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.