Issue - meetings

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, People and Economy, on school admission arrangements for the 2017 intake into Halton’s schools.

          The Board was advised that in November 2015, Halton Local Authority issued a statutorily required consultation paper on the proposed admission arrangements and co-ordinated admission schemes for the September 2017 intake. It was noted that the consultation ran until 11 December 2015, with no changes proposed to the current oversubscription criteria for local authority schools.        

As commissioner of school places, the Local Authority must ensure that the admission arrangements were fair, clear and objective and complied fully with all statutory requirements. It was reported that no responses to the consultation had been received.

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 selection (lottery), as this method could be seen as arbitrary and random.

Implementation Date

The Policy applied to the September 2017 academic intake.

          RESOLVED: That the School Admissions Policy, Admission Arrangements and Coordinated Schemes for admission to primary and secondary schools for the 2017/18 academic year be approved.