Agenda and minutes

Agreed:- (a) That Councillor Hodgkiss be appointed Chairman of the Local Admissions Forum for the 2006/07 Municipal Year.

(b) That Mrs. Irene Hartley be appointed Vice-Chairman of the Local Admissions Forum for the 2006/07 Municipal Year.

(Mrs. Irene Hartley in the Chair)

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Boyes and Hodgkiss and from Mr. Malcolm Robertson.

It was agreed that letters be sent to Councillor Hodgkiss, wishing him a speedy recovery from his operation and to Mr. Malcolm Robertson wishing a speedy recovery from illness.

Agreed:- That the minutes of the meeting of the Local Admissions Forum, held on Thursday, 21st July, 2005, be approved as a correct record.

The Local Admissions Forum noted the contents of the minutes of the meetings of the School Organisation Committee held on 28th July, 2005, 1st December, 2005 and on 11th January, 2006.

The Local Admissions Forum considered a report concerning the school admission arrangements (criteria and admission number), which will apply for admission in 2007/08. The Forum had previously considered the requirements for consultation and has agreed that the Local Education Authority should facilitate this, as far as possible, by use of the Authority’s Internet web site.

The timetable for the year is:-

Autumn Term 2005              Governing bodies consider the arrangements

which will apply.

By 13^th January 2006            All relevant details to be forwarded to the LEA.

18^th January to 1^st March       Period of consultation via the LEA’s website.

2006

By end of March 2006          LEA and the Local Admission Forum consider

any changes and forward any comments

to appropriate Admission Authority(ies).

By 15^th April 2006                 All admission authorities to determine their

arrangements and notify those consulted.

The report stated that for Community and Controlled Schools, the LEA is the admission authority. The proposed admissions criteria for 2007/08 were included as an appendix to the report. There were two proposed changes to the 2006/07 criteria, as follows:-

1. Remove ‘Children with a Statement of Special Educational Needs’ from the criteria in order to  make ‘Children in Public Care’ top priority and to include within the Admissions Booklet a statement to the effect that such children will gain a place at the school named in the statement as part of that process.

Nb: This corresponds to a change in advice from the DfES and follows on from some recent judgements by the Adjudicator. There is currently consultation on a proposed new draft guidance document and new draft regulations on the admission of children in public care, which makes this change essential. It will not have any adverse effect on the admission of children with special educational needs.

2. To include a tie-breaker (distance) which could be used where the admission number is reached mid category. This could be used as part of the initial         allocation process and for any of the admission criteria (eg catchment pupils), but would most likely be in the allocation process for late applicants only as described in the co-ordinated schemes. 

The Local Admissions Forum noted the implications of the Education (Admission of Looked After Children) (England) Regulations 2006, which came into force on 21st February, 2006.

The report also stated that for Voluntary Aided Schools, the governing body is the admission authority.

The specific circumstances of a number of primary and secondary schools were discussed.

Agreed:- That the school admission arrangements which will apply for admission in 2007/08 be noted.

The Local Admissions Forum discussed the co-ordinated arrangements for the admission of pupils to schools at the beginning of the 2006/07 academic year. The co-ordinated arrangements were being operated for the second consecutive year in Rotherham. The following points were noted:-

- offer letters for admissions to Secondary Schools had been issued in accordance with the timescale on 1st March, 2006;

- offer letters for admissions to Primary Schools would be issued in accordance with the timescale on 4th April, 2006;

- 97% of parents had been offered a school place for their child at their first preference secondary school;

- there had been an increase in the number of applications for school admission being submitted on-line by parents;

- there was a positive working relationship with school admissions staff in the Barnsley, Doncaster and Sheffield Local Education Authorities and this year the co-ordinated arrangements were also being operated with the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Local Education Authorities;

- there had been no offer a place at a secondary school in respect of three Rotherham children only; the reason being that the parents had not yet applied for a place for their children;

- to date, there had been fewer admission appeals received by the Council than at the same time in 2005.

The Local Admissions Forum noted the details of this year’s implementation of the co-ordinated admissions arrangements.

The Local Admissions Forum discussed the consideration of the applications received from parents for the transfer of pupils to other schools during the course of the academic year.

It was noted that there had been a significant number of applications in respect of pupils from outside the United Kingdom. The vast majority of these pupils seeking places in Rotherham schools were the children of migrant workers originating from Eastern Europe.

Discussion also took place on the role of the Welcome Centre, whose staff provided assistance to asylum seekers of school age, wishing to settle in Rotherham schools. The Welcome Centre also provided some support for the children of migrant workers and some others moving to Rotherham from outside the United Kingdom, in cases where the families needed assistance in learning the English language.

Forum Members noted that the school admissions documents were published in a number of different languages and the services of interpreters were also used.

Consideration was given to correspondence from the Chief Schools Adjudicator concerning:-

(a) the publication of new forms for making referrals to adjudicators on objections to admission arrangements and for making requests for variations;

(b) the reduction in the number of adjudicators from eleven to nine;

(c) the availability of the new forms on the Internet web site www.schoolsadjudicator.gov.uk.

Resolved:- That the correspondence be noted.

Agreed:- (a) That the next meeting of the Local Admissions Forum be held at the Town Hall, Rotherham on Thursday, 6th July, 2006, commencing at 10.00 a.m.

(b) That future meetings of the Local Admissions Forum be held on three occasions per year (ie: one meeting per school term), usually in March, July and November.