Issue - meetings

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Children and Enterprise, on school admission arrangements for the September 2016 intake.

The Board was advised that in January 2015, Halton had published a statutorily required consultation paper on the proposed admission arrangements and co-ordinated admission schemes for the September 2016 intake.

It was noted that there were no changes proposed for the oversubscription criteria for admission to Local Authority maintained community and voluntary controlled primary schools, and no change to the current oversubscription criteria for admission to Local Authority maintained community secondary schools.

Reason(s) For Decision

The decision was statutorily required and any revision to the proposed arrangements may adversely affect school place planning, as detailed in the report.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

Other options considered and rejected included the allocation of places through random allocation (lottery), as this method could be seen as arbitrary and random.

Implementation Date

The Policy would apply to the September 2016 academic intake.

RESOLVED: That the

1)    Schools Admissions Policy, Admission Arrangements and Co-ordinated Schemes for admission to primary and secondary schools for the 2016/17 academic year, attached to the report, be approved;

2)    the Department for Education School Admissions Code be endorsed, and all Halton Schools, including Academy and Free Schools be required to ensure that their admissions criteria are reasonable, clear, objective, procedurally fair and comply with all legislation; and

3)    the Local Authority writes to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator to express concern regarding the admission arrangements currently operated by Wade Deacon High School.