Archived decisions

Contact: Alex Munro, Education Officer (Admissions & Special Projects) 01962 846462; [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1. This paper reports on consultations held with governing bodies and neighbouring local education authorities in relation to proposed admission arrangements for community and voluntary controlled schools for 2005/06. All recommendations are supported by the Hampshire Admission Forum.

1.2. No major changes are proposed to the admission policies for community and voluntary controlled schools. Some changes have been made to the transitional 2004 scheme for co-ordinated admissions to secondary schools, mainly to reflect the fact that all schools, including foundation and voluntary aided schools, are required by statute to take part in the scheme from 2005. Changes are also proposed to the timescale for primary admissions.

1.3. The county admissions team will take a greater rôle in the administration of secondary admission arrangements for 2005. This reflects government expectations and the increased availability of appropriate ICT software.

1.4. The increased rôle for the county admissions team is likely to require the appointment of additional staff, mainly in the period November 2004 - March 2005. Until the proposals for 2005 are agreed, however, it is not possible to say exactly what additional staffing might be necessary but the appointment of temporary clerical staff may be required.

1.5. By ensuring that all procedures are 'clear, fair and objective', in accordance with Code of Practice advice (DfES:2003), and by emphasising the importance of the catchment area in allocating school places, admission procedures reflect the County Council's Corporate Aim 1 (maximising life opportunities), Aim 4 (building strong and safe communities) and Aim 5 (improving services).

1.6. The Code also requires admission authorities to ensure that all admission arrangements support equal opportunities and do not discriminate unlawfully.

2 Background

2.1. The County Council is the admission authority for all community and voluntary controlled schools within Hampshire and is therefore responsible for determining the admission arrangements for these schools. Regulations require all admission authorities (i.e. LEAs and the governing bodies of voluntary aided and foundation schools, referred to in this report as "admission authority schools") to have determined their school admission arrangements for 2005/06 by 15 April 2004 and to have notified other admission authorities within 14 days of this date.

2.2. The first phase of consultations was carried out in the autumn term 2003. At that time, LEAs were under a statutory duty to implement co-ordinated admissions to primary schools with effect from 2005. The basis of the consultations with primary schools, therefore, was the proposed co-ordinated scheme, with particular reference to the need to bring forward relevant dates by approximately two months so that there would be time for the County Council to handle all primary and secondary appeals before the end of the summer term 2005.

2.3. An earlier primary timescale will be necessary to compensate for the later secondary timescale brought about by the government's requirement for a single, national offer date (1 March) for all secondary admissions. Hitherto, secondary appeals have started in March at the latest. In the future, because of this later offer date, secondary appeals are unlikely to start before mid-April. The County Council is expected to complete all appeals if at all possible by the half-term of the summer term preceding the year of admission; only by concluding the majority of primary appeals before secondary is this likely to be achievable.

2.4. In the autumn term 2003, schools were therefore consulted on proposed co-ordinated admission schemes for both primary and secondary admissions and were asked to comment on any other admissions issue which they wished the Admission Forum to take into account at its December meeting.

2.5. Responses were received from 28 out of 437 primary schools and nine out of 71 secondary schools. Eight primary schools expressed concern about the proposed earlier dates for managing admission procedures, emphasising that it would be essential for the LEA to publicise the changes extensively if parents were to be fully aware of the new arrangements. Five primary schools were concerned at the comparatively long wait between the proposed deadline date for applications and the single offer date.

2.6. Four secondary schools expressed concern about the statutory 1 March offer date, stressing the need to ensure total security so that no parent receives the result of their application before this date. The need to check the accuracy of information provided by parents was also emphasised.

2.7. The results of this first phase of consultations were considered by the Admission Forum at its meeting on 9 December. The County Council now has a statutory duty to "have regard" to the recommendations of the Forum. The Forum includes representatives of the LEA, parent governors, headteachers, the Church of England and Roman Catholic dioceses, the armed forces, special educational needs, ethnic minorities, early years, Social Services and neighbouring LEAs.

2.8. By the time of this December meeting, the government had issued new regulations allowing LEAs to delay the implementation of primary co-ordination until 2006. A number of LEAs had approached the government to say that the simultaneous implementation of primary and secondary co-ordination schemes would prove particularly difficult.

2.9. Hampshire was not one of these LEAs but the Admission Forum considered the flexibility now being offered by revised regulations and decided that, in order to ensure that a full secondary co-ordination scheme was implemented as successfully as possible, and bearing in mind comments made by some schools during the consultation period, the primary scheme should be postponed until 2006. There was limited time to consult admission authority primary schools before the Admission Forum meeting. Responses were evenly divided, with some schools welcoming the delay and others wishing to maintain the original timetable.

2.10. A second phase of consultations was carried out in January and February 2004. Schools and neighbouring LEAs were consulted as were the five dioceses represented within the Hampshire boundary. The consultation themes were:

· Revised, and simplified, primary and secondary admission policies;

· An updated scheme for secondary co-ordination, with particular reference to the rôle of the county admissions team;

· Published admission numbers (PANs).

2.11. The following table sets out details of responses received from primary and secondary schools in response to the questions:

· Should any changes be made to the existing admission policies for community and voluntary controlled schools?

· Is the proposed timescale for primary admissions for 2005 manageable?

Table 1

Type of school	Policy changes?		Primary timescale manageable?
	Yes	No	Yes	No
Infant	6	39	33	14
Junior	1	26	23	4
4 - 11	0	32	27	4
Secondary	1	16	N/A	N/A
Totals	8	113	83	22

2.12. The response rates were 24% for both questions. (Only primary schools were asked to comment on the proposed new timescale for primary admissions.) Only 1.6% of schools said that changes should be made to the current policies. 5% of primary schools felt that the changed primary timetable for admissions would be difficult to manage, expressing particular concern at pressure on schools in the period before Christmas. Overall, the responses indicate broad agreement to the proposals for 2005.

2.13. The separate elements of the County Council's admission arrangements are dealt with in the next sections of this paper.

3 Admission policies for community and voluntary controlled schools

3.1. The proposed policies for admission to community and voluntary controlled schools are given in Annexes A and B. No changes have been made to the main provisions of the policies.

3.2. As a result of comments made by headteacher representatives on the Admission Forum, it is proposed that schools should publish a shortened version of the LEA policy in order to save space in their prospectuses. The full version will be published in the LEA `composite prospectus' but schools will not be required to publish the initial section on guiding principles, nor to publish the general information about school specific criteria, boarding places and the general legislative background. Both draft policies indicate the beginning and end of the information which schools are required to publish.

3.3. When admission authority schools and neighbouring LEAs send their proposed admission arrangements to Hampshire LEA, these are examined by officers in the admissions team and comments made to the governing body and neighbouring LEA, particularly if it appears that proposals do not follow Code of Practice guidance. If the final policy still causes concern, the Admission Forum is consulted. The County Education Officer has delegated authority to lodge an objection to any admission arrangements to the Schools Adjudicator. The Adjudicator is independent of LEAs and the government. Decisions are binding on all parties.

4 Co-ordinated scheme for secondary admissions 2005

4.1. Members will recall that, following consultations with schools and neighbouring LEAs, Hampshire implemented many of the future statutory requirements for co-ordination with effect from 2004 admissions. A common application form (CAF) has been used by 68 of Hampshire's 71 secondary schools for 2004 admissions and, in the vast majority of cases, single offers have been made to parents. In the past, it was possible for parents to collect several offers from different admission authorities which sometimes made it more difficult for other parents to find a place for their child.

4.2. For 2004 admissions, parents were advised of the outcome of their first preference application in December 2003. All other decisions were delayed until 1 March so as to enable all second and third preferences and any late applications to be considered in accordance with the preferred DfES timescale. Equally, this timescale has allowed the county admissions team to gain valuable experience of the practical issues arising from a much later final offer day compared to Hampshire's previous pattern of completing all secondary admission procedures by mid-January.

4.3. The proposed scheme at Annex C is very similar to the one considered by the Policy Review Committee and approved by the Executive Member for Education in March 2003. One key difference is that, for 2005 admissions, all secondary schools, including foundation and voluntary aided, must take part in the co-ordinated scheme, abiding by the common timescale, including the 1 March offer date, using the CAF as the single means of application and liaising with the LEA to ensure that parents receive only one offer of a secondary place. Substantial publicity will be required throughout the county to ensure that all parents are fully aware of the changed procedures.

4.4. There is as yet no legal requirement for LEAs to co-ordinate arrangements with their neighbours, although this is anticipated from 2006. However, experience from 2004 admissions has indicated that there are significant benefits in co-ordinating admissions with other authorities and, as a result of regular contact with neighbouring LEAs, it is planned to continue this pattern for 2005 admissions.

4.5. The scheme emphasises the importance of ensuring that all applications are received by the deadline (22 October 2004) and explains how the LEA and admission authority schools will deal with all applications. It is hoped that the admissions team will prepare `pre-populated' application forms for all Y6 applicants - these would include name, address and catchment area based on data received from schools in the summer term.

4.6. Members will note the proposal (paragraph 2.7 of the scheme) that secondary schools should deal with all first preference applications but that the county admissions team should then deal with all unsuccessful first preferences, and all second and third preferences and late applications, to ensure consistency and effective liaison with other LEAs and admission authority schools. This proposal was highlighted during the latest consultations and secondary schools were asked to reply by 13 February if they wished their comments to be taken into account by the Admission Forum. 17 of the 19 community secondary schools responding to the consultations (34% response rate) were in favour of the proposal.

4.7. The county admissions team is preparing to send out all secondary school offer letters (approximately 14,000) on the national offer date of 1 March 2005.

4.8. It is also proposed that the county admissions team should carry out all admission procedures for a small number of secondary schools, including handling all first preference applications, so as to gain experience of dealing with the process from start to finish and to test the full ICT software package in advance of 2006. This would allow schools and the Admission Forum to consider whether to recommend that for 2006 the LEA should take over the admission arrangements for all community and voluntary controlled secondary schools. The 15 secondary admission authority schools (13 foundation; 2 voluntary aided) would, however, retain the responsibility for managing their own admissions in close liaison with the LEA.

4.9. The proposals in 4.5 - 4.8 are likely to require additional staff in the county admissions team though, as stated in paragraph 1.4, for a limited period.

5 Published Admission Numbers (PANs) for primary and secondary schools

5.1. Every year, the LEA must publish in its composite prospectus the number of pupils who will be admitted to each school. This is known as the published admission number (PAN). Governing bodies are consulted annually on the proposed PAN for their school. Admission authority schools are responsible for setting their own PAN, after consultations. If a school has specialist resourced SEN provision, the pupils to be admitted to this provision are included within the PAN.

5.2. This is the second year for which PANs will be based on the new national framework for assessing the capacity of schools. The Education Act 2002 gives the governors of community and voluntary controlled schools the power to object to the independent Schools Adjudicator if they consider that the PAN proposed by the LEA is not appropriate for their school.

5.3. Schools may seek a PAN lower than that indicated by the capacity of the school. For example, an infant school will wish to reduce an indicated PAN of 31 to 30 to comply with class size legislation. Similarly, a secondary school might wish to reduce the indicated PAN to coincide with an even pattern of tutor group organisation. If an admission authority seeks to reduce the indicated PAN, notices must be published and the Schools Adjudicator must consider objections if received from at least ten parents. The LEA publishes notices on behalf of community and voluntary controlled schools; for foundation and voluntary aided schools, the governors have this responsibility.

5.4. Admission authorities must determine their admission arrangements by 15 April 2004 and have a further 14 days in which to send them to all those whom they previously consulted. This means, therefore, that the finally determined PANs in some admission authority schools may not be known until the end of April. As for 2004 admissions, it is recommended, therefore, that the County Education Officer, on behalf of the County Council, and having regard to any advice from the Admission Forum, be empowered:

· to approve PANs for community and voluntary controlled schools where agreement has yet to be reached with the governors by Executive Member decision day (25 March 2004);

· to authorise the publication of local notices in those instances where there is agreement with governors of community and voluntary controlled schools that a lower PAN should be published, in accordance with legislation; and

· to lodge an objection to the Schools Adjudicator in respect of any aspect of an admission authority school's or neighbouring LEA's admissions arrangements (including PANs) which appear to be at variance with legal requirements or Code of Practice advice, taking into account factors at the school, the possible effect on admissions to other schools and the outcome of further consultations.

5.5. The Admission Forum considered all proposed PANs at its meeting on 13 February. The enclosed tables for both primary (Annex D) and secondary (Annex E) schools give details of the PAN for 2004, the school capacity, the indicated PAN and the proposed PAN for 2005. Where this is lower than the indicated PAN, the tables also show where notices will be required.

6 School specific criteria

6.1. The LEA admission policy for community and voluntary controlled schools was significantly simplified with effect from 2001 admissions. This was the first major input from the newly formed Admission Forum. At that time, however, it was recognised that there still might be cases where some flexibility was advisable in relation to individual school policies to avoid situations where a rigid implementation of the LEA policy would lead to unacceptable anomalies.

6.2. The then Education Committee delegated responsibility for approving such school specific criteria to the County Education Officer, having regard to recommendations from the Admission Forum. For 2005 admissions, the Forum has carried out a rigorous review of all proposed school specific criteria and the number recommended for approval to the County Education Officer has been reduced to 11, six for secondary schools and five for primary schools. In seven of these 11 cases, the criterion involves a change to the usual measuring procedure so that potential anomalies caused by local geography are avoided.

6.3. References to school specific criteria are made in the LEA admission policy published in the composite prospectus. Individual schools publish a more detailed version, approved by the LEA, in their own prospectuses.

7 Recommendations

7.1. That the Executive Member for Education be advised that the Education Policy Review Committee supports the following recommendations in relation to admission arrangements for 2005:

7.1.1. that the revised admission policies for community and voluntary controlled schools, including published admission numbers, set out in annexes A, B, D and E be adopted by the County Council;

7.1.2. that the scheme for co-ordinating secondary admissions in 2005, set out in annex C, be adopted by the County Council;

7.1.3. that the county admissions team take over full responsibility for the admission arrangements of no more than ten community and voluntary controlled secondary schools for 2005 admissions, after consultation with individual schools;

7.1.4. that the County Education Officer, on behalf of the County Council and having regard to any advice from the Admission Forum, be empowered:

· to approve published admission numbers (PANs) for community and voluntary controlled schools where agreement has yet to be reached with the governors by Executive Member decision day (25 March 2004);

· to authorise the publication of local notices in those instances where there is agreement with governors of community and voluntary controlled schools that a lower PAN should be published;

· to lodge an objection to the Schools Adjudicator in respect of any aspect of an admission authority school's or neighbouring LEA's admission arrangements which appear to be at variance with legal requirements or Code of Practice advice, taking into account factors at the school, the possible effect on admissions to other schools and the outcome of further consultations;

· to continue to approve school specific criteria on behalf of the County Council.

Section D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background Documents

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB The list excludes:

1 Published works

2 Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined the Act.

The 2003 edition of the Code of Practice on admissions can be obtained from:

www.dfes.gov.uk/sacode

A copy was placed in the Members' Room in March 2003.