Contact: Martin Goff, 01962 846185, [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 Following consultation in Autumn 2006 a new School Admissions Code, allied to the Education and Inspections Act 2006, was laid before parliament on 8 January and will come into force on 27 February. The Code has a statutory basis and imposes mandatory requirements. The Code will require changes in HCC's admission arrangements, at both primary and secondary levels.

1.2 The main change that results is a requirement to adopt the `equal preference' allocation system. Another important change is the revision of the role and powers of the Admission Forum in overseeing admissions to Hampshire schools.

1.3 Changing to equal preference requires that the Central Admissions Team must do all the administration of the main admissions round. Previously, schools supported the process and handled much of the workload. Resources have been gained, through the Hampshire County Council Schools Forum, to meet the extra demands.

2 Recommendations

2.1 The following decisions are sought:

1. That the Executive Member for Education approve that the County Council adopt

· the revised admission policies for community and voluntary controlled schools set out in Annexes A and B;

· the schemes for co-ordinating primary and secondary admissions, set out in Annexes C, D and E;

· the published admission numbers for community and voluntary controlled schools set out in Annexes F and G;

· the school specific criteria listed in Annexe H;

· the boarding policy listed in Annexe I.

2. That the Director of Children's Services, on behalf of the County Council and having regard to any advice from the Admission Forum, be empowered 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;

· lodge an objection to the Schools Adjudicator in respect of any aspect of an admission authority school's or neighbouring LA'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, if any

· Amend the list of school specific criteria as appropriate during the course of the academic year; in consultation with the EM.

3 County Council Priorities

3.1 The proposals in this report are expected to support the following Hampshire County Council priorities:

"Maximising well-being" - by promoting parents opportunity to express a preference for a school place and enabling children to attend a preferred school and so have a sound start to their schooling.

"Enhancing our quality of place" - through promoting access to local schools through the newly adopted equal preference allocation system and oversubscription criteria that give priority to children from each school's local community.

4 Children Act - the five outcomes

4.1 It also supports the following outcomes of the Children Act

· being healthy: (enjoying good physical and mental health and living a healthy lifestyle) - the County Council admissions policy gives priority to pupils living in the catchment area, thus maximising opportunities for children to walk or cycle to school and thereby increasing opportunities for exercise and reduced car dependence;

· staying safe: (being protected from harm and neglect) - the Council's admission policy attempts to reduce the home/school distance and hence the time needed to get to school, thus restricting the time a pupil might potentially be at risk;

· enjoying and achieving: (getting the most out of life and developing the skills for adulthood) - by encouraging a high standard of education for children wherever possible within their own community;

· making a positive contribution: (being involved with the community and society and not engaging in anti-social or offending behaviour) - the admissions policy aims to safeguard friendship and neighbourhood groups by providing primary education as close to pupils' homes as reasonably practicable. At the secondary level some additional priority is given to out of area pupils attending linked primary schools.

· economic well-being: (not being prevented by economic disadvantage from achieving their full potential in life) - the Code of Practice requires all admission arrangements to be fair to all pupils and give them a sound start to their schooling and future ability to provide both for themselves and their families.

5 Consultation

5.1 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. LAs and the governing bodies of voluntary aided and foundation schools, referred to in this report as "admission authority schools") to determine their school admission arrangements for 2008/09 by 15 April 2007 and to have notified other admission authorities within 14 days of this date at the latest.

5.2 Consultations with schools and neighbouring local authorities for 2008 admissions have been carried out in three phases:

· November - December 2006 : consultations on published admission numbers (PANs);

· January -March 2007 : consultations on proposed co-ordination schemes and admission policies;

· February -March 2007: final consultations on PANs.

5.3 A consultation with members of the public was carried out via families involved in the 2007 admissions round. The questionnaire was sent out prior to the statutory requirement to adopt equal preference. The particular focus was on the change to `equal preference'. 289 responses were received from across Hampshire. Most were against changing from the current first preference first arrangement. However, as the School Admissions Code (DfES 2007) now prohibits a first preference first arrangement the County Council has no option in respect of this matter.

5.4 Particular attention has been paid to the consultations on PANs in order to find a proper balance between the effective management of school places and the successful expression of parental preference.

5.5 Given that there is now a very tight legislative framework within which admissions must operate, recently strengthened by new legislation and the new Code, there is comparatively little flexibility available to LAs and the governors of admission authority schools in determining admission arrangements. There has been a very limited response this year, therefore, to the consultation process both from schools and other LAs. The Code was only published on 8 January 2007 and so it was not possible to begin the consultation any sooner.

5.6 The results of consultations were considered by the Admission Forum at its meeting on 6 March. The Forum must act in accordance with all relevant legislation. The County Council has a statutory duty to "have regard" to the recommendations of the Forum. The Forum includes county councillors, parent governors, headteachers, the Church of England and Roman Catholic dioceses, the armed forces, special educational needs, ethnic minorities, early years and neighbouring LEAs. The Forum is advised by LA officers, one of whom acts as secretary.

6 Admission policies for community and voluntary controlled schools

6.1 The proposed policies for admission to community and voluntary controlled schools are given in Annexes A and B. The change to equal preference allocation is included.

6.2 The Admissions Forum consulted schools on the policy's approach to the admission of multiple birth siblings in cases when the Infant Class Size (maximum of 30 in a class) Regulations may be broken i.e. when there is one place available and the pupil with highest priority is one of twins/triplets. Schools responded in favour of retaining our current policy, i.e. offer to admit all siblings. The DfES recommendation is that admission authorities do not offer more than one place. Also Forum consulted with schools on the inclusion of a criterion that allowed for better arranging the transfer of pupils in the event of a school closure. Forum considered responses to the consultation before deciding that the multiple birth children can be offered places, even when that will result in more than 30 children in a class and that a school closure criterion should be included in the policy.

7 Schemes for co-ordinated admissions

7.1 The county admissions team co-ordinated both primary and secondary admissions throughout the county for the second time in 2007. Secondary co-ordination requires local authorities to co-ordinate admissions not only with schools in their own area but with all other local authorities from which an application is received. Unlike the secondary scheme, there is no requirement to co-ordinate primary admissions with neighbouring local authorities. The central admissions team liaises with all schools; schools inform the admissions team about the application of individual pupils using a secure system via the Children's Services Intranet.

7.2 For admissions in September 2007 all local authorities were obliged to provide an on-line admissions service for parents. Take up in Hampshire met the requirement for `excellent' status; just over 5% of applications were received on-line. An on-line service will again be offered for September 2008.

7.3 The new Code requires that the 2008/2009 co-ordinated scheme is co-ordinated beyond the offer date; 1 March 2008 for secondary (statutorily set) and 25 January 2008 for primary. It also requires, once preferences have been made and the deadline has passed, that parents must not be allowed to change their minds without genuine reason for doing so. Both of these new requirements are in Hampshire's co-ordinated scheme.

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

8.1 Every year, the LA 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). The LA consults annually governing bodies of community and voluntary controlled schools 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 usually included within the PAN.

8.2 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 LA is not appropriate for their school.

8.3 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, it may be necessary to publish notices and the Schools Adjudicator must consider objections if these are received from at least ten parents. The LA publishes notices on behalf of community and voluntary controlled schools; for foundation and voluntary aided schools, the governors have this responsibility.

8.4 The Admission Forum considered all proposed PANs at its meeting on 6 March. The enclosed tables for both primary (Annexe F) and secondary (Annexe G) schools give details of the PAN for 2007, the school capacity, the indicated PAN and the proposed PAN for 2008 (i.e. DfES latest capacity figures).

8.5 As in previous years, it is recommended that for 2008/9 admissions the Director of Children's Services, on behalf of the County Council, and having regard to any advice from the Admission Forum, be empowered 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

· lodge an objection to the Schools Adjudicator in respect of any aspect of an admission authority school's or neighbouring LA'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, if any.

9 School specific criteria

9.1 The County Council's policy applies for admissions to all community and voluntary controlled schools within Hampshire. The Admission Forum has, in the past, recognised that there still might be cases where some flexibility is advisable in relation to individual school policies to avoid situations where a rigid implementation of the LA policy would lead to unacceptable anomalies. This is delivered through school specific criteria, which from 2007 includes using walking route as the method for measuring the distance tiebreaker.

9.2 The need to centralize the administration of the main admissions round makes it more difficult to accommodate school specific criteria. Schools were advised that continuing to operate a school specific criterion may require them to directly support the processing of applications to their school.

9.3 Annexe H lists all proposed school specific criteria for 2008, supported by the Admission Forum. Proposed new criteria are given in italics. For 2008 admissions, these were considered by the Admission Forum.

9.4 The list given at Annexe H, therefore, is the list recommended by the Admission Forum to the Executive Member for his agreement.

10 Boarding Policies

10.1 Hampshire has provision for six boys and six girls to board each year. This is available at Kings' School (boys) and at The Westgate School (girls).

10.2 The new Code on Admissions gives specific guidance on the admission policy for admissions to boarding provision in mainstream schools. A new policy (Annexe I) has been written and both schools have been consulted. The boarding policy would take effect from September 2008.

11 Other new requirements

11.1 The new Code stresses the importance of setting admission arrangements that are clear and easily understood by parents. Individual parents have the right to refer an objection to the Schools Adjudicator if they consider that admission arrangements do not comply with the law or the mandatory requirements of the Code.

11.2 All Local Authorities have a statutory duty to provide advice and assistance to parents who find it hardest to engage with, and navigate, the admissions system in order to make informed decisions about which schools will best meet their child's needs. Also there is extended transport entitlement for children from low income families and admission authorities must bring this information to the attention of parents.

12 Legal implications

12.1 None

13 Financial implications

13.1 The need for extra resource has been identified, a resource bid submitted to Schools Forum has been successful and planning is underway for September 2008. The central admissions team will process all applications
(~ 35 000) submitted at the time of the main admissions round and work with voluntary aided and foundation schools to determine final allocations.

14 Personnel implications

14.1 A further two members of staff are required to be appointed to the admissions team in response to the increased workload.

15 Impact assessment

15.1 The Code of Practice on admissions sets out very clearly the responsibility of admission authorities in relation to race relations and equalities. The LA admission arrangements for community and voluntary controlled schools take account of legislation and Code guidance.

16 Crime prevention issues

16.1 The County Council's arrangements for admissions to schools aim to ensure that, as far as possible, children can attend a local school of their parents' choice. There is no direct link to crime prevention.

17 Views of the Local County Councillor

17.1 Three County Councillors, one from each of the main parties, are members of the Hampshire Admission Forum. In December a School Admissions workshop for Councillors was held and the feedback from that has been considered as part of the consultation process.

18 Conclusion

18.1 The Executive Member for Education approves the recommendations presented in the Decision Sheet as the final stage in determining the County Council's admission arrangements. This will ensure that Hampshire's arrangements meet the legislative requirements and above all are clear, fair and objective.

· Changes imposed by the new Code mean that more staff and funding will be require

· The First Preference First policy will change to an Equal Preference policy

· The new policy is in line with legislation and with the Code.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

The following documents discuss facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have 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 in the Act.

List documents here or type `none'.

NONE