Agenda item

Admission to Schools – Determined Admission Arrangements for 2021/22

[Report of the Director of Children's Services. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Children and Families]

 

This report recommends that Cabinet determines the Council’s admission arrangements for the academic year 2021/22.

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member for Children and Families introduced the report which outlined the statutory decisions required to determine the Council’s admission arrangements for the academic year 2021/22. The full range of reasons for agreeing the decision were set out from paragraph. 4.1 - 4.3 of the report.

 

RESOLVED

 

  1. To determine the Council’s admission arrangements for the academic year 2021/22 as set out in Appendices 1 – 4.
  2. To agree the in-year fair access protocol (IYFAP) as set out in Appendix 5 to come into force from 1 March 2020.

 

  1. To agree that the determined arrangements for all maintained primary and secondary schools in the borough are published on the Council’s website by 15 March 2020 with an explanation of the right of any person or body, under the School Admissions (Admission Arrangements and Co-ordination of Admission Arrangements) Regulations 2012, to object to the Schools Adjudicator in specified circumstances.

 

Reasons for decision

The School Admissions Code 2014 requires all admission authorities to determine admission arrangements every year, even if they have not changed from previous years. Regulation 17 of the School Admissions Regulations 2012 also requires admission authorities to determine admission arrangements by 28 February in the determination year.

In addition, the Regulations require the admission authority (in this case the local authority) to publish on its website by 15 March in the determining year the determined arrangements of all maintained primary and secondary school and academies in the borough, advising the right to object to the Schools Adjudicator, where it is considered that the arrangement do not comply with the mandatory provisions of the School Admissions Code 2014.

The Council consults on its 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 the admission arrangements and to allow all stakeholders to make representations which can then be considered as part of the determination of the arrangements.

Alternative options considered

This year we are not proposing a change to the oversubscription criteria for community and VC schools. 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.

 

 

Supporting documents: