Admissions and Appeals 9 th September 2015

Agenda Opening Prayer Understanding the offer to Catholic parents & carers The Admissions Code of Practice ( December 2014) Determining your admissions policy Normal Admissions Round Admissions Authority’s responsibility to ensure your School or Academies policy is legally sound. Appeals In Year admissions Questions

The Purpose of Catholic schools? To understand the Admissions arrangements for Catholic schools you need to understand why the Catholic church seeks to provide such schools. The Catholic Church and its Bishop’s operate under Church law often called ‘Canon’ Law. Canon Law states parents are responsible for bringing up and educating their child in the Catholic faith – the Bishop seeks to help parents in discharging this duty by providing a supply of places at a local Catholic school.

Supply of places The Diocese acting on behalf of the Bishop seeks to secure in agreement with Local authorities and in the case of Academies and free schools the Regional Schools Commissioner sufficient denominational places within a local authority area to ensure the Bishop provides appropriate support to help parents to meet their obligations in Canon Law. (Denominational Need)

However… In providing such denominational places, Catholic schools cannot operate in isolation as they are part of the wider state funded education offer. Catholic schools must adhere to both the laws and doctrine of the Catholic church and the legislation and rules laid down by the State. Church representatives along with the Departmental officials help Catholic schools to help the parents by developing admissions arrangements that give preference to the admission of baptised Catholics whilst fully adhering to the States regulations and policy guidance.

Canon Law and central government obligation Catholic Schools must try to help the parents meet their obligations in Canon Law by offering denominational preference to parents seeking a catholic school for their baptised child. DENOMINATIONAL NEED Local Authorities must ensure that every parent seeking a school place for their child is offered a place by the maintaining authority. BASIC NEED

The School Admissions Code

Admissions Code of Practice Statutory Code – has its basis in law and imposes mandatory requirements Current Code came into force in December 2014 Code applies equally to all admissions authorities who are legally responsible for ensuring their arrangements comply with the code Non compliance investigated by The Schools Adjudicator

Admissions Code of Practice For Voluntary Aided schools the Board of Governors and for the all Voluntary Catholic Academies, the Board of Directors of the Trust are the Admissions Authority. For Community Schools the Local Authority fulfil this role.

How the Code works Ensures that all criteria used in offering school places is fair, clear and objective. Admissions Authorities must ensure their arrangements comply with the code Compliance with the code is regulated by the Schools Adjudicator

Objections to admissions policy Up until 15 th May organisations including Local Authorities can object to published admissions policies

Infant Class Size legislation The law says no children in Reception, Y1 and Y2 can be taught in classes of more than 30. There are some ‘permitted exceptions’ i. when an appeal panel has allowed the admission of a child ii. Maladministration of the admissions arrangements by the admissions authority. iii.Multiple births when the 30 th ranked applicant is a twin / triplet etc. The permitted exception applies until the class falls back to 30

Determining the admissions policy at your school or academy

The Admissions Code – Consultation on arrangements 1.Admissions Bodies must set out the basis for admission to their school - even if there have been no historic changes over time – the admissions authority must ensure the admissions arrangements are consulted upon every seven years. 2.Where changes are proposed to be made to the published admission arrangements, schools and academies must consult on the proposed changes for six weeks between 1 st October and 31 st January. So arrangements for entry in September 2017, must be consulted on by 31 st January 2016.

Obligations on Schools Catholic schools GB’s must clearly set out in an Admissions Policy the arrangements for entry to the school. These must include : 1.Planned Admissions Number (PAN) of places available 2.Admissions arrangements 3.Oversubscription criteria to be applied if applications exceed PAN

Planned Admissions Number The PAN is determined by the physical teaching and associated spaces in the school. This is calculated using a ‘net capacity assessment’ calculation. This net capacity assessment identifies the available teaching and non teaching spaces based on the area of the school e.g. If in a Primary school and there are 210 available teaching spaces identified within the net capacity assessment, the PAN would be 210 divided by the number of Statutory Year Groups ( Reception to Y6 =7), 210 divided by 7 gives a PAN of 30. For secondary it would be net capacity places divided by 5, with a separate calculation for sixth form.

Making the net capacity work for you! Ideally primary schools would seek to have a net capacity of 30, 45, 60, 75 or 90. This makes class organisation and planning easier, providing maximum value for money whilst also allowing admissions to be protected by application of the Key stage 1 guarantee. Schools are encouraged to review any ‘uneven’ admissions numbers to remove anomalies that currently exist.

Increasing your PAN The Admissions Code of Practice does not require schools and academies to consult on proposals to increase their PAN. They must however advise the local authority of their intended change and make reference to the change on their website. Diocesan schools and academies can admit above their published PAN without actually changing it. If you intend to do this you must inform the authority in good time to allow them to deliver their coordination responsibilities. ALL DIOCESAN SCHOOLS AND ACDEMIES MUST SEEK DIOCESAN APPROVAL BEFORE MAKING ANY PERMANENT CHANGES TO THEIR CURRENT PAN

Admitting Catholic children above your PAN There are implications from admitting above your PAN. 1.You have chosen to overcrowd and cannot use this as an excuse to increase the net capacity of the school 2.You will reduce your ability to present a robust appeal for other non Catholic children if you have already exceeded PAN 3.At what point do you say no?

New Schools Admissions Code (December 2014) Key Changes Ability to give preference to Pupil Premium eligible / forces children* (any diocesan policies must always give priority to applications from Roman Catholics. If you intend to use PP and forces in your admissions policy you must first seek Diocesan advice and guidance on how this should be included. New timetable for consultation on Admissions Policy Admission of children outside age group Extension of priority for Looked After Children Some changes were immediate and the diocese issued a revised Diocesan policy to capture this.

NORMAL ADMISSIONS ROUND September entry to Reception or Year 7

The annual admissions round 1.Parents can select up to 3 schools – choices have an equal weighting 2.LA statutorily responsible for collating and administering all arrangements – making offer to parents 3.Parents have the right to appeal the place offered

Your Admissions Arrangements How and When to Apply – will always be through the LA’s coordinated arrangements but your policy must include any additional requirements you wish to include, e.g. the completion of any supplementary information forms / additional documents. Statement on late applications Clarification on applicants with Education, Health & Care Plan in which the school is named in the plan Statement on admission ‘outside of age group’(Primary)

Oversubscription Criteria The Code gives the right to admissions authorities of Catholic schools to give preference on denominational basis The Diocese issues model Primary and Secondary Admissions policies ALL POLICIES MUST BE LEGALLY SOUND AND STAND UP TO SCRUTINY. ANY CRITERIA USED MUST BE ABLE TO BE APPLIED BASED SOLELY ON INFORMATION REQUESTED WITHIN THE POLICY OR PROVIDED BY THE SCHOOL / ACADEMY

Appeals Any parent can appeal against the decision not to admit their child. Both the parent and the admissions body should provide a statement of case The appeal is heard by an independent body and their decision is legally binding on both parties Based on the statement of case the appeal must determine if the individual personal circumstances put forward by the parent outweigh the prejudice their admission would have on the pupils already in school Where KS1 legislation is cited as prejudicial, this must be stated in the appeal statement of the school

In Year Admissions If we have surplus places in a year group the fact an applicant isn't Catholic does not preclude admission. You must determine whether an applicant meets the ‘hard to place’ criteria and refer any such cases to the ‘Fair Access Panel’. Diocesan schools must be full partners in Fair Access arrangements as VA schools and academies If you feel the Fair Access arrangements are not operating appropriately, please contact the Diocese who will raise the matter with the Local Authority Strongly advised to use appeals process if a year group is full rather than exceed PAN in year.