Agenda item

[Report of the Director of Children’s Services. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Early Years, Children and Families]

The Cabinet Member for Early Years, Children and Families introduced the report which sought approval to commence a six-week period of statutory consultation on admission arrangements for community and voluntary controlled schools.  It was a requirement for all schools to have admission arrangements which clearly set out how children would be admitted, including the criteria that will be applied if there were more applications than places at a school.  In addition, there was a requirement to publish a co-ordinated scheme setting out the procedures all schools and academies must follow to co-ordinate the admission process for the reception and secondary transfer admissions round to ensure that all residents were offered a school place.

In response to a question from Councillor Cawley-Harrison, the Cabinet Member advised that there was currently some research being carried out on school place planning, but this report was on admission arrangements, which was a separate issue.

RESOLVED to

1.         Agree to consult on the proposed admission arrangements, including the co-ordinated schemes for admission of children to schools for the academic year 2023/24.

2.         Agree to consult on the proposed fair access protocol^[1] which, if agreed at Cabinet in February 2022, would come into force from 1 March 2022;

3.         Agree that the co-ordinated schemes for the admission of children to maintained primary and secondary schools as set out in Appendix 8 of this report can be published on the Haringey website on 1 January 2022;

4.         Note that the proposed consultation on the proposed admission arrangements is scheduled to take place between 25 November 2021 and 6 January 2022;

5.         Note that following the consultation, a report will be prepared summarising any representations received and a decision on the final admission arrangements for 2023/24 will be taken by Cabinet in February 2022.

Reasons for decision

Why do we consult? - This report and the consultation that will flow from it will ensure that our proposed admission arrangements for 2023/24 are consulted upon and the co-ordinated scheme is set in accordance with the mandatory provisions of the School Admissions Code 2021 (the Code).

The Code requires all admission authorities to publicly consult on their admission arrangements. If no changes are made to admission arrangements, they must be consulted on at least once every 7 years. The Council is the admission authority for community and voluntary controlled (VC) schools within the borough and is therefore responsible for determining the admission arrangements for these schools.

Ensuring there is a transparent and objective school admissions process is a statutory requirement and an integral part of the Council’s work. Oversubscription criteria must be reasonable, clear, objective, procedurally fair, and comply with all relevant legislation, including equalities legislation. Admission authorities must ensure that their arrangements will not disadvantage unfairly, either directly or indirectly, a child from a particular social or racial group, or a child with a disability or special educational needs, and that other policies around school uniform or school trips do not discourage parents from applying for a place for their child.

Schools that are their own admission authority (academies, foundation schools and voluntary aided^[2]) must consult on, and then determine their own admission arrangements by 28 February each year. The Council has a statutory duty to monitor the arrangements determined by schools that are their own admission authority to ensure compliance with the Code.

All schools musthave admission arrangements that clearly set out how children will be admitted, including the criteria that will be applied if there are more applications than places at the school.

Oversubscription criteria

The admission authority for the school must set out in their arrangements the criteria against which places will be allocated at the school when there are more applications than places, and the order in which the criteria will be applied. Oversubscription criteria must be reasonable, clear, objective, procedurally fair, and comply with all relevant legislation, including equalities legislation.

Admission authorities must ensure that their arrangements will not disadvantage unfairly, either directly or indirectly, a child from a particular social or racial group, or a child with a disability or special educational need, and that other policies around school uniform or school trips do not discourage parents from applying for a place for their child.

In Year Fair Access Protocol

An in-year fair access protocol has been agreed with all schools in Haringey to ensure unplaced children, especially the most vulnerable, are offered a school place without delay. This is a statutory requirement set out in the Code. In using the protocol, Haringey ensures that these children and young people are shared fairly across all Haringey schools and that this process is open and transparent.

All Haringey schools, including schools that are their own admission authority continue to support the principles and approach of the fair access protocol. Paragraph 3 at Appendix 5 sets out that “it is essential to the success of the fair access protocol that all headteachers and governing bodies agree to the aims, principles and procedures and give their fullest support.” As part of this consultation, we ask key stakeholders (headteachers and governing bodies) to review the protocol in order to make an assessment of its effectiveness. In line with para. 3.30 (b) of the Code, there is a requirement on all Local Authorities to assess their effectiveness of fair access protocols including how many children were admitted to each school under it. An annual report is produced and sent to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator with this information.

Alternative options considered

Haringey consults on its admission arrangements annually irrespective of whether there is a proposed change. This is to ensure transparency and openness of the arrangements and to allow parents, carers and other stakeholders who might not previously have been interested in the 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.

We are not proposing a change to the oversubscription criteria for community and VA schools for 2023/24. Whilst there are other ways admission arrangements can influence the allocation of school places set out in the Code (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.