Agenda and minutes

Agreed:- That Mr. M. Hall be appointed Chair of this meeting.

(Mr. M. Hall in the Chair)

Agreed:- That the minutes of the previous meeting of the Local Admissions Forum, held on 18th March, 2010, be approved as a correct record.

Members of the Local Admissions Forum received copies of the booklet for admission to secondary school 2011/2012, which was being made available for parents. The significant dates of the application process were also highlighted.

Particular reference was made to:-

- this year, because of budget restrictions, the booklet would not automatically be sent to all parents; instead, summary information about admission to secondary school would be provided to all parents and the booklets would be available on-line and upon request; reference was made to the Government targets for applications for school places to be submitted on-line;

- information about on-line applications would be provided for Head Teachers of Church Schools, because these schools also required letters of support (eg: from a church minister) to be submitted in support of an application for a school place;

- the process of following-up parent(s) who had not submitted an application for secondary school places for their children;

- there were no changes being made either to the admission criteria, or to the waiting lists for secondary schools.

Agreed:- That the change in practice (because of budget restrictions) of the distribution of booklets explaining the secondary school admission process be noted.

David Hill, Manager, School Organisation, Planning and Development.

Members of the Local Admissions Forum noted details of the consultation process which would take place in respect of admissions to schools for the academic year September, 2012 to August, 2013.

Reference was made to the proposal to reduce the length of time during which the waiting list for places at primary school would be maintained. During the 2009/2010 academic year and again during the 2010/2011 academic year, the waiting list would be maintained for a full school year. However, after consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of maintaining the list for that length of time, there was now a proposal to revert to the previous method of maintaining the waiting list only for one term (ie: until 31 December).

A report was to be submitted to the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services at his meeting on 21st July, 2010.

The matter would be considered further at the next meeting of the Local Admissions forum, scheduled to take place on Thursday, 11th November, 2010.

David Hill, Manager, School Organisation, Planning and Development, to report.

The School Organisation Planning and Development Manager presented the submitted Local Authority Report to the Schools Adjudicator, highlighting, clarifying and elaborating on the responses provided to the questions posed section by section.

The report covered the following issues:-

- Section 1     For the Academic Year in which the report was made 2009/2010

• Fair Access Protocol
• Whether primary schools were complying with infant class size legislation
• Number of admission appeals held for each and every school in the area, and the number of appeals upheld
• extent to which the local authority and appeal panels in the area complied with the requirements of the Appeals Code regarding timeliness, transparency, effective communications with parents and other relevant matters

- Section 2     For the Academic Year which starts after the report is made 2010/2011

• extent to which admission arrangements for Schools in the Authority’s area serve the interests of children in care, children with disabilities, children with special educational needs and service children
• effectiveness of co-ordination

- Section 3.    For admission arrangements that have been determined in the April immediately before the date of the report is made (determined by 15th April, 2010 for admission in September, 2011)

• statement of whether or not admission arrangements for maintained schools in the area complied with the mandatory requirements of this Code and admissions law

- Section 4     Other Matters

• details about the current membership of the Local Admissions Forum for the area
• proportion of children currently on free school meals at each school in the area
• other matters which affect the fairness of admission arrangements for schools in the area

- Section 5     Other issues requested this year by the Secretary of State for

                        Education

• Choice advice
• Transport

During discussion, the following issues were covered:-

-                      infant class size legislation

-                      numbers of applications for school places from elsewhere in the European Community

-                      translation costs/services

-                      tackling language problems

-                      school admission appeals

Agreed:- (1) That the contents of the Local Authority Report to the Schools Adjudicator 2009/2010, now submitted, be approved.

(2) That the Local Admissions Forum does not wish to make a report to the Schools Adjudicator over and above the submitted Local Authority report.