Agenda item

            The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Children and Young People which fulfilled the requirement under the School Standards and Framework Act, 1998, the Education Act 2001, the Education and Inspections Act 2006, and associated regulations, to determine Halton Local Authority’s (LAs)  Schools Admissions Policy for LA maintained community and voluntary controlled schools and co-ordinated admission schemes for all primary and secondary schools for September 2010 following statutory consultation. The LA also consulted on the admission arrangements to its maintained nursery schools for the September 2010 intake.

            It was reported that in January 2009 Halton LA issued a statutorily required consultation paper on the proposed admission arrangements and co-ordinated admissions schemes for the September 2010 intake which was appended to the report for information.

            Details of the consultation were published in the local press, made available on the Council’s website and issued to the head teachers and governing bodies of all nursery, infant, junior, primary and secondary schools, the four Diocesan Authorities responsible for voluntary aided schools in Halton and neighbouring authorities. It was noted that following prior consultation and agreement with the four Diocesan Authorities, the LA also facilitated an on-line admissions consultation process for all Church of England and Catholic Voluntary Aided Schools, which enabled them to consult on their proposed admission arrangements for the 2010 academic year along with the LA’s proposed arrangements.

            It was advised that the consultation paper proposed no changes to the current over subscription criteria for admission to LA maintained community and voluntary controlled primary schools and no change to the current over subscription criteria for admission to LA maintained community schools in Runcorn. However, changes were proposed to the allocation of places at LA maintained community secondary schools in Widnes through the introduction of catchment zones as detailed in an Appendix to the report. The Board was advised the consultation commenced on 5^th January 2009 and closed on 28^th February 2009. 22 responses were received to the consultation and were outlined in the report for Members’ consideration. The Halton Admissions Forum met on 3^rd March 2009 to consider the Admissions Policy, co-ordinated schemes, proposed catchment zones and the responses to the consultation. It was reported that the Admissions Forum approved the policy and co-ordinated and secondary schemes, considered the catchment zone options proposed by the LA and considered the responses received to the consultation, including the responses from the Governing Body at Waste Deacon High School who made representations about the LA’s proposals. The Board was advised that the consensus from the Admissions Forum was that both Options 1 and 2 proposed by the LA should be put to the Executive Board for consideration.

            It was further reported that the LA as commissioner of school places must ensure that the admission arrangements were fair, not complex and fully complied with all statutory requirements. In considering the introduction of catchment zones the LA wished to reflect the diversity of the community served by both The Bankfield School and Wade Deacon High School and did not wish to exclude particular housing estates or addresses in a way that might disadvantage particular social groups. It was advised that in the LAs view Option 2 best met those needs.

Reasons for Decision

The decision was statutorily required and any revision to the proposed arrangement may adversely affect school place planning as detailed in 7.1 of the report.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

As detailed in paragraph 3.3 of the report if the LA remained with the current over subscription criteria for admission to Widnes Community High Schools i.e Children in Care, Siblings and then straight line distance measurement, some pupils living on the East side of Widnes would be required to circumvent two high schools to access educational provision, therefore this option was rejected. The representations submitted by the Governing Body at Wade Deacon High School were considered by the Halton Admissions Forum and rejected and the LA would support that view. Other options considered and rejected included the allocation of places through random allocation (lottery) as this method could be seen as arbitrary and randm.

Implementation Date

The Policy applied for the September 2010 academic intake and would apply for 3 years unless further Central or Local Government changes were required.

            RESOLVED: That the Board approve the School Admissions Policy, Admission Arrangements and co-ordinated schemes for admission to primary and secondary schools including the adoption of catchment zones for admission to Widnes Community High Schools, and admission arrangements to nursery schools and LA nursery classes. All of which applied to the 2010/11 academic year.