within Hertfordshire

and in turn for Cabinet to make recommendations on admission arrangements for 2008/2009to the County Council at its meeting on 27 March 2007.

  1. Summary

2.1The statutory consultation for school admissions for the school year 2008/2009 was carried out in January and February 2007. It covered six areas as follows:

Admission rules for community and voluntary-controlled nursery, first, infant, primary, junior and middle schools for the school year 2008-2009
Admission rules for community and voluntary-controlled co-educational and single sex upper and secondary schools for the school year 2008-2009 (except Tring)
Admissions arrangements for Tring voluntary-controlled co-educational school for the school year 2008-2009
Sixth form admission arrangements for community and voluntary-controlled schools
Published admission numbers (PANs) 2008-2009 for community and voluntary-controlled schools

Co-ordinated Schemes of Admission for community and voluntary-controlled primary, junior, middle, secondary and upper schools

2.2The consultation document relating to the above is attached as Appendix 1.

2.3Feedback received has been considered and recommendations are in accordance with the proposed arrangements consulted upon, with additions made in accordance with emerging issues relating to the new Code of Practice on Admissions, effective 28 February 2007.

The matter relating to the sibling connection for secondary admissions is outlined in the paper, as is the response to the two options outlined in the consultation paper. If option 2 were pursued this would be in accordance with the responses received, however, it would extend the sibling link over a greater number of year groups and therefore potentially could create a sibling link where families have moved away from the locality of the school. The Admissions Forum, having considered this issue, supports option 2.

2.4A verbal update on comments made by the Education Panel will be made at the Cabinet meeting on 19 March 2007.

3.Conclusions

3.1As a result of evaluation of the feedback received to the consultation, and matters which have emerged as a result of the new DfES Code of Practice on Admissions, Members are asked to consider the following and makerecommendations relating to proposed changes:

3.2Rule 1

To change rule 1 of the admissions rules for all community and voluntary-controlled schools by removing the following category “children who have a Statement of Special Educational Needs naming the school”. To insert an introductory paragraph above the oversubscription criteria which states “Section 324 of the Education Act 1996 requires the governing bodies of all maintained schools to admit a child with a statement of special educational needs that names their school”. To amend Rule 1 of admission rules for community and voluntary-controlled nursery, first, infant, primary, junior, middle, upper and secondary schools to read “Children in Public Care”.

Members are asked to consider these amendments, and make recommendations upon which the County Council can determine the admission arrangements for 2008-2009.

3.3Sibling Rule: Secondary rules

It is recommended that Option 2 ‘Children who have a sibling at the school at the time of admission. Note: Where the elder sibling would be in Year 12 or Year 13 at the time of admission this would be based upon a ‘reasonable expectation’ that the elder sibling will be at the school’ should be adopted for Community and Voluntary controlled schools including TringSchool.

3.4 Single Sex Admission rules

In order to provide clarity it is recommended the current and consulted upon single sex admission rules 4(i), 4(ii) and 5 are re-numbered so that rule 4(ii) becomes rule 5, with rule 5 becoming rule 6 as shown below .

Children who live in the priority area. Places will be allocated to each parish/unparished area or town in proportion to the number of applications made. In the event of there being more applications than places available to a particular parish/unparished area or town, places will be allocated as follows:

Rule 4:To those for whom it is their nearest Hertfordshire non-faith maintained school, making provision for children of the relevant gender, (if more children qualify under this rule than places, the tiebreak would be those that live closest to the school).

Rule 5: Any remaining places available to a parish/unparished area or town. Places will be allocated on a random basis.

Children who live outside the priority area

Rule 6: Children living outside the priority area, places will be allocated on a random basis.

Places will be allocated on a random basis, based on the principle that every child's preference will be allocated an individual random number once their name has been entered onto the database. If a preference is expressed for a single sex community school, this number will be used in the random process.

We apply these rules in the order they are printed above. If more children qualify under Rule 1, 2 and 3 than there are places available, we use a tie-break by applying the next rule to those children.

3.5Sibling Rule: Nursery and Primary rules (including Middle and Junior schools)

It is recommended that the proposal to amend the wording to use ‘at the time of admission’ rather than ‘at the time of application’ should be adopted.

3.6Arrangements for Multiple Births and Twins

It is recommended that the proposals to continue with current practice as outlined continue to be adopted for 2008-2009.

3.7Distance Measurement

It is recommended that the proposal to provide greater clarity in the admission arrangements on how distances are measured for community and voluntary-controlled schools be adopted. The following explanation will be included:

‘The distance from the child’s home to the school is measured using a computerised mapping system. Measurement is taken from the nearest point on the designated route to the address point for the child’s house (as supplied by the post office) to the nearest public entrance of the school. Distance is measured in metres down to two decimal points.’

3.8Verification of Permanent Address and Management of Fraudulent Applications

It is recommended that the proposal that Hertfordshire County Council, as a responsible admitting authority, reserves the right to verify any address given as the child’s permanent address, in order to ensure that it is allocating oversubscribed places appropriately and fairly, is adopted. Parents for 2008 admissions will be asked to agree to give HertfordshireCounty Council permission to verify the details provided in their application with any agency/authority that may provide the information. HertfordshireCounty Council may also ask for documentary evidence from parents.

It is also recommended that the following proposal be adopted:

Where a suspected fraudulent application is identifiedduring the iteration process, if relevant evidence is not provided and the application is deemed to be fraudulent, the family concerned would be offered the opportunity to provide their correct address, but advised that the application would be treated as late. If the fraudulent application is identified after the iterations, the place would be withdrawn.

3.9Schedule of Published Admission Numbers (PAN)

Changes to PANs as a result of re-calculation of capacity, building adaptations, etc. for secondary, middle, junior, primary, first, infant and nursery school admission.

It is recommended that the proposed PANs are adopted, as shown in Sections 6 and 7 of the attached consultation paper with the exception of following amendments:

Primary Schools / PAN 2008
The reasons for changes to PANs at primary schools in St Albans are outlined in section 7.8 of this report
Bernard’s Heath Infants, St Albans / 90
Mandeville Primary, St Albans / 60
Aboyne Lodge, St Albans / 30
Maple, St Albans / 30
St Peter’s, St Albans / 30
Leverstock Green C of E Primary, Leverstock Green / 30
OakmereSchool, Potters Bar / 60
Secondary Schools / PAN 2008
Barnwell, Stevenage / The LA, having considered and discussed the request from the governing body, accepts the scale of detriment to the school’s budget and therefore proposes a modified PAN of 225
Barclay, Stevenage / 194
Presdales 6th Form PAN / 32
Stanborough / 185

It is recommended that the approved framework of key factors relating to PANs lower than IANs which Cabinet previously agreed, is amended. It is proposed that key factor (vi) “there are sufficient places in the area to meet parental demand in the area” be removed from the following list. The main key factors therefore are:-

(i)the requirement to meet the Key Stage 1 pledge that classes will not exceed 30,

(ii)an increase would compromise equal opportunity principles in terms of equality of access to single sex provision,

(iii)insufficient core, specialist and/or general teaching space to accommodate more pupils than the PAN,

(iv)implications for schools concerning curriculum delivery, class organisation and/or financial projections,

(v)insufficient site capacity for a higher number,

(vi)an interim change is not recommended pending consideration of the needs across the area,

(vii)to balance the places available at linked infant and junior schools or middle and upper schools,

(viii)the ability to integrate pupils from a linked special school or unit,

3.10Admission Rules for 6th Forms

It is recommended that the proposed arrangements be adopted.

3.11Co-ordinated Schemes of Admission for Primary and Secondary Schools

It is recommended that the Primary and Secondary co-ordinated schemes be adopted, subject to several changeswhich relate to the need to co-ordinate secondary school admissions beyond 1 March 2008, to manage matters relating to schools with boarding places, additional wording relating to supplementary information forms and a standard clause regarding the responsibilities of schools which are their own admitting authority.

  1. Background

4.1The full set of proposals consulted upon relating to the admission arrangements for 2008-2009 are set out at Appendix 1 and section 4 below outlines the consultation proposals.

4.2The County Council as Local Authority (LA) is required to consult about its proposed admission arrangements by the end of February each year. These arrangements should be consistent with any co-ordinated scheme that will operate in the year in question. Following the decision of Cabinet on 18 December 2006 to consult on the proposed arrangements for community and VC schools, a press statement was released to coincide with the launch of the consultation on 3 January 2007 outlining the key areas upon which the LA was seeking feedback during the consultation.

4.3The consultation commenced on 3 January 2007 and closed on Friday 16 February 2007. All schools were notified of the consultation on 3 January 2006 via email, as is the traditional practice in Hertfordshire. An email was also addressed to the Chair of Governors of each school. Clear instructions were given to request governing bodies to consider this consultation and to provide feedback where necessary. In addition a hard copy bulletin was published to all schools directing them to the consultations online, and offering schools hard copy packs should they require these. Other statutory consultees, including neighbouring LA s, diocesan authorities and councils were informed. The Authority is required to have consulted by the end of February to determine its admission arrangements by 15 April 2007 and to notify its statutory consultees.

4.4The new Code of practice on Admission was laid on 8 January 2007 and becomes effective 28 February. The Education and Inspections Act Section 84(3) requires admission authorities, governing bodies (when not admission authorities), local authorities (when not acting as an admission authority), admission forums, schools adjudicators and admission appeals panels to act in accordance with the provisions of this Code. It is emphasised that all admission authorities are required to act in accordance with the mandatory provisions.

4.5This Code now has a statutory basis, and admission authorities must comply with the mandatory provisions of this Code. The School Admissions (Alternation and Variation of, and Objections to, Arrangements) (England) (amendment) Regulations 2007 enable admission authorities to amend their determined admission arrangements without reference to the Schools Adjudicator to ensure that they comply with the law and the mandatory provisions of this Code. Whilst this is very helpful, referrals to the Schools Adjudicator should be made within six weeks of determining admission arrangements if there is non compliance.

4.6Once admission arrangements have been determined, local authorities must publish a notice in a local newspaper(s) as soon as all the admission arrangements for schools in their area have been determined, setting out that details of these are available for inspection at the local authority’s offices and such other places as the local authority may decide.

Objections to admission arrangements can be made to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator and the categories and forms of objection are set out at Appendix 2.

  1. Consultation proposals

5.1The areas for proposed change as outlined in the consultation paper are as follows:

Sibling arrangements

Sibling Rule: Secondary rules

5.2As a result of the Secondary School Place Topic Group’s work, a review has taken place and analysis carried out on the scope of limiting the number of siblings admitted to community secondary and upper schools by restricting the sibling connection to those siblings who live in the priority area. Appendix 3 outlines the number of siblings living outside the priority area allocated over a three year period. Overall there were only a relatively small number of siblings outside the priority areas, and a change would have little impact on the numbers of siblings outside the priority areas. Therefore this option has not been pursued in the consultation for admission arrangements 2008.

In the light of the recent determination by the Office of the Schools Adjudicator, and the direction by the Secretary of State with regard to the sibling rule for secondary schools, the consultation outlines two options, as follows:

Option 1: This would read:

‘Children who have a sibling at the school at the time of admission where the sibling would be in Years 7 – 11 (compulsory education)’.

This option would be clear and transparent for families when making their applications, however, it would prevent sibling connections for those whose children were in Year 11 and beyond at the time of application, from qualifying as a sibling.

Option 2: An alternative option would read as follows:

‘Children who have a sibling at the school at the time of admission. Note: Where the elder sibling is in Year 12 or Year 13 at the time of admission this would be based upon a ‘reasonable expectation’ that the elder sibling will be at the school.’

This option would enable a greater number of sibling connections, however it does place the sibling connection on a condition in the future, and one that is not necessarily known when families make their school applications, thus resulting in a potentially subjective arrangement.

Sibling rule: Nursery and Primary rules

5.3In order to be consistent the wording for nursery and primary admissions (including junior and middle) has been amended to use ‘at the time of admission’ rather than ‘at the time of application’.

Arrangements for Multiple Births and Twins

5.4It is proposed to continue with current practice. This means that for admissions outside Key Stage 1 Class Size Limits the LA, as the admitting authority, would go over number. Where the LA is not the admitting authority the LA would seek to request that the school take in the subsequent child(ren).

5.5Where Key Stage 1 Class Size Limits apply, it is interesting to note that the draft COP currently does not deem such children to be an “excepted group”. It is proposed that if the allocation process splits the multiple births/siblings living at the same address, the local admissions team would make contact with the parents at the point of allocation. If it would not disadvantage another child, i.e. if the lower preference school had at least one spare place, the parents would be offered the possibility of both children attending the lower preference school or another school for which they had not made a preference, but where there were places available. The places would be held for two weeks whilst the parents confirmed their decision in writing, prior to the first run of continuing interest.

5.6With regard to twins/multiple births and random allocation, legal advice outlines that it would not be appropriate to admit the subsequent child(ren) where only one is allocated a place under random allocation. This is based on the fact that any such action would compromise the “random” element of the process.

Distance Measurement

5.7It is proposed to provide further clarity within the consultation on admission arrangements as to how distances are measured for community and voluntary-controlled schools. The following explanation will be included:

The distance from the child’s home to the school is measured using a computerised mapping system. Measurement is taken from the nearest point on the designated route to the address point for the child’s house (as supplied by the post office) to the nearest public entrance of the school. Distance is measured in metres down to two decimal points.

Verification of Permanent Address

5.8Hertfordshire County Council, as a responsible admitting authority reserves the right to verify any address given as the child’s permanent address, in order to ensure that it is allocating oversubscribed places appropriately and fairly. Parents for 2008 admissions will be asked to agree to give Hertfordshire County Council permission to verify the details provided in their application with any agency/authority that may provide the information. Hertfordshire County Council may also ask for documentary evidence from parents.