Consultation on school admission arrangements for 2027-2028

Closed on 26 Dec 2025

Hampshire County Council is seeking your views on proposed changes to the admission arrangements for community and voluntary controlled schools in Hampshire (not including Portsmouth and Southampton) for the school year 2027/28.

This consultation will run from 10 November until 26 December 2025.

Background

The School Admissions Code (Sept 2021), published by the Department for Education, requires all admission authorities to consult on their admission arrangements if they are seeking to make changes from the previous year or if the arrangements have not been consulted on for at least 7 years. Consultation must take place for a minimum of 6 weeks between 1 October and 31 January of the school year before those arrangements are to apply (the determination year). The final arrangements must be determined by 28 February.

The admission arrangements include an admission policy for each phase of school, a list of school specific criteria, the published admission number (PAN) and catchment area for each community and voluntary controlled school. Other documents include Hampshire County Council’s co-ordinated scheme for main round admissions, the Supplementary Information Form for Hampshire’s voluntary controlled schools and the random allocation procedure.

Consultation

Hampshire County Council, as the admission authority for all community and voluntary controlled schools in its administrative area, is proposing the following changes to the admission arrangements for 2027/28:

Published admission numbers (PANS)

A reduction to the PAN for the following schools:

Kings’ School, Winchester - from 357 to 300
The Clere School, Basingstoke - from 145 to 100
Cherbourg Primary, Eastleigh - from 53 to 45
Church Crookham Junior, Hart - from 150 to 120
Denmead Junior, Havant - from 75 to 60
Freegrounds Junior, Eastleigh - from 90 to 64
Knights Enham Junior, Test Valley - from 60 to 45
Liss Infant, East Hants - from 60 to 45
Liss Junior, East Hants - from 60 to 45
Lydlynch Infant, New Forest - from 60 to 40
New Milton Infant, New Forest - from 90 to 60
New Milton Junior, New Forest - from 96 to 66
Northern Junior, Fareham - from 60 to 50
Norwood Primary, Eastleigh - from 60 to 30
Ringwood CofE Infant , New Forest - from 90 to 75
Shipton Bellinger Primary, Test Valley - from 30 to 17
South Baddesley Primary, New Forest - from 22 to 15
St John the Baptist, Titchfield Common, Fareham - from 60 to 45
Wallop Primary, Test Valley - from 30 to 15

An increase to the PAN for the following schools:

Bishopswood Junior, Basingstoke - from 60 to 62
Sarisbury Junior, Fareham - from 90 to 93

Hampshire is also seeking to remove all references to resourced provision places from the admission policies of those schools with specialist resourced provision (they are currently referenced in addition to the PAN) on the basis that these places are allocated separately through a different process carried out by the County SEN team and are not relevant to the allocation of mainstream places.

The full lists of proposed PANs for 2027/28 for all community and voluntary controlled schools in Hampshire are available below:

Any proposed increases to PAN shown on these lists are for information only. There is no requirement for admission authorities to consult on an increase to PAN.

Admission policies

The following changes to the admission policies are also proposed to ensure they are as clear as possible and easier for parents to understand:

An explanation of what constitutes a demonstrable skill shortage in the child of staff criteria to provide clarity for those applying under this criterion
The removal of ‘displaced child’ and ‘displaced siblings’
The removal of the reference to RP places

The full proposed admission policies are included at the bottom of this webpage.

School specific criteria

A new school specific criterion to be included as part of the admission arrangements for the following schools. Please click on the school for more details.

The introduction of a new school specific criteria for the following schools in response to proposed changes to their catchment areas. See “Catchment areas” for more information.

Fleet Infant School
Velmead Junior School
The Henry Cort Community College
Brookfield Community School
Sarisbury Infant School
Sarisbury CE Junior School
Whiteley Primary School

An update to the nursery wording of the existing school specific criteria for the following schools:

Alver Valley Infant School
Brockenhurst CE Primary School & Pre School
Eling Infant School
Froxfield CofE Primary School
South Baddesley CE Primary School

The full list of school specific criteria for 2027/28 is available at the bottom of this document.

Catchment areas

We are proposing catchment area changes for the following schools:

Any comments previously received in response to the initial consultations with local schools and residents will be included as part of the decision-making process for this wider admission arrangements consultation, so consultees do not need to resubmit their earlier comments.

The full proposed 2027/28 admission arrangements for Hampshire community and voluntary controlled schools are available below:

How to respond to the consultation

If you have comments about any the changes outlined above or any other aspects of the proposed admission arrangements for 2027/28, please send them by e-mail to [email protected] or write to:

Admissions Team
Hampshire County Council
Children’s Services Directorate
Elizabeth II Court North
Winchester
SO23 8UG

All responses will be collated and considered by Hampshire’s Admissions Forum at their meeting on 12 January 2026, who will make recommendations to the Executive Member for Education, in advance of their decision day on Tuesday 24 February 2026.

The final arrangements will be published on the County Council website by 15 March 2026. If you have any questions relating to this consultation or would like to request a paper copy of the consultation, please email [email protected].