Agenda item

This report details the outcome of the consultation on the primary and secondary co-ordinated admission schemes and seeks views on the proposed 2018 admission arrangements.

Discussion:

The Programme Lead – School Services, introduced the report which provided the Committee with the proposed 2018 admission arrangements.  The report included details of the consultation on the proposed primary and secondary co-ordinated admission schemes.  Three responses to the consultation had been received during its six week period, all of which were supportive of the proposals.  The Programme Lead – School Services also referred the Committee to Appendix 3 of the report which provided Members with additional detail on Medway Test review requests, compared with previous years.  This had been provided following a question that had been raised at full Council on 13 October 2016.

Members then raised a number of questions and comments, which included:

·         Utilising preferences – in response to a question about how the local authority supports and encourages parents and carers to provide more preferences to increase their chances of being allocated a school of their choice, the Programme Lead – School Services explained that providing up to six preferences was encouraged within the admission to primary school booklet and added that admissions staff work with nurseries also to ensure that this advice is provided to parents.

·         Delays in processing casual admission applications – in response to comments regarding delays in processing casual admission applications the Programme Lead – School Services apologised for the delays that some families had experienced.  He explained that there had been a large number of applications, with more than 500 applications being received between July and September 2016.  He also explained that the team was experiencing some delays in getting the required responses from schools to process applications but confirmed that the process was being reviewed to avoid future delays.

·         Support for families awaiting school place allocation – in response to a question about whether support for families to home educate children that are awaiting their casual admission application to be processed and to be allocated a school place, officers confirmed that this was not currently a service that the admissions team provided and work was being concentrated on reducing delays for the future to ensure casual admission applications are processed within much shorter timeframes

·         Reasons for the PAN increases – in response to a question about the reasons for the three proposed Published Admission Number (PAN) increases, the Programme Lead – School Services confirmed that this largely related to demographic pressures.

·         Summer born children and delayed entry – in response to a question about how the delayed entry operated for summer born children who chose to delay their entry to school the Programme Lead – School Services confirmed that parents have the right to delay entry for their child until the term after their fifth birthday but confirmed that this needed to be formally requested and to be agreed with the school and work took place with the family, the Headteacher and Education Psychologists to ensure deferment is best for the child.  Families were not able to defer for an entire year, if they wanted their child to start the following September then unless specific agreement was given the family would need to reapply for a Year 1 place for the following September.

Decision:

The Committee recommended the proposed admission arrangements and schemes for 2018 to the Cabinet for approval.