Agenda item

The report requests Cabinet Member agreement to consult on the proposed admission arrangements for the academic year 2019/20; to consult on the proposed IYFAP which, if agreed at Cabinet in February 2018, would be used from 1 March 2018; and to agree that the co-ordinated scheme for the admission of children to maintained primary and secondary schools as set out in appendices 2 and 3 of the report can be published on the Haringey website on 1 January 2018.

Councillor Weston considered the report which outlined and sought approval for:

·         The proposed admission arrangements for entry to school in the academic year 2019/20 for Haringey’s community and voluntary controlled (VC), nursery, infant, junior, primary, secondary and sixth form settings. It is proposed that a new category giving priority for children of staff form part of the oversubscription criteria for all Haringey community and VC schools for the 2019/20 year of entry. This category will follow after siblings.

·         Haringey’s proposed scheme for in-year admission for the academic year 2019/20. In-year admission relates to applications which are received at any point throughout the year other than for reception or secondary school transfer.

·         Haringey’s proposed In-Year Fair Access Protocol (IYFAP) for the year starting 1^st March 2018 which all Haringey schools and academies must follow.

·         The co-ordinated scheme^[1] for the admission of children to maintained primary and secondary schools and academies for the 2019/20 year of entry.

Councillor Weston also noted the following changes to the appendices attached to the report:

• A single sentence change to the proposed admission arrangements for 2019/20 to allow us to remove a sibling advantage in any instances where a fraudulent application is unearthed after the child has started at the school (Appendices 1, 2 and 3).
• Amendments to the co-ordinated schemes for the admission of children to maintained primary and secondary school and academies. As discussed, the changes mainly centre around statutory dates/deadlines (Appendices 2 and 3).

RESOLVED

The cabinet member for Children & Families;

·         Agreed to consult on the proposed admission arrangements, including the proposed in-year admissions scheme for the academic year 2019/20;

·         Agreed to consult on the proposed IYFAP which, if agreed at Cabinet in February 2018, would be used from 1 March 2018;

·         Agreed that the co-ordinated scheme for the admission of children to maintained primary and secondary schools as set out in Appendices 2 and 3 of this report can be published on the Haringey website on 1 January 2018.

·         Noted the proposed change to the Council’s oversubscription criteria for community and VC schools for the 2019/20 year of entry as set out in paragraphs 4.4 of this report;

·         Noted that consultation on the proposed admission arrangements is scheduled to take place between 8 November 2017 and 13 December 2017;

·         Noted that following the consultation, a report will be prepared summarising the representations received from the consultation and a decision on the final admission arrangements and the In-Year Fair Access Protocol will be taken by Cabinet on 13 February 2018.

Reasons for decision

Why do we consult? - This report and the consultation that will flow from it if the report’s recommendations are agreed will ensure that our proposed admission arrangements for 2019/20 are consulted upon and the co-ordinated scheme is set in accordance with the mandatory provisions of the School Admissions Code 2014.

The School Admissions Code (2014) requires all admission authorities to publicly consult on their admission arrangements where changes are being proposed. The Code stipulates that if no changes are made to admission arrangements, they must be consulted on at least once every 7 years.

We consult on our admission arrangements annually irrespective of whether or not there is a proposed change to the arrangements. This is to ensure transparency and openness on the contents of our arrangements and to allow parents, carers and other stakeholders who might not previously been interested in admission arrangements (perhaps because they didn’t have a child of school age) to make a representation which can then be considered as part of the determination of the arrangements.

What is the change and potential risk to the arrangements being consulted on for 2019 entry? - Para 3.1 of the report sets out that we are consulting on a material change to the oversubscription criteria for all Haringey community and VC schools for the 2019/20 year of entry. This change proposes an additional oversubscription criterion to prioritise children of staff after the sibling criterion. Further information on this criterion is set out in paras 6.9 to 6.22 of the report.

This change seeks to assist schools in recruiting and retaining staff by prioritising the admission of child(ren) of staff to the school. Some local academies and a voluntary aided school as well as schools in neighbouring boroughs currently give priority to children of staff and extending this to Haringey community schools may help the schools to compete for the best staff in the current competitive recruitment climate. It will also provide schools with the ability to retain and recruit staff to areas where there is a demonstrable skills shortage such as maths and science.

Before deciding to consult on a staff criterion, the Council carried out an informal consultation with all Haringey community and VC schools earlier this year to explore whether or not there was support from these schools for an additional oversubscription criterion for staff children. This informal consultation was carried out in response to a small number of representations received last year from schools and from teachers through our statutory public consultation on the proposed admission arrangements for community and VC schools for the academic year 2018/19. The representations received from last year’s public consultation are included at Appendix 9 of the report.

The results from the informal consultation carried out earlier this year indicated that the majority of Haringey community and VC schools support an additional oversubscription criterion which gives priority to children of staff. We are therefore now consulting more widely as part of our annual public consultation to gather views from all stakeholders. Detailed analysis of the results of the informal consultation is included at Appendix 8 of the report.

The risk that any staff criterion might bring is that it may disadvantage a small number of families by limiting the number of places that can be offered to local residents at Haringey’s oversubscribed community and VC schools.

Research from a neighbouring borough (Enfield Council) who introduced a children of staff criterion in their primary community school’s oversubscription criteria in 2013 shows that fewer than 1 per cent of places have been offered each year under this criterion. More detailed analysis and other comparative modelling is set out in paras 6.9 to 6.22 of the report.

An Equalities Impact Assessment (EqIA) will form an important part of the consultation and will seek to ascertain whether the proposed change could have an impact on protected groups and whether there are steps that can and/or should be taken to mitigate against such an impact. Such an impact will be also balanced against the impact of the criterion as it currently exists against these protected groups.

Alternative options considered

We are required by the School Admissions Code 2014 (para 1.42 – 1.45 of the Code) to consult on our admission arrangements between 1 October and 31 January each year for a minimum period of six weeks. As we are proposing to include an additional oversubscription criterion for all our community and VC schools this consultation is a statutory requirement for us. While there are other ways admission arrangements can influence the allocation of school places set out in the Schools Admissions Code 2014 (e.g. designated catchment areas, identified feeder schools or giving priority in our oversubscription criteria to children eligible for the early years premium/ pupil premium) no alternative option is being considered at the time of writing this report.