Issue - meetings

The Board received a report of the Strategic Director – People, which requested the approval of the School Admissions Policy, Admission Arrangements and Co-ordinated Schemes, for admission to primary and secondary schools for the 2023/24 academic year.

The Board was advised that in October 2021, the Local Authority issued a statutorily required consultation on the proposed admission arrangements and co-ordinated admission schemes for the September 2023 intake for primary and secondary schools (attached as appendices 1 and 2 respectively).  The primary scheme also included the proposed oversubscription criteria for community and voluntary controlled schools for whom the Local Authority was the admission authority. 

The report provided details of the consultation, which ran from 1 October 2021 and 12 November 2021; no responses to the consultation were received.  Additionally, no amendments to the oversubscription criteria were suggested, as these worked well and met the requirements of the Department for Education’s School Admissions Code.

It was noted that all Halton’s secondary schools were either academies, free schools or voluntary aided and were therefore their own admission authorities, with responsibility for consulting and determining their own admissions criteria and their own Published Admission Number (PAN).

Reason(s) for Decision

The decision was statutorily required.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

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

Implementation Date

The Policy and co-ordinated schemes would apply for the September 2023 academic intake.

RESOLVED:  That the Board approves the School Admissions Policy, Admission Arrangements and Co-ordinated Schemes, for admission to primary and secondary schools for the 2023/24 academic year.