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

1 Summary

1.1 The School Admissions Code (2007), imposed changes on admissions for September 2008. The Code has a statutory basis and imposes mandatory requirements. Hampshire implemented the equal preference allocation system and the Admission Forum has worked to ensure it meets the new expectations that the Code places on Forums.

1.2 The annual consultation on admission arrangements was carried out informally during the autumn term 2007 and again during the statutory consultation period between January and March 2008. The main focus of that consultation was to ensure that the oversubscription criteria in the primary policy meet the requirements of the Code.

1.3 As anticipated the equal preference allocation, applied to admissions for September 2008, has reduced the proportion of successful first preference applications during the three main admission rounds; Primary (4 year olds starting school for the first time), Infant to Junior Transfer and Primary to Secondary Transfer. In the previous system the driver for allocations was the stated preference and so parents often used their first preference tactically. The new system allows parents to express a genuine first preference without fear of losing other, lower preferences. The proportion of families being offered a place at one of their preferred schools is high. There may be a significant rise in the number of appeals lodged by parents that may be directly linked to the introduction of the equal preference system.

1.4 On 17 January 2008, taking first effect for admission decisions made after 1 March 2008, a new statutory School Admission Appeals Code and Regulations came into force. This has placed significant pressure on the timetable for hearing school admission appeals that arise from applications made during the main admissions round. Hampshire County Council's process for hearing appeals, and the substance of the hearing itself, is being refined to best meet the new statutory expectations.

2 Recommendations

2.1 The following decisions are sought:

1. That the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services (Education) approve the adoption of:

· 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 (PANs) 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, 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 PAN lower than the indicated admission number, arising from the capacity assessment, should be published; in accordance with legislation,

· 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 the School Admissions Code's 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 Executive Lead Member for Children's Services (Education).

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 2009/10 by 15 April 2008 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:

· October--November 2007: consultations on published admission numbers (PANs);

· October -November 2007: informal consultations on proposed co-ordination schemes and admission policies, with reference to particular aspects of the policies;

· January -March 2008: statutory consultation on intended arrangements, including revised PANs and any revisions approved by Forum in response to the autumn term consultations.

5.3 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. The reduction in numbers of primary aged pupils is having a particular impact on primary admission numbers.

5.5 The results of the informal consultation were considered by the Admission Forum at its meeting on 10 December 2007. The statutory consultation responses were considered at its 6 March 2008 meeting. 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 LAs. 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.

6.2 The Admissions Forum consulted schools on the order of the primary policy's oversubscription criteria. Advice in the Code states in paragraph 2.18:

"Families must be at the heart of the admissions system and the Government expects the admission authorities for primary schools to take the needs of parents with young children into account in deciding which oversubscription criteria will be used. At primary schools it is good practice to give priority to siblings. Admission authorities should ensure in their oversubscription criteria that, as far as possible, siblings (including twins, triplets or children from other multiple births) can attend the same primary school, as long as they comply with the infant class size regulations"

The consultation asked if, in light of this advice from the Code, whether the Hampshire practice of giving priority to catchment pupils ahead of out-catchment siblings was the preferred approach. Responses from schools overwhelmingly supported the current arrangement and so Forum recommends that the priority order of living in catchment with a sibling, then living in catchment followed by living outside the catchment area with a sibling is retained.

7 Schemes for co-ordinated admissions

7.1 The county admissions team co-ordinated both primary and secondary admissions throughout the county for the third time in 2008. For the first time the whole process was centralised; the central admissions team handled over 34,000 applications and liaised with schools to ensure the quality of the data used to take allocation decision was robust.

7.2 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 although some nearby authorities are seeking to improve their inter-local authority co-ordination at primary level. The central admissions team handled over 34 000 applications and liaised with schools to ensure the process was carried out with the maximum accuracy.

7.3 All local authorities offered the second year of `on-line admissions'. Take up in Hampshire exceeded the e-government target of 10% of applications received on-line with just over 13% . (The highest take up was for primary applications; 19%.)

7.4 Dates for deadlines within the co-ordinated schemes have been carefully considered so that they support the processes of application and (possible) subsequent appeals. This is especially important in light of the requirements of the new Appeals Code regarding the timing of appeals.

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 governors of community and voluntary controlled schools have 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 is 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. Significant changes to the Published Admission Number usually require an adjustment to the school's capacity.

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 2008, the school capacity, the indicated PAN and the proposed PAN for 2009 (i.e. DfES latest capacity figures).

8.5 As in previous years, it is recommended that for 2009/10 admissions the Director of Children's Services, 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 PAN lower than the indicate admission number arising from the capacity assessment 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 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 are 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 recommended with the support of 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 Code on Admissions gives specific guidance on the admission policy for admissions to boarding provision in mainstream schools. A new policy (Annexe I) was written for 2008 admissions and has been reconsidered in readiness for 2009.

11 Other new requirements introduced by the School Admissions Code

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. The authority must publish the arrangements that apply throughout the Local Authority area, including the admissions policies of Voluntary Aided and Foundation schools, via a notice published before 1 May 2008. Voluntary Aided schools have been reminded, through liaison with local Diocesan Boards and via direct communication, of their statutory duty to meet the deadlines for consulting on their admissions policies. Foundation schools have also been approached directly.

11.2 All Local Authorities have a statutory duty to provide advice and assistance to parents in order to make informed decisions about which schools will best meet their child's needs. Hampshire has employed a Choice Advice Co-ordinator to promote better practice and more accessible advice for parents who find it hardest to engage with, and navigate, the admissions system when applying for a school place.

11.3 The Forum has an important power to write an annual report on the effectiveness of local admission arrangements. Its first report will be available in July 2008, a key element will be the implementation of the In Year Fair Access Protocol and its effect in quickly securing school places for pupils applying outside the main admissions round.

12 Legal implications

12.1 None

13 Financial implications

13.1 The effect of changes resulting from new appeals practices, and a possible increase in the number of appeals has led to a bid to Schools Forum for extra funding to employ Presenting Officers to present the Local Authority's case at appeal hearings.

14 Personnel implications

14.1 None

15 Impact assessment

15.1 The School Admissions Code 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. It is assumed that by having a school place and attending there is less likelihood for young people to be engaged in crime.

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 recommendations presented in the Decision Sheet are the final stage in determining the County Council's admission arrangements for the 2009 admissions cycle. These 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 required

· The First Preference First policy has changed 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