Agenda item

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

Following public consultation held between November 2023 and January 2024, Cabinet is asked to determine the admission arrangements for admission to community nursery, primary, junior and secondary schools and to St Aidan's Voluntary Controlled school and for sixth form admission for the year 2025/26.

The Leader of the Council introduced the report in Councillor Brabazon’s absence. Cabinet was asked to decide on the proposed admission arrangements for the 2025/26 school year for the borough's community and voluntary controlled (VC) schools. The recommendations also sought Cabinet approval for their publication on the Council's website by March 15, 2024, including information on the right to object to the Schools Adjudicator. This year's proposals involved reducing the published admission number (PAN) for several primary schools by one form of entry (1fE), affecting 30 Reception pupils each from September 2025/26. The Cabinet had agreed to conduct statutory consultation on the proposed arrangements between November 24, 2023, and January 5, 2024. The attached report provided details and analysis of the received representations regarding all admission arrangements and provided recommendations on the proposed arrangements.

In response to a question from Cllr Emery on consultation responses in favour of merging two Catholic schools instead of reducing the number of pupils at each, and clarification on decision making on this matter, the Head of Admissions, advised that collaboration with the diocese occurred regularly on educational matters. Consolidating schools into one entity would streamline operational costs, ensuring sustainability. The proposed reduction aimed to maintain the breadth of primary school offerings in Haringey and address risks associated with unused capacity. Schools required time for restructuring to align teacher numbers with class sizes. Collaboration with the diocese was integral to broader education strategies, including the establishment of an education strategy board. Pan reductions represented one solution among various approaches, such as mergers, amalgamations, and federations, which would be explored with input from the diocese and other stakeholders, including headteachers and governors.

RESOLVED

1. To consider and take into account the feedback from the consultation undertaken which is set out in appendix 8.

2. To consider and take into account the equalities impact assessment of the proposals on protected groups at appendix 7.

3. To agree the recommendation set out in this report to proceed with the proposal toreduce the published admission number (PAN) for the primary schools listed in table 1 below by one form of entry (1FE) – 30 Reception pupils each from September 2025.

4. To determine the Council’s admission arrangements for the academic year 2025/26 as set out in Appendices 1 – 4.

5. To agree Haringey’s fair access protocol as set out in Appendix 5 to come into force from 1 March 2024.

6. 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 2024 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 circumstances1

Reasons for decision

In common with many London authorities, Haringey has experienced a decrease in demand for reception school places for several years. This is due, in part, to the turbulence brought about by Covid-19 and Brexit. However, the decrease in applications is likely to reflect a wider set of factors at play that have been impacting demand for primary reception places for the past few years.

This has contributed to a higher than necessary number of reception places in some of Haringey’s educational planning areas where supply is predicted to outstrip demand. This report sets out our continued response to the change in demand for reception places in the borough and seeks agreement from Cabinet to proceed with the proposal to reduce the published admission number (PAN) for the 3 primary schools listed in table 1 below by one form of entry (1FE) – 30 Reception pupils each from September 2025.

This follows agreement by Cabinet in February 2023 to reduce the planned admission number for 8 primary schools from September 2024. Falling rolls due to lower birth rates and out-migration rate has demanded changes to PAN in recent years whilst our Reception place surplus is forecast to grow further without more reductions. The proposals for reductions in PAN are designed to improve schools’ ability to efficiently plan their staffing and educational provision by offering a more accurate number of places.

This work forms part of a bigger Education Strategy which places the LA as a catalyst and partner with the aim of creating resilience and reducing vulnerability in our schools. We have continued our conversation with school leaders and governors through a series of additional workshops (Autumn 2023) to explore collaboration and sustainability opportunities to ensure that schools can continue delivering a high quality of education. PAN reduction is one of several solutions that schools can explore, and future sustainability can also be achieved through other strengthening partnership e.g. amalgamations, soft/hard federations, and memorandums of understanding between schools etc.

Alternative options considered

We are not proposing a change to the oversubscription criteria for our community and VC schools for 2025/26. 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.

Although other London authorities (e.g. Camden and Hackney) have taken radical measures to address surplus capacity at primary level (school closures / amalgamations) this is not currently under consideration in Haringey. We are keen to maintain the mix and spread of all of our existing primary schools so that parents and carers have the optimum choice of school type and location.